Birds of Uncertainty

Here in Florida, we watched and waited on which way the weather would take Hurricane Dorian. South Florida was in the bullseye until upper-level winds halted him in his tracks and kept it over the Bahamas. For days. Bad news for the citizens on those islands , but it did spare us the Category 5 winds in Florida. Forecasts stayed constant in predicting a Wednesday arrival so we headed out.



Our first bird of the day was an Ovenbird. We only had a few birds during the day, but at least they were mostly migrants.Can you tell the humidity was up? Glasses and camera lenses were fogging up super early.



The second migrant of the day was a female Common Yellowthroat. A little early, but we will take it.



A second Ovenbird soon followed before things grew quiet. Skies were far too nice to have birds stopping their movement South. We did spot an American Redstart and a Black-and-White Warbler foraging during the morning.



Guest joined us in a while and the young kids had no problem bringing in a Ring-necked Snake found along the path back to the table.



Out of nowhere, a cast of an insect fell onto a chair arm and had us all wondering what it might have come from. On closer inspection, it appears to be a cast-off of an exoskeleton of a young Praying Mantis.



As we began to close up for the day we caught our final bird of the morning. The remaining crowd gathered around to watch the record keeping.



The bird was a Tufted Titmouse first banded two years ago.



Now that Dorian has ripped up to the North, radar indicates large numbers of birds heading through Florida. Hopefully, we can begin real migrant captures next Sunday. Stay tuned!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 8th.
All nets will be opened by 6:35 A.M.