Help us track Prothonotary Warblers!

8/22/2023

Prothonotary with visible aluminum band

Prothonotary with visible green color band

One of the most striking birds to be encountered in wetlands, the golden-fronted Prothonotary Warbler (PROW) captures the attention of anyone who catches a glimpse of these glittering inhabitants of forested swamps. To better understand their relationship with the marshes of northwest Ohio, BSBO has been fitting PROW with nanotag radio trackers since 2021, following their movements in spring and summer by utilizing the Motus network of automated radio telemetry towers (read more about that project HERE).

To complement that study and learn more about the dispersal of birds following the breeding season, our research team is beginning a new fall project to mark traveling PROW, and we could use your help!

Adult female PROW

Adult PROW with Green above Silver

Young male PROW

Young PROW with Silver above Green

Just as we've documented an increasing trend of PROW at our Navarre Marsh banding station in the spring, we've also noticed this same trend in fall. To document these birds following their departure from our banding station, we are now outfitting fall birds with a color band in addition to their federal aluminum band. It's hoped that one of these birds may be spotted during its southern migration, standing out better in binoculars and photos with a green band. But the highest chances for encounters will come next spring when these birds return to the marshes to breed, along with the thousands of birders and photographers visiting the region during spring migration.

If you happen across one of these green marked PROWs, let us know! The best documentation is with a camera, but if you spot one of our banded PROWs, please email [email protected] with the date of the sighting, the location, the color combination, and a photo (preferable). While it would be great to get a photo of the federal band and its number, this isn't always possible to accomplish. But a photo with the combination of green and silver will at least let us know whether the bird was banded as an adult (green above silver) or a young of the year (silver above green).

We look forward to hearing from you soon as we try to learn more about this shimmering species.

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ABOUT THE
NAVARRE MARSH BANDING STATION

The Observatory's primary banding station is located in Navarre Marsh behind the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station on Toledo Edison property. Migration monitoring consists of constant effort mist netting and migration point counts (5 minute counts at 6 locations at the research site).

Habitat is remnant beach ridge consisting of canopy trees of Hackberry, Kentucky Coffeetree, and Cottonwood with tremendous under story of rough-leaved Dogwood on the sand ridges. This is similar to the vegetation found on the well-known beach ridge of the Magee Marsh Bird Wildlife Area where the world-famous boardwalk is situated.

Two other remnant beach ridge habitats in Northwest Ohio are the Darby unit of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge. The Navarre beach ridge is the largest of them all occupying about 370 acres of wetland and beach ridge habitat.

The Navarre Marsh Migration Monitoring Station is on private property and not open to the public; however, we are able to give access to research students when special arrangements are made in advance.

We'd love to hear from you! Let us know how you like the BSBO Bird Bander's Blog by emailing us at: [email protected].

BSBO Research Blog