A Little Windy

Tropical Storm Phillippe was to our Southeast but a strong cold front from the West was keeping it out to sea. However, that would mean mist and increasing strong winds as the morning wore on. Bird activity was at a minimum but we heard a few Indigo Buntings in flight. We did end up with a few interesting birds, though, and Andrew got to see our resident Bobcat in the dark before setting nets.

Eastern Phoebes returned last week and were taunting us all day. The first capture of the season happened right at dawn.



Closely following the Phoebe, our first Hermit Thrush of the Fall of 2017 was brought in. The more reddish tail distinguishes it from Swainson's Thrushes.



Nearly an hour later, Christine got a female Painted Bunting at Net 9. Turns out that we first banded this bird 6 1/2 years ago as an adult. She seems to be doing quite well. Guests from FSC in Lakeland arrived just in time to see our bunting recorded and began their day with us to check nets for the majority of the morning.



The first bird that they got to see removed from a net was a new female Northern Cardinal. If they are unbanded then we are pretty sure they were born here earlier in the year as her black streaks on her bill showed. In the meantime, have a cigar so you don't bite us!



Even bird calls were infrequent today but we did hear a few Catbirds and eventually we got one juvenile Gray Catbird as the winds began to actually howl.



The crowd watched the Gray Catbird being banded and volunteers helped to record data and release the bird as Dr. Green joined us for a bit.



Temperatures were definitely dipping and the winds were still pushing in as we closed up. Connie found a Swainson's Thrush while we bagged nets and then headed back to process the juvenile bird.



Surprised we had at least a few birds today with the fowl weather and glad that we could show some visiting students the process of bird banding. More buntings and butterbutt warblers are here so perhaps we can have a lighter wind to catch more birds next Sunday. November, already...

Note: Daylight Saving Time is Sunday morning! Fall back 1 hour!!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, November 5th.
All nets will be opened by 6:10 A.M.