Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Sharpie Warms Our Day

Three hearty souls braved the cold morning (39-ish degrees-Don't laugh) for the first time in weeks to see what might be flying. Our hands never warmed up until we were about to leave. The capture of a special bird did warm our hearts, though. More on the Bird-of-the-Day and the end, of course.

Our firs bird of the day was a young Gray Catbird.

Gray Catbird

It displayed an interesting tail molt.

Gray Catbird

Next up, our first of three Palm Warblers for the day.

Palm Warbler

The final Palm Warbler of the day was caught as we were closing up the nets.

Palm Warbler

Nice to have another Swamp Sparrow for the season. Yes, the gloves never came off.

Swamp Sparrow

Checking on the lake, we found a Pied-billed Grebe, a Limpkin, and dozens of vultures lifting up into the increasing winds.

Pied-billed Grebe

Also down by the lake was an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Can you tell we are rushing right along? Why? Our Bird-of-the-Day.

As Greg and Andrew walked the trail they noticed a curious sight. Hanging in Net 14 was a hawk. A Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

This is the first Sharpie we have captured here. We used to get a couple out at Wekiwa Springs. Which made us wonder once we noticed this bird was already banded!

Sharp-shinned Hawk

It was a juvenile so it couldn't be one of those banded by us. Must have been banded this year and arrived here during migration. Probably.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The number was sent to the Bird Banding Laboratory. They say they do not have a record of this band. Yet. They will get back to us with that info when they can. For now, we get to enjoy the moment before Greg releases the bird back into the wild.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Next week should be warmer. Better be...

Happy New Year!!!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, January 6th.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Foggy Start/Bright Finish

We arrived at the site revealing the 4th day in a row of heavy fog in the Central Florida area. We set nets and waiting until dawn but not many birds were moving. While waiting for the next net run, Bob and Greg relax at the banding area.

Fog

Well after sunrise and the fog is still thick as demonstrated by scanning the lake. The Window on the Lake is just becoming visible. Not even the lake residents were out in this soup.

Fog

Finally, Charles found our first bird of the morning. A young Gray Catbird.

Gray Catbird

A bit later we recaptured a White-eyed Vireo.

White-eyed Vireo

Quiet time leads to bird watching. Out near the lake, a few birds are feeding through the willows and cattails. One bird was a female Downy Woodpecker. Not just any Downy. It is one of our banded females. The band has been circled since it is partially hidden by the branch.

Downy Woodpecker

Also near the lake, we noticed a flowering plant that was usually seen only around the pier and now seems to be spreading our way. Christine did some searching and we believe it to be a Bur-Marigold species. Hard to get a shot of them here as they point toward the rising Sun.

Bur-Marigold

Time wore on and it was looking like it was going to be difficult to get more birds today in these conditions. After a while, Andrew managed to talk an Orange-crowned Warbler into Net 21. The Sun was beginning to burn off the thinning overcast.

Orange-crowned Warbler

We decided to stay open for just a little longer since the light was finally streaming through. However, along with the welcoming sunlight was a quick increase in the winds. Leaves began gathering in the nets and the decision was made to close up. We headed up the trail and plucked leaves and shut nets along the way.

Greg had gone up ahead of the crew and he soon was heading back asking for bags. Seems our fortunes just changed. Greg was carrying a Blue-headed Vireo back to the table on the way to get more bags and reporting there were at least a dozen more birds out near the lake!

There were a total of 15 birds in Net 21! Most were Palm Warblers but there was that vireo and in the center of the net was a Downy Woodpecker. The same one we were watching earlier in the day.

Downy Woodpecker

Our guess is that the Downy flew into the net first and began making noise trying to escape. This attracted a nearby flock of feeding birds straight into the net. Every bird we caught on this round entered the net on the same side and were arranged around the woodpecker. Twelve of the flock were Eastern Palm Warblers.

Eastern Palm Warbler

Eastern Palm Warblers usually seem to hang out in drier spots but it is nice to see so much yellow up close.

Eastern Palm Warbler

The other birds were the typically more common, duller Western Palm Warblers.

Western Palm Warbler

We don't catch a lot of Palm Warblers we we catch even fewer Blue-headed Vireos as they tend to prefer higher branches. For that reason we will call this one our Bird-of-the-Day, even though we had fifteen.

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo are one of Greg's favorites. We heard several overhead at the banding table as we banded the flock of Palm Warblers.

Blue-headed Vireo

This bird's eyes were so dark that it was hard to tell they were not completely black. However, Bob got a side shot that shows that actual color is hiding in there.

Blue-headed Vireo

So, the Sun broke through in time to help us get an excellent catch before we headed home. Birds go where they wanna. Glad we waited a few more minutes today and look forward to next weekend.
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NOTE: Circumstances have led us to take a break. No banding 12/16th and cold weather has canceled our planned 23rd. Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, December 30th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Really Quiet, But an Interesting Recovery

Well, that was a quiet day. We could hear birds all around during the morning but there were not many moving through the area. Just hanging out and feeding. We only captured a Hermit Thrush and a Gray Catbird.

The interesting thing is the Catbird. We first banded this bird as a young bird on February, 6th, 2011. What makes that important is that we often recapture Catbirds that stay in the area for the Winter and through the Spring but we have never recaptured a bird in a later year! We always wonder why. We have banded thousands of Catbirds but they never have returned that we know of. Until today.

With little else to do, besides checking the nets, we did some bird watching and looked for anything to photograph. The only striking view was a Balsam Apple fruit against the vegetation down near the lake.

Balsam Apple

After banding, Andrew returned to check out the Hooded Mergansers at Maitland Center. There were nine birds there as opposed to last week's five.

Hooded Merganser

There are now two males and seven females.

Hooded Merganser

The males are always a wonder to behold.

Hooded Merganser

Weather patterns might shift by next weekend and hopefully that will get the birds moving around a bit more.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, December 9th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.