Cloudy but Love is in the Air

Forecasters were a bit off. Again. It was suppose to be a perfect kind off day but, instead, we had mostly cloudy skies and even light rain that forced us to close a little early. We made the most of the morning and even had a nice surprise along the way. More on that shortly.

Danny was given most of the duties today so he could add to his experience with bird extraction and banding. Being a little slow, bird-wise, made it a better time to learn in a more detailed manner.



His first bird to practice extracting was a recaptured House Wren that we first banded last November.



A male Northern Cardinal tried to avoid the nets for a half hour but we did catch it soon enough. This was also a recaptured bird first caught in the adjoining net a few months ago so it seems he has staked out a territory. We noted its brilliant reds.



Gray Catbirds are on the move again. They have mostly been confined across the river from Fall through Winter but it seems that Spring has made them more restless and they were our most captured species today.



Bird of the Day was not even a bird we banded. It was a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites. This time of year they circle the property grabbing mid-air snacks and then typically drift off to parts unknown. We were totally surprised when a female landed atop a tree next to the banding table.



Several of us snapped photos as the clouds rolled back in and she surveyed the gathering below her. Meanwhile, a male Swallow-tailed Kite flew by with nest material in tow and took it to a nearby Pine, apparently starting a nest site.



Before long, the male flew over and began to copulate with the female!



They even seemed to share a little nuzzle during the process.



Mission accomplished, the male Swallow-tailed Kite flew off in search of more branches for the nest. A few minutes later, the female took flight and the birds were seen throughout the rest of the morning circling out near where we park. Next time out we will determine exactly which tree is being used for the nest.



Another male Northern Cardinal was captured next. This time it was a new bird. How many males are in this area? Seems we catch a new one every other week.



While we closed up, Susan got another Gray Catbird out of Net 6.



Wish we could have stayed a bit longer but it was not to be. We will not be banding next week but the following week should be more alive with migrating birds and hopefully more Kite sightings.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 6th.
All nets will be opened by 6:40 A.M.

If We Banded Leaves...

...we would have had the busiest day ever! Winds ahead of a strong front picked up soon after sunrise and kept captures of birds down and filled the nets with leaves as trees shed their spent fuel to renew again for Spring. Here in Central Florida we have more leaves fall before Spring than in the actual Fall.

However, we did get some birds early on, including a pair of Hermit Thrushes. One was banded this past December while the other was banded in December of 2012. Andrew actually heard one singing back in the woods which is not typical on their Wintering grounds this far South. Click here to go to a page of song recordings from the Hermit Thrush. Beautiful.



Our most numerous captures were, again, Yellow-rumped Warblers though it seems that the presence of this species is beginning to wane.



While we were banding one of the Yellow-rumps, Christine noticed an unusual pattern on the under-tail coverts. Most do not show this dashed pattern.



We captured a Swamp Sparrow and recaptured a young male Ruby-crowned Kinglet we first banded a few months ago before the winds started gusting up to 30 miles an hour.



Since we started spending more time extracting leaves and getting no birds we began shutting nets one by one as we got all of the mess out of them and decided to call it a day. Heavy rains are expected Monday into Tuesday and we hope that clears all the remaining dead leaves out of the canopy. Waterthrushes are being heard so migration is about to swing back North.

Note: Just a heads-up. We will be banding next Sunday but will not be banding on the 30th as several of us will be out of town but we will return on April 6th. Spring migration should be underway by then.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, March 23rd.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.

Waiting For It

Cold fronts continue to move through the state in weekly patterns and today we were on the trailing edge but thankfully there was not too much rain this week but we did have cooler temperatures to deal with. For Florida, 50 degrees is still a bit biting when the humidity and winds arrive. Wimps. We know. However, the radars were showing migrating birds on the wing so we hoped for the best and set out to see what would hit the nets.

We started the morning with a recaptured Hermit Thrush we banded in January and then a recaptured Carolina Wren we first banded nearly three years ago.



Danny brought his Grandmother out into the chill to show her the banding station and she was rewarded by letting the Wren go after we gathered information.



Yet another Hermit Thrush was soon captured. We first banded this bird in November.



Things grew quiet but we did recapture our Gray Catbird that has a white chin. This is the third time we have captured this bird in the past several months.



