Birds? Where are You Birds?

Typically, the weekend around the first of October is the bursting point of migrating birds heading into Central Florida. A simple search on this blog site shows that clearly. We band both days of the weekend on this time of the year expecting to capture the wave of migrants. Overall, it was a mixed bag that need up unusual.

Saturday:

This day began quiet for a little while until we had a Veery in Net 4.



Just when we were wondering where the Common Yellowthroats were, we began catching then early in the morning. First up was an adult female.



We will get all of them out of the way here even though they made their way in during the day. The next was an adult male who we had to contain a bit more for a photo since he was ready to feed as soon as possible.



Then we had another adult female.



Lastly, we got a juvenile male to conclude the triad.



Still recapturing juvenile Carolina Wrens as they explore their surroundings.



We were waiting for some more migrants and we finally got the next one. An Ovenbird.



A newly hatched female Northern Cardinal found her way into the nets not much later.



Do Painted Buntings breed on the property or not? I think we have shown that they do and today was another good data point as we captured a molting male bird today. Teenage boys, humans and birds alike, look very awkward. This poor guy was molting hard, changing into his manly rainbow. The pin-feathers were working overtime, akin to acne, before he becomes the stunningly beautiful male he will be in a short time.



As we began to close for the day, the Tufted Titmice family was prowling around and one of the birds eventually hit Net 16.



What happens next, as usual, is that once one Tufted Titmouse starts shrieking some of the family flies in for support and then gets trapped as well. This younger bird was the next one in the net. They like to bite...



The last one in the net was a recaptured adult we banded many years ago, showing the family is still breeding and raising new kids after all these years. This seemed like a good lead up to migration. However...



Sunday: Typically peak migration day. For the first time in Andrew's 14 years of banding, the birds did not arrive. This weekend should have yielded a dozen birds by dawn but they did not drop down today.

The morning began early and hopeful. We heard our first Catbird of the season and birds were heard flying overhead before dawn. But...

Our first bird of the morning was a great catch. A rare Swainson's Warbler. It gave us hope that things were about to be busy and right on time.



Things grew quiet. Too quiet. It took a long few trips looking at nets to bring in the next bird which was a recaptured male Northern Cardinal.



Next, an Ovenbird but no new interesting migrants.



There were 4 Common Yellowthroats yesterday but it took us a long time to get our only one today. An adult female.



Andrew was returning from the end of the lanes after switching trail cam cards and heard a bird calling. It was actually already in the Net 19 and was a female American Redstart.



While we were checking nets, Alyssa arrived with several Firebush plants for the site. We have several spots around the property that are strictly native plantings and we were wondering where the new plants could go.



Decision was made to get them established near our Cypress trees just across the trail. Alyssa began digging in the first plant between Net 8 and 14.



Susan gathered water to get our new plants settled in.



She got to the next plant as Phyllis dug in the last plant in the center of Olivia's Garden next to Net 14. We will try to establish more flowering wildflowers in here to attract more birds and pollinators soon.



Birds were scarce but Connie found a Praying Mantis in Net 12 and got it released back to freedom.



The day ended with a capture of a House Wren. Funny thing was, this was the same bird that escaped capture last week as evidenced by the tail pattern. In the same spot a week later.



Here is to hoping that the birds were just delayed a bit and this next weekend will find us busy with birds. If so, we may shift our following weekend to two-days, too. Definitely will be banding both days this weekend.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, October 6th and 7th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.

Where Did the Birds Go?

It was a fairly noisy dawn chorus but then everything went quiet, just like the demo day we did in the park two weeks ago. Didn't help that Andrew had a long time extracting yet another bat from Net 10 just before sunrise. The other delay was a rare display.
As Andrew distributes bags on the way down the trail, he flings the final bags toward the end of the lanes as he sets the ones around Net 22. I defy you to get one stuck on top of a pole from 30 feet away!



Meanwhile, as Connie was pulling chairs from beneath the table, she discovered a toad resting the middle of one of them. Which species? Haven't looked it up yet.



The morning grew quiet quickly and we waited another hour and a half to catch our first birds. Both were recaptured Carolina Wrens that were hatched and banded earlier in the year.



