Back to the Drought

Well, the fog is gone, again, but so are most of the birds. Many species were seen around the property in the marsh and high in the trees. Still, they did not drop lower into the net zones.

We did get a recaptured Carolina Wren just after dawn. Another of our juveniles banded in this past Summer.



See those beautiful cottony clouds? Just below that is and arching oak that many birds use to travel just above nets 9 and 13 to forage. The entire Titmouse family is up there along with over warblers and kinglets. They chose not to play lower today.



So, when there are few birds in the nets, we explore to see where they are. Again, they were closer to the lake. A Blue-headed Vireo has been hanging out near the end of the lane for weeks and todayy it was busy feeding against the light where the old Net 21 used to be.



A male Downy Woodpecker soon chased the Vireo out of the way to explore the trees around the area.



Our other captured bird was a recaptured female Northern Cardinal, also banded last August.



Richard decided it was time to extract rebar from the old poles that had them stuck inside while we had time. Teamwork came together with Kate, Susan, and Richard holding the pole as Andrew pounded another piece of rebar into the long end to get the stuck one out. Sparks flew, folks held tight, and Susan protected her hearing throughout. Much success!



Andrew took a long way through the woods and flushed the Barred Owl pair trying to hide out.



The Limpkin pair were chasing each other all morning and at one point they flew straight at Andrew near the lake. You cannot mistake their calls, which often begin before dawn.



Nets are always half-full in our minds, but migrants are noticably missing this year. We hope to get more birds next week as some folks might be visiting for the Lake Apopka Festival. However, rains might derail any banding at all this week as a cold front charges through during the weekend. Rain is forecast most of Sunday as of this writing. Stay tuned if we are banding or not late in the week.

Note: No banding January 20th and 27th due to the forecast of rain and high winds.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, February 3rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.