Cloudy with a Chance...

We enjoyed the pretty sunrise but the clouds soon washed out the skies and became a wet blanket over our hopes for a good migration day. Catbirds were our only migrants and very little movement was seen in the trees around the area.



Our first bird was another resident Carolina Wren with a brood patch meaning it was out for a morning feeding round when it hit the nets. It was processed and released quick to resume its chores.



Next up, a female Northern Cardinal was brought in.



Paul, our guest from last week, returned and he braved a chance to release the bird. He did get his initiation into the 'biten by a Cardinal' club.



He was then called over by Richard who was checking the nest boxes. Flying Squirrels were nestled down under a pile of Spanish Moss.



No Coral Snakes today but a Black Racer did swing by for a quick visit.



We were glad to have Lynn come back out to the banding site. She has a great knack for noticing the interesting insects and flowers in the area and getting great photos of them. One of her first subjects (after the sunrise) was a Robber Fly (Family of 7,000 species known as Asilidae).



Pill Bug, Armadillidium vulgare, on a twig. When we were kids here in Florida we called them roly polies, or doodle bugs.



A Bagworm Moth was just hanging around along the trail.



Many Tent caterpillars are around. Some ore in their 'tents' and some are out foraging.



This rather odd looking caterpillar was also out looking for food.



Cottonwood Leaf Beetles are seen around the grasses all along the river.



Our other birds for the day were Gray Catbirds. Paul got to process them before we closed up for the morning.



We made a couple more trips down the lanes but with the bugs singing loudly already we knew the day was about over. Down near the lake we discovered a damselfly that Avery quickly helped us learn was called a Duck Weed Firetail.



Though turtles of many species call Lake Lotus home we hardly see them up in the river. This Red-bellied cooter was just past the mouth of the river by Net 21.



A damselfly and grasshopper seemed to be in a discussion on a stalk of grass.



We left the net lanes in the good hands (wings) of the Barred Owls and headed home a little earlier than scheduled.



Still a bit more of migration to go and we hope to catch some birds next Sunday when we are giving bird banding demonstrations for the park's Earth Day event. Last year we had many good species to show to the visiting public. Fingers crossed.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 26th across the river in Lake Lotus Park.
All nets will be opened by 7:30 A.M. but the event does not begin until 10 A.M.