And we are back! Peg and I arrived late Monday afternoon on the Heiser and headed straight down to the station to begin the process of station set-up. It was a brutally hot day with blazing sun and no breeze, and we were already sweating heavily by the time we got to the station. We took a moment to catch our breath and enjoy the coolness of the Grass Lab, before beginning the process of hauling poles and nets out to the lanes to begin our set-up.
A little bit later we were thrilled to welcome the arrival of Lilah – their dad was the island’s former lead boat captain – who found us as we were deep into setting up long line. It can be a bit of a challenge to set up the nets with only 2 people given the juggling act of holding a pole while tying the guy lines, and then walking the net to the next pole and trying to hold that one while tying those guy lines, yet still needing someone to hold the first pole until the second is up. It’s definitely a bit comical at times with just 2 people. By dusk we had gotten the nets largely up – if still in need of some tweaking – and so we headed up to the dorms to settle into our room.
We were up early the next morning, finished the net set-up, and then began carrying all our bins out to the Werly Shed for station set-up. Once again we had Lilah’s enthusiastic and capable assistance, and later in the morning their dad, and younger brother, Elan – our AIMS engineer – providing some additional assistance. By lunchtime we had everything ready and we headed up to quickly grab some lunch, and then officially opened for the fall 2025 season. By then it was brutally hot and sunny again and so we welcomed the relative cool – and shade – of the Werly Shed between net runs.
Despite the heat we did have some decent bird activity for our first day – kicking off, of course, with 3 HY Gray Catbirds. We were expecting an ongoing parade of HY GRCA – and only HY GRCA – and so we were very pleased with the arrival over the afternoon of 3 HY Downy Woodpeckers, a HY Northern Cardinal, and a beautiful ASY female Yellow Warbler. We also had a couple of early migrants – an AHY female American Redstart and a HY Northern Waterthrush.
The great fun was the slew of Carolina Wrens that arrived in our nets after dinner. Altogether we had 6 HY CARW, 1 new AHY female CARW, and 1 return AHY female CARW – both with receding brood patches. It was very clear we had two families as they came in two groups and each time were in the same area of the nets.
By the end of the day we had banded 29 new birds, and had 3 returns – not bad for a half day in early fall. And a fun warm up day – literally! – to get our hands and brains back in the banding game.
Goodnight for now…we are hoping for more birds – and less heat! – tomorrow.
Rebecca, Peg, and Lilah
Banding Summary – 8/12/25
| American Redstart | 1 |
| Yellow Warbler | 3 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 3 |
| Carolina Wren | 7 |
| Gray Catbird | 13 |
| Northern Cardinal | 1 |
| TOTAL | 29 |