Excitement at the bird banding station

yellow fronted canary

 A bird was caught Wednesday that stumped master bird bander Vern Kleen, and that is unheard of!  It was an exotic species called a Yellow-fronted Canary, native to Africa. As far as we know, there are not any breeding populations in the Midwest and there is no indication that this bird was ever captive.  If there is general agreement within the birding community that this was not an escapee, and there are no records of this species in the Midwest, the capture of this bird will be HUGE in the birding world. Biology Professor Tony Rothering will keep us posted!