Turned out to be a pretty good day for the bander, Fred Bassett. He caught an immature male Ruby-throated in my yard, 4 birds in another gal's yard - one of which was originally banded 2 years ago by another bander in the same yard. The other 3 were Rubys as well.

Then in yard that has welcomed a number of species over the years, he caught 5 birds - 4 adult male Ruby-throateds, of which one was banded a few years ago in the same yard by the same bander. The fifth bird was an immature male Black-chinned. I got to see it and the gorget had just a couple of purple feathers coming in.

What we did notice was that most of the adult males and my immature one were all heavily molting, with only 2 or 3 of the old wing feathers left. All the birds appeared to be healthy and in good shape.

Still hoping to see more this winter, I for one would welcome some colder weather in the Panhandle to push the birds south to us. Will have to wait and see what the next few weeks hold for us.

Fred is off to a neighboring town, Valicro, tomorrow to a yard that often has 2 or 3 species and usually a larger number of birds.