Welcome to a happy message! The front on Monday morning left us with gorgeously clear skies – and enough wind all night that for us, it was a total waste. Next to no birds! But we did have excitements: The Catbird that we caught from Braddock Bay (west of Rochester, NY) in the spring reappeared with wing molt not quite finished. Apparently, it spent the summer!! Our first ever return Downy Woodpecker showed us one way that woodpeckers do wing molt. It was first caught in 3W0 on 16 Aug. 2015 and retrapped in 3E9. We guess it lived here for the year but our guess is that he was lonely. Then, we caught the cuckoo! All this was happening while we had a succession of visitors from the SeaShoals family class, and other visiting families. The Yellow Warbler with an unfamiliar band appeared for the second time this fall and turned out to be a bird David Bonter had banded on Island on 27 May 2016. Liz and Kiah took turns running Crystal Lake in the afternoon. Jeff Ott appeared in the afternoon : ) . And the season’s first Black-throated Green Warbler also appeared in the afternoon. And that’s more than enough text for one day. Jeff, Kiah, Liz, and David send you the pure beauty of a clear, warm, fall day on Appledore Island.
