6-September-2014
With the threat of rain on the horizon, we decided to try and band birds anyway. The first net round showed promise for a good day of banding, as the very first net I checked had two Yellow Warblers and one Prairie Warbler. This doesn't sound like a lot of birds. And it's not. But recently it has been so slow that many rounds we only net one bird. So I was excited to see three in one net.
However, my premature enthusiasm quickly dissolved as we confronted empty net after empty net. The next few rounds also proved quiet: A Northern Cardinal here, a Painted Bunting there, one Red-eyed Vireo. It was a pretty typical, early fall migration day for us on Captain Sam's Spit.
A lack of a breeze and a whirl of persistent gnats only exacerbated the ennui of a slow banding day. Happy to flee the gnats and stretch our legs, we began another net round when suddenly the sky opened up. (The rain gods must have been listening to my prayers).
As experienced bird banders, we knew that we must get birds out of nets and close the nets as soon as possible. Fortunately, there was only one bird to extract (a recap Carolina Chickadee, of course!), and we were able to close the nets rapidly and without incident.
And then we played the waiting game.
The rain dropped a lot heavier and lasted a lot longer than I thought it would.
Normally, we all maintain pretty good poker faces on slow days. But this Saturday morning, no one attempted to hide his or her readiness to go home. One could almost read the comforting thoughts of hot coffee, showers, brunch, and couch sleeping on our faces. The unanimous decision to pack up and head home was made, and within 40 minutes, we were all enjoying our respective lazy, Saturday morning rituals.
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