First Migrants in the Books

Not the most spectacular day in the woods, but a fairly normal end to August. Finally getting some migrants lower into the nets but still mainly capturing local birds.

As Andrew was getting to the last net, he was met by a very large Bull Frog in the path that let him attempt a dark morning shot.



Our largest species captured of the day were Carolina Wrens. Some were new and others were recaptures.



Apparently, there were heavy rains nearby overnight and the water levels were quite high. It seemed like the perfect setup for Waterthrushes and others but none of the expected species showed themselves. There were, however, a large number of Red-eyed Vireos around today.



Our best friends, the Air Potato Beetles, were out in huge numbers and mating and devouring their host plants. Thanks, beetles!



Just after we began wondering were the Ovenbirds were, we caught one in Net 2.



One of our other Carolina Wrens.



The Bird-of-the-Day was captured early on. This is the first Yellow-throated Warbler ever banded at Lake Lotus. We used to get several at Wekiwa Springs. Nice to add it to our growing list of captures here.



If the approaching storm front holds off a bit we should be getting more and more migrants. Hoping the winds stay a bit calm with the drier conditions this week.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 2nd.
All nets will be opened by 6:35 A.M.

Locals Captured, Migrants Seen.

More quiet than expected. Checking on the records, things start to ramp up next week. Always seems like it should be earlier. Sometimes it is, actually. Some migrants are showing up in different parts of the state, but we caught none today. All locals.

We got a real bad cell phone shot of caterpillars that Susan discovered by Net 14. Searching around the web seems to suggest that they are Io Moth caterpillars all clumped together.



It was very quiet through much of the morning and then we finally had Net 16 holding 3 birds. The Cardinal escaped before we could get there but the other two were Carolina Wrens. One was a juvenile that was first banded in the Spring.



The second was and new adult and we can't believe it hadn't been captured earlier. It was getting rid of its brood path heading into Fall.



One of our new rangers, Corey is documenting things around the park, including our banding site, and he got to release both of the Carolina Wrens this morning. We are looking forward to seeing and helping his documentation as an upgrade to the park's information.



While the nets were being checked, the ladies found a juvenile Opossum up in the trees next to Net 18. All sorts of mammals roam about the site morning, noon, and night.



Kate found one of our migrants seen today. A Yellow Warbler out in the marsh. While we were extracting the Wrens, we had a Black and White Warbler drop low, and we saw a few Redstarts, too.



More first of Fall migrants should arrive next week (knock nets) and then we get more and more busy through October. Just keep the storms away!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 26th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.

"W" is for...

...Wet.

Apparently, it rained hard overnight in the Lake Lotus area. Morning skies were completely clear before dawn but the property was saturated and did not really dry out all morning. Not a good situation for banding in our experience. Birds tend to stay tucked away, unless they are rubbing against the soaked leaves to bathe like Hummingbirds were doing. Otherwise, we were soggy.



We did not hear many birds throughout the morning. Our one (!) banded bird was a super worn molting female Northern Cardinal. She has seen better dresses but is coming out of Mommy mode so she will be much prettier soon.



Then things got quiet. We did catch a juvenile Carolina Wren, but it escaped the bag on the way back to the table. However, it flew up to a snag nearby and made Andrew notice something up in the vegetation above. A large Air Potato vine was reaching up about 40 feet high and it seemed to be trailing something underneath. Andrew hauled it out of the tree and was surprised to find it was flowers hanging there.

We have observed Air Potato in the area for more than a decade and none of us have ever seen one blooming. Seemed they only spread by tubers, which is mainly true, but those had to start from somewhere, right. Chicken and egg thing. Potatoes come from somewhere and the ones you get in the store do bloom.

Time for research! According to the IFAS Extension of the University of Florida: "Although air potato rarely flowers in Florida, the plant can produce small, fragrant flowers that arise from the leaf axils and grow in loose clusters up to four inches long. Male and female flowers are found on separate plants. No fruits or male flowers have ever been observed in Florida."

Interesting.



The Air Potato Beetles are appearing in larger numbers in many areas of the property. They need to catch up!



One of our resident Limpkin was near the marsh just across the fence and wandering to and fro. No calling this morning.



There were many Grasshoppers hanging out on the wet grasses waiting to dry out, like this brown one. So many species, so little time for research this week...



The wooded area behind the net lanes have undergone big changes over the Summer. Grape vines have covered vast swathes of the forest floor and many old snags and branches have fallen during the many storms in the past few months. Where you find downed tree material, you soon find fungus feeding on it.



Nearby, an Orb weaver (probably a Tropical Orb weaver) was enjoying a late morning meal. Closer inspection revealed it to be the last of some dragonfly species.



There are several patches of Sensitive Briar spreading throughout the lanes and back in the pine flat woods. This one was being visited by a metallic green bee.



We are going to end with a great collection of Kate's macro work this morning among the grasses. Not a ton of time to track down exact species, so if anyone knows then we can update later.

We do recognize Earwigs. Don't see them all the time as they shuffle around in the leaf litter, but we remember being terrified by them as children while exploring in the woods. Not dangerous. So they say...



Another spider for the morning. Looks related to Long-jawed Orb-weavers but hard to tell from this angle. Nice droplet web, though.



A two-fer! A Grasshopper and Leaf Hopper having a chat. Possibly a Rosemary Grasshopper?



Beetle time! There are a lot of beetles in the state in all colors and shapes. Most of them are overlooked. Kate did not miss them. We could take insect portraits all day, if we chose to.



Ok, maybe a hopper? Too cute to pass up despite those spines!



Beetles have to start somewhere. This one is in the larval stage which looks a lot like Ladybugs before they form their round, spotted carapace.



So...not skunked, but perplexed. Migrants should be in the nets by now. Winds are odd to the North and the Pacific is super stormy while the Atlantic sleeps. Just need one more big gust to shift toward the southeast. Hoping tomorrow starts the more interesting part of the early season.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 19th.
All nets will be opened by 6:25 A.M.

Session 10 Begins

Ah, the beginning of the next Session. Number 10. Lanes are cleared and most of the day was spent clearing some remaining trouble spots, repairing broken net lines and catching the same thing we capture every first week of August: Baby Carolina Wrens. It did rain the night before, so we had a fairly pleasant morning, tempture-wise. No real sauna as we usually find.



We have a new volunteer on site, Melanie, who was given the task of banding the first of our morning Wrens. Nice to have someone to get things rolling as Andrew and Richard were busy repairing lines and sprucing up overgrown areas where we can.



The rain for the past few weeks has caused the Little Wekiva to rise even higher than last year in a consistent fashion. So much so, that Andrew moved Net 23 back toward Net 18. It is now designated Net 24. Chances of reaching the lake at this point are slim to none. As Andrew's Dad used to say, "Slim to none, and Slim left town..." Maybe late Fall, but the water is encroaching closer and closer to the end of the lanes.



It is interesting to look at past data and see that, almost exclusively, all we band during the first week of August are juvenile Wrens. Typically, we catch 3. This year it was a total of 5, so species seems to being doing well this year.



Another task we set to is looking for Air Potato Beetles. Last week we found only signs that they were in the area since leaves were being eaten. Today we found many adults all over the property. This bad photo shows one hiding under the foliage.



Our last bird was the 5th Carolina Wren of the morning. The main crew was there, and Melanie is 3rd from the right. Thanks, again, Melanie! We look forward to your help in the future.



Records show that migrants arrive next week. Mostly early warblers. Time to gear up for real science. Just get those spiders out of our face for a bit, please.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 12th.
All nets will be opened by 6:25 A.M.