Date: 9/22/25 11:29 am From: Alan Moss via groups.io <alanmoss1616...> Subject: [NEBirds] Chadron State Park Banding Week 4 (9/15-9/20) #CSPBanding
Hi Nebraska Birders,
I had a very up-and-down week last week, with the inclement weather limiting my total banding time. I actually started work on Monday to go ahead and get in a day of banding before the bad weather started. I then had to take off Tuesday, and only worked partial days on Wednesday and Thursday with low capture rates in subpar conditions.
However, the week ended with a bang. Saturday seemed like it was going to be a normal, slow day. After getting 5 Orange-crowned Warblers on the first few net checks, it slowed down and I didn't catch anything for several hours. This is pretty typical, and I thought the day was pretty much over. Then when I went out for the 9:50 check I was stunned to find a total of 20 birds in the nets! It seems that I had a migratory mixed-species hit the nets all at once. The vast majority of these were Orange-crowned Warblers, but I also had Black-capped Chickadees, my first Yellow-rumped Warblers of the season (both of the Myrtle subspecies group), and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. But the real prize was a Palm Warbler mixed in with all of the Orange-crowneds, only the second every caught at CSP. I actually caught 17% of my total newly banded birds for the season to that point in a single net run!
While I hope I keep continuing to get more migrants, I do hope that they are more evenly distributed in the future! But as it is, this one day made last week the most productive of the season by far. Other notable birds were a Cassin's Vireo and Lincoln's Sparrow last Monday and a Swainson's Thrush on Friday, all of which were firsts for this season.