Eventually, we caught our first migrant of the day. An Ovenbird.



As usual when things are slow, we take notice of other things around the property. Connie also found another interesting piece of Nature today. A Bagworm Moth, (Oiketicus abbot)?, cocoon.



Andrew did find a mystery up in the pine woods. During a path not taken previously, he turned and saw this plant with berries. We are still researching this species. It is a skinny little tree full of fruits.



We did not see a lot of Air Potato Beetles today. It may be because they have wiped out most of the leaves throughout the area. Before the weather turns, they will create larva and burrow into the ground until next year.



Next to Net 5, we found a new flower blooming and actually setting seed pods. Another fun plant to ID when we can. Sure looks like a pea, but probably some invasive like so many plants around here.



As the morning was winding down, Avery and Augustine saw a couple of birds in Net 20. They were a pair of White-eyed Vireos right next to one another. This often happens when birds are chasing each other while competing for food.



Both birds were considered migrants as they both had good amounts of fat stores on them meaning that they have probably just arrived from the North.



Peak migration is due next week so we will be banding all weekend for the next two weeks. Join us for hopefully more birds in the next two weeks. Fronts are pulling out of the way.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, September 29th and 30th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Migrants on the Move

Hurricane Florence spared us but not North Carolina this year. Feels good to us since we had two years of major storms through our state that ruined main banding times here. We feel for those affected but glad we could have the storm steer some migrants in our direction today. We began by catching and extracting a couple of Brown Bats before the birds woke up, but that is a thing we need to deal with from time to time. No fingers were punctured by bat teeth.

Our first bird was a juvenile female Northern Cardinal who was not feeling like being photographed. At least she didn't bite.



The 2nd Veery of the season was next. It was also a hatch-year bird.



We were feeling the time was right for Common Yellowthroats and visitors Louis and Mary called us over to say one was in Net 10. It was a female.



Shortly afterwards, a White-eyed Vireo was brought to the table. Usually, these Vireos have dull irises until adults but we have some here that still retain that coloration after reaching that age. The other clue is the inside of their bills that turn from dark gray to white as they age. This one is white so we call it an adult like others we have captured many times in a row over the years.



Andrew was explaining that when we catch Tufted Titmice it is usually the majority of the family at one time. Today, they were scattered about and we caught one right behind the table.



Ovenbirds were calling in the area and we caught one today.



Next, we caught another juvenile Carolina Wren that had yet to be banded this season.



15 minutes later, another was captured and we thought it was the same bird we just released but instead, it was a bird we banded a few weeks ago.



Possibly our youngest visitors got to release a Carolina Wren (with the help Mom). Blink and you miss it but we have a good batch of kids very interested in bird science this year.



Another Veery was captured just after we saw a few in the trees in the area after and Brown Thrasher escaped Net 13.



Our next Common Yellowthroat was a juvenile male. Mask is just forming.



Down by Net 18, Two-leaf Nightshade, (Solanum diphyllum) is fruiting. Christine got a shot of the berries. Birds, especially Cardinals feast on the fruit. It is poisonous to humans.



Once, again, a singular Tufted Titmouse was captured and banded.



Northern Parula are still calling and it was a nice surprise to get an adult male today.



Our next bird was a classic adult White-eyed Vireo full of fat suggesting it was migrating through the area.



Andrew had been seeing a Red-femured Orb Weaver near the river for weeks but every time he tried to get a shot it scurried back to a hiding place in the leaves. Today, we had one spread out near Net 10.



Our final bird of the day was a nice special addition to our list. The first banded Eastern Wood Pewee at Lake Lotus.



We see them this time of year before they head farther South. However, they usually stay at the tops of the trees. It must have been lured by some food source this morning. Good for us.



Flycatchers are typically a conundrum for us as we do not get that many. Measurements are always taken to verify the species and we we finally decided on Eastern Wood Pewee.



Adding to our confidence of the ID, our other visitor, Gigi, heard an Eastern Wood Pewee earlier in the day in the same spot. She got the opportunity to release our great bird today.



Florence is winding down and moving up the coast. We will see what the weather changes bring us next weekend when we are joined by the Lake County Audubon group that is scheduled to join us on Sunday.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 23rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.