Well, we had one dry week. Back to wet feet, again, as rain rains fell the previous night. The water was not restricted to the ground as the Smilax can attest.
Common Yellowthroats ruled the weekend. More of this species, like this adult male, were captured than any other though both of our banding days featured almost identical species captures.
Today we added two Ovenbirds to our data.
Our 2nd Brown Thrasher of the season was captured in the middle of the net lanes. They are suddenly very active up and down the river.
A male Black-throated Blue Warbler was caught in Net 5. This net catches most of this species over the years.
Black-throated Blue Warblers are gorgeous no matter which angle you choose.
Andrew gets data including checking for fat density on a Common Yellowthroat.
We caught three White-eyed Vireos today, a record for a single day. Usually we only manage one at a time.
New and recaptured Carolina Wrens found their way into the nets on both days this weekend.
Many folks think of Carolina Wrens as just boring brown but that is certainly not the case when they are in hand.
A majority of Common Yellowthroats captured were juvenile and adult males but we still got a few females along the way.
A nice surprise at the end of the day was a female American Redstart though she looks rather worn after a long journey.
Sunday the 29th
Sunday morning was a bit drier even down by the Cypress swamp area behind Net 18.
Soon, the Common Yellowthroats were up and about starting with a young male.
Maria spotted a Limpkin roaming the river banks early in the morning.
One of the trees that had died a while ago broke in half a few weeks ago. This morning Andrew noticed the rest of the trunk was leaning toward Net 14. It was only being held up by a limb of another tree. One stiff wind and it could have fallen onto the net. Andrew decided to push over in the other direction.
They're back in numbers. We could hear them all over today and we finally caught our first Gray Catbird of the season.
Later on the insects began coming out in force including a Damselfly.
During a lull (we had fewer birds today compared to Saturday) Andrew couldn't stop yard work. He and Maria spent a fair amount of time removing Skunkvine from the Willows near the lake.
They were called back to the table to see the latest Black-throated Blue Warbler of the weekend.
Time to wrap up for the day. A Bird Grasshopper and friends were resting by the edge of the river.
Next weekend should be even more exciting if the weather holds. We will be there both days again.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.
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