We waited for the sunlight to wake up the insects and warm the morning but it was slow in coming. We waited nearly 2 hours to actually catch another bird. Then the flood gates began to open. We got our first Yellow-rumped Warbler followed by several more. This 'bright' bird was released and was still seen all morning along the river.



More Yellow-rumps were captured and we even got a recaptured Eastern Phoebe as we headed back to the banding table.



Most of the volunteers had to leave early but they made another run before leaving and got more Yellow-rumps and a juvenile Blue Jay before they left.



Susan and Andrew were left to get a couple more runs in before closing up for the day. If we would have had the staff we could have been catching Yellow-rumped Warblers all day. Bugs were up and so were the birds!



We were worrying about how things would go after our first 3 birds and then nothing but now we had 18 more birds in the nets. Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most captured species.



A nice addition to the warblers was a Western Palm Warbler we previously banded to end our day, now later after the time shift of Daylight Saving Time.



Spring migration is underway. Who knows what we will find next weekend? Hopefully the same amount of birds or more.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, March 16th.
All nets will be opened by 7:05 A.M.

2nd Annual Lake Apopka Wildlife and Birdapalooza Festival

We were pleased to be asked back to give bird banding demonstrations at the 2nd Annual Lake Apopka Wildlife and Birdapalooza Festival. We had a great time last year and hoped to deliver more information to visitors again and looked forward to get more birds banded in the local area just outside of our usual Lake Lotus duties.



We had to do a bit more clearing of vegetation during the net setup than last year but we were up and running by 8:30 AM. Things were pretty quiet but Andrew heard and managed to pish in a Carolina Wren to make it our first bird of the day.



Rising breezes gave us concerns. When the first group of hikers stopped by we had no birds to show them but they were all over the treetops. It seemed like every Yellow-rumped Warbler in the state were overhead but not flying low. However, once the first group headed out the feeding flock moved down the net lane and quickly gave us 7 warblers to band.



Without our regular lines to hang bags on, Susan stood by to hand them off to Andrew, one by one, to be processed.



Fortunately, this happened as the next group, the children's hike, stopped by so we got to dispense a lot of good information.



We always try to have one of the visiting kids release one of the birds and this girl was thrilled to hold and release a bird back into the wild.



The winds quickly increased after the fog burned off and kept the warblers high above us. It was amazing how many birds were feeding overhead all day long. A lot of the lower concentrations of lower birds were flying into the heavily blooming Cherry Laurels nearby.



We tried to get shots of birds in the trees but they were darting in and out very quickly. If you stood long enough you might get a glimpse, however briefly.



The remainder of our midday was spent watching nets blowing in the wind. We did have a fellow bander from Massachusetts stop for a nice chat. As we showed them the net lane we had a male Northern Cardinal fly right over a net. His partner flew lower and we got to capture, band and release her soon afterwards.



Things remained quiet for a while. Andrew wandered out through the brush to take a look out on Lake Apopka. Nothing there except a small American Alligator enjoying the view and warming in the morning light.



We can still give folks information even when we have no birds in hand and after hearing about banding we also have information about nest boxes that Richard builds.



In fact, we soon discovered a nest box mounted on a tree in the area that Richard and Christine helped local students make and distribute in the local area. Christine and Tanka pose below the box near the lake.



As the day headed to a close we contemplated closing a bit early. The birds decided we were not done yet. Suddenly, we began catching birds in bigger numbers. Luckily, other visitors began to stop by and see the banding process. Another young man got to release one of our new warblers after banding.



His Dad was next as we had many Yellow-rumped Warblers on hand.



We caught another new female Northern Cardinal in that stretch.



A little extra yellow was added to the day as we captured an adult male Common Yellowthroat.



A House Wren was brought in next.



Another new species was added to the mix as we netted an Eastern Phoebe which we were not even hearing around today.



Wrapping up the day, we had another family stop by as we banded our 14th Yellow-rumped Warbler of the day. We nearly doubled last year's captures here and if not for the winds we would have had many more for our totals. The smile on a child's face makes up for any disappointments we might have had about the weather.



The birds kept us there until the end, thankfully. We gathered gear and headed out to regroup for the next banding day back 'home' at Lake Lotus. Andrew stopped by Lust Road a couple miles away but could only find a single Western Kingbird and a few Palm Warblers to round out the day.



Will will skip tomorrow at Lotus and get things reset for the following Sunday and can't wait for the 3rd Annual event next March.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, March 9th.
All nets will be opened by 7:15 A.M.