Spring migration season has begun here at the Sullivan’s Island Bird Banding Station. Northern parulas and prairie warblers are beginning to move through, and some of them may decide to stay here to breed. The chuckwill’s widows arrived last week, and they are establishing territories now. We have been opening nets before dawn to target chuck-will’s. Four of them bounced out of the mist nets this week, but they escaped so quickly that we were unable to capture and band them. We haven’t banded a chuck-will’s since 2016, but we’re hopeful for better luck this spring.
Winter migrants are beginning their journeys north to their breeding grounds. The yellow-rumped warblers that were so abundant over the last five months are all but gone. The few stragglers are molting into their breeding plumage before they migrate north to breed. Other overwintering birds we have captured this week include swamp sparrows, orange-crowned warblers, gray catbirds and cedar waxwings. The bird pictured is an adult male cedar waxwing. We determined that this bird was an adult male due to its dark throat patch and the eight waxy appendages on its secondaries.
Female waxwings have a lighter throat patch and fewer waxy appendages.
Cedar waxwings are on their way north, but you will continue to see large foraging flocks in our area throughout April. This species is largely frugivorous, and you can spot them feeding in a variety of trees and shrubs in our area, including American holly, mulberries, cedars and palmetto trees. They consume more insects during the breeding season, when they need the extra protein to lay eggs and feed their young.
If you are interested in visiting or volunteering at the Sullivan’s Island Bird Banding Station, contact Sarah Harper at sullivansislandbirds@gmail.com.
