Familiar Returns. No Flood.

Time for our annual all-weekend banding stint. Typically, this is the weekend the dam bursts and the bird flood in. Peak migration. For the first time in memory, this did not happen.

A front draped itself across the northern Gulf stretching to the Atlantic. Not a huge amount of storm energy but enough to close the door our peak birds use on their ways south. Birds in motion now are using the route through Texas.

However, we did capture some birds that made it through. One of the species returning right on time is the House Wren. We started catching them on Saturday.



We have been hearing Brown Thrashers for weeks but they have been able to avoid the nets. Until now. We recaptured this bird that we first banded last year.



Common Yellowthroats are still in the area but not much of anything is flying this weekend. We captured a few over the weekend.



Surprise of the day was catching another young Painted Bunting in the same spot we caught an even younger bird a couple weeks ago. There must be a nesting pair right around us somewhere.



Sunday was just about as quiet as Saturday. We were joined by Nancy and Bill LaFramboise who wanted to check out out operation. Nancy recently acquired her banding permit and will be starting a station in Stuart, FL. we let her sit in for a few birds and we provided information about birds we have discovered over the years.



We captured another young male Cardinal.



This bird was undergoing a tail molt which you can see nicely in this shot.



As we were trying to figure out what was flying up in the oaks at one point, a Gnatcatcher basically fell into the net in front of us.



A nice female American Redstart joined us for a short visit. Looks like she could use some fresh tail feathers.



The White-eyed Vireo we caught was a very young bird. It loved to nip. Here is a little behind the scenes view of our typical photo sessions.



And here is the view from the other camera.



Still collecting Ovenbirds throughout the morning.



The day ended with a Swainson's Thrush, most of which have been down in net 8 which is located in the pine area of the lanes.



We will watch a slow moving front this week and hope that it clears enough to allow better migration traffic for next weekend.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday, October 7th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.

A Nice Variety But No Flood Yet

It seemed like today might be a big day based on findings in the area yesterday but the front that had been stalled over Florida for a week finally broke and allowed birds to continue South. Seems a lot took advantage of the good winds but we still had a good day.

The morning started with a rush. We captured another Veery on the first run.



In the same net, just feet apart, we got out first Swainson's Thrush of the season. We caught another Swainson's later in the day.



We have been hearing Brown Thrashers in the brush for the past few weeks. One of our birds we banded previously decided to make our acquaintance again.



The next run included one of two Ovenbirds for the day.



Common Yellowthroats ruled the day for the second week running and we managed to band a wide range of ages, from the youngest of males...



...to a slightly older one...



...all the way to a full-grown adult. We also captured females, too.



Last week we captured a few White-eyed Vireos. The majority of them were juveniles. Today we caught adults. One early in the morning...



...and another not long before we left.



Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are notoriously difficult to capture. We saw several escape nets last Sunday and once they figure out where a net is you can watch them fly headlong at it and then suddenly hover, change direction, and go right over or around it. Today, however, one was not paying attention. She is a pretty little bird.



Finally, what day would be complete without a visit from our local Carolina Wrens? We had some recaptures and a new bird to join the other family members in having some 'jewelry'.



Historically, next weekend is the peak rush for Fall Migration. As we usually do, we will band both days to try and capture as many birds as possible before they all clear through. It is always a hit or miss affair. If we are not there on the right day, we are left with meager banding subject. Being optimists, we prefer to think of our nets as 'half-full'.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday, September 29th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

September Migrants Return

Fronts to the North and South have birds pretty well stuck where they are for now. That meant we would have to see what we could manage with what got here in the past couple weeks since we had to miss last week. Turned out that certain species are right on time based on our records.

Case in point, we captured our first Veery of the season today. Last year we only captured one Veery but it was at the same time of year. Hope we can get more of them this year.



Can't believe there are still Cardinals around that we haven't banded! Today we caught a young male to add to the list.



The other species that arrived right on time was the Common Yellowthroat. They made up the majority of our captured birds.



We only caught 2 adult Yellowthroats. All the rest were male and female hatch-year birds.



Another week and another Ovenbird was banded.



The second most caught species today were White-eyed Vireos. Like the Common Yellowthroats, the majority of these were also hatch-year birds. You can tell most juvenile White-eyed Vireos by their dark eyes.



Then compare that to the one adult we caught that shows the much brighter eye.



Bird-of-the-Day actually belongs to this little bird. A Painted Bunting! Typically, we begin seeing buntings in October so this was a fun surprise.



Better still, it turned out to be a recently fledged bird. That means it was born somewhere close to where we caught it! Breeding Painted Buntings at Lake Lotus. Sweet!!



It is going to take something extra-special to beat that next week. I think we are up for the challenge.

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 23th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Calm Before the Storm

Word of the Day: Wet.



Our last storm was the previous Thursday, but the humidity is still high and shoes and pants are soaked just walking the net lanes. The past two days have opened up the East Coast for good flying weather so bird sightings were actually very low. If Andrew wouldn't have checked the net lanes on Saturday we would have been stuck with one bird this weekend. He caught 3 on Saturday with limited nets.

One new addition for the season was the return of Golden Silk Orb Weavers.



We did more clipping around the area to trim up some plants and waited. Near the banding table we found some mushrooms enjoying the moisture from the past few weeks.



Near Net 14, a Lubber Grasshopper rests while molting into a new set of wings.



Two feet away, a very young Anole poses in the morning sunlight.



The end of the net lane was partially under water but we found a glowing pink mass near the swampy areas.



Clusters of the Apple Snail eggs are on many Cypress trunks. Should be good feeding for the Limpkins soon.



Out near the flooded spots, Primrose Willows are beginning to bloom. These plants have not been seen in numbers before. They are spreading now.



Next to the blooms, many Darners flit along the mouth of the river.



We did still manage to catch a few birds this weekend. A couple of Carolina Wrens joined the totals with one recapture and one new bird.



We also banded two new Ovenbirds.



We had a Common Yellowthroat in the nets but it escaped before recovering. However, that lets us know that this species is now on the way through and we should start banding them in numbers next week.

Seems like the remaining rain that was Isaac is trying to return into the Gulf so we will see what next week brings. Rain? Hurrying birds through the front? Time will tell, as usual.

NOTE: No banding on Sunday, Sept. 9th due to threat of rain.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 16th.
All nets will be opened by 6:35 A.M.