Less Wind, Few Birds

The winds finally backed off for a bit but the birds present were also down. However, it is nice to start the day with an Eastern Screech Owl. It was captured just at dawn.



Eastern Screech Owls always close their eyes or sometimes wink when they are being banded.



The silly owl did not want to release its grip on the holding bag through the entire banding process. All we could get were these undignified shots. Once we carefully removed those talons from the bag the owl quickly changed its posture and flew off into the woods.



Next up was a Gray Catbird. They are getting rather restless lately on the edge of homeward migration time.



Other critters are getting restless, too. More and more species of spider, like this Golden Silk Orb Weaver, are setting webs all over the property. The web this gal made in the woods is just over 6 feet across!



Honey Bees are busy collecting food through the Spider Wort patch between Nets 19 and 6.



Blue Jays were busy harassing the Barred Owls. Momma was found peeking through an oak branch.



We could finally navigate into a better angle to get some nicer photos.



A few Swamp Sparrows are still out in the marsh and along the lake shore.



Bald Eagles can usually be spotted on the far side of the lake where they have a nest. Sometimes they take a flight all the way to our side to hunt or try to steal fish from the Ospreys.



Several Green Herons were chasing one another out by the lake. This one decided to hide in the shade.



One of our Limpkin made its way far up river this morning probing for shelled meals.



It was fascinating to watch how easily the Limpkin could locate these snacks when we could not see any evidence that they existed just beneath the sand.



As the day wore down we caught a couple of House Wrens. The first one was first banded in December of 2015.



William, one of our latest volunteers, got to release the House Wren.



The second House Wren was just banded last November. House Wrens are not making their presence known so it was a little surprise to get these two before they head North to their breeding grounds.



As we were closing up nets, this turtle was sitting in the middle of the net lane. It soon decided to head into dense grass but we thought it would be more safe to take it directly to the river. One let to the edge of the water it swam away in a better direction.



April is the peak of Spring migration and hopefully we can take advantage of this next month.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 2nd.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.