Nice Weather. Few Birds.

Saturday rains remained later than expected but the cold front finally moved through overnight allowing birds to take flight straight South. Unfortunately, that meant they flew past us in the process. A lower capture rate was made at least a bit enjoyable as we got to wander through a beautiful morning.



Our first bird of the morning was one of our local, recaptured Carolina Wrens.



Gray Catbirds again were present by voice early in the day but we only caught one along the way. They seem to be staying mainly on the park side of the river.



A Green Heron was seen and flushed throughout the morning down near the lake. We are betting we get it in a net at some point but we cannot band herons.



Andrew checked nets and arrived at Net 5 to see what looked like yet another leaf in the top of the net. Instead, it turned out to be our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet capture of the season.



This adult male was an unbanded bird, for a couple minutes. Females do not show the red crest that males do. We are still waiting to get the already banded Ruby-crowned Kinglets we have seen earlier this Fall.



Woodpeckers were heard and seen all morning and Lynn got a shot of one of the Red-bellied Woodpeckers foraging in the trees.



A bit later, Linda ran over to get Andrew to help Lynn extract a feisty White-eyed Vireo recapture.



Now for a view from the opposite direction.



Soon afterward, two Eastern Phoebes were caught in Net 21 right next to each other. No doubt they were chasing one another while feeding. One of these birds was first banded a couple of years ago. We are continuing to get some interesting recaptures now that we have been established for 6 years here.



Ranger Frank stopped by to check out things and was given the task of releasing our newest banded Eastern Phoebe.



Bird-of-the-Day goes to a Palm Warbler we first banded nearly 3 years ago. In fact, it was one of the first Palm Warblers ever captured here at Lake Lotus. We now see returning Palm Warblers on a regular basis which is good site fidelity data.



Now we wait for the (late) Hermit Thrushes and returning Yellow-rumped Warblers to come back. Next weekend should be another good weather situation. Hopefully, more birds will roam the area then.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, November 10th.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.