Then..., wait. This is a birding blog. I got distracted. OK. Oh, alright.
The river was lower this week despite even more rain near the end of last week which let us open all nets and see what might be around. The humidity was still way up and provided some nice views of the river giving up heat and causing steam to rise from the Little Wekiva most of the morning and captured by Maria during the session.
The heavy rains have spawned a lot of new growth. Most have been the alarming return of thousands of Air Potatoes but also some interesting fungus growths on the trunks of fallen trees.
Bird-wise, it was a banner day for Carolina Wrens. We did catch a few adults, some recaptures, and it was encouraging to see Net 3 getting some action. We caught 2 adult Wrens in that net today, including this one.
Primarily, we captured a slew of young Wrens, such as this bird, and most of them were down near the lake and were getting in the nets all at the same time. We also had a recapture of a young bird near the banding table where it was caught a few weeks ago.
Breeding seem to be going quite well for the Carolina Wrens! Nice data!
We also had a new volunteer joining us, Alicia, who was not too put off by one of our other pastimes. Plucking the Air Potato vines from the area. While doing this, Alicia found a great skeleton of a Raccoon just near Net 2.
Here is a close-up of the head.
As the day wore on (the Barred Owls were about but cleared off fairly early) we explored the insects, including the ever-present Horace's Duskywings.
Other plants are springing up and we will explore them next week and see how many new birds we can band. Looking like more Wrens and hoping to get a few of the Great-crested Flycatchers or Pileated Woodpeckers teasing us at the moment.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, June 7th.
We will open nets around 6:00 A.M.
I believe your raccoon skeleton is actually an oppossum!
ReplyDeleteSo I hear. Thanks!
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