Nice Mix to End October

What would today bring? Radar has been all over the place but this was the second week when a storm, this time Olga, rolled over the top of Florida blocking major migration flows. Onward we set nets and await the dawn.

Last year's dearth of Swainson's Thrush left us a bit depressed. No one were recording them and got us nice and spooked that they were seeing a major decline. This month, we are finally getting back in the swing of their arrivals.



We caught 5 Gray Catbirds today. A good tally after a couple of years of just hearing them across the river and not catching them.



Still catching juvenile Northern Cardinals. Breeding went very well this Summer.



Our 2nd Gray Catbird arrived shortly afterwards.



Last week we banded several Indigo Bunting but today we only got on juvenile bird.



New volunteer Brian has been spending time helping out but did not release a bird last week. Today he got the release the Indigo Bunting.



Our 2nd Swainson's Thrush was brought in quickly behind the Bunting.



House Wrens have started chattering all over the Central Florida area and we got our 2nd of the season today.



We should have been catching Black-throated Blue Warblers a month ago but it took until today to get our first one. A female. The male of the pair was seen overhead as we extracted the female.



Then, bang, another Black-throated Blue Warbler female.



Our only recapture today was a Carolina Wren we banded a couple of weeks ago.



We enjoyed the return of retired Ranger Frank today. He was instrumental in our early building process and we thank him without bounds for where we are today. Welcome home, Frank! Stop by any time.



Have to look it up again, but we don't think we caught any Eastern Phoebes last season. They are clever and know how to avoid capture. This year, they are all over the property and we banded several of them. Since Andrew was out scouting the lanes, Richard asked Shannon, one of our new trainees, to step in and get her first chance to begin learning to band.



Bills are always clacking as they wait to be released. Glad to have them back.



We ended up with three juvenile Northern Cardinals. Two males and one female.



Four Eastern Phoebes were recorded today. Probably the highest number in one day ever.



A Tufted Titmouse was brought in with tales of other family members looking on curiously. Typically, if we catch one Titmouse several more fly in to figure out what is going on and we end up with several. Not today. Just one.



Checking the end of the lanes, the most busy area of the day, we discovered our first Western Palm Warbler of the season. They are flowing in since last week and typically stay closer to the lake. Nice to have one in hand.



While we were closing nets we got our last bird, The last Gray Catbird of the morning.



Numbers are going up. A good thing this year. Hoping the trend continues a we head toward Halloween and beyond. Cooler temperatures are finally on the way! Tired of 90 degrees...

Note: Daylight Saving Time! Fall back an hour. Didn't we vote to get away with this?
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, November 3rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:10 A.M.

Dodging Another Storm and Getting Good Results

Tropical Storm Nestor threatened to delay our Sunday but picked up speed and cleared out Saturday afternoon. That left the river level higher. A couple more inches of rain would have flooded the bottom half of the banding lanes.



Our first bird of the day was a Gray Catbird. Many more were heard but only one was banded today.



We had our first Swanson's Thrush two weeks ago and it was good to see another after a complete shutout of this species last year.



Right on schedule, female Indigo Buntings dropped in early in the day. While most of the peak birds are two weeks late, Indigos always seem to arrive mid-October.



The next bird was another Indigo Bunting, confirming the data.



That was soon followed by the next Swainson's Thrush.



Did we mention Indigo Buntings?



Connie soon brought up a new bird and quickly headed back down the lane in search of new birds, thinking she had another Swainson's Thrush. Fortunately, it was a more rare bird. A Gray-cheeked Thrush! We seem to get at least one every other year during the migration rush. This is the darkest specimen we can recall.



Our newest interested volunteer, Angela, got to release a couple of birds including our Gray-cheeked Thrush.



Back at the table, the kids opened a chair and found a tiny frog hiding inside. iNaturalist suggests that it is a Rain From. Investigation is ongoing for final ID.



Last week, a large tree dropped across the area of Net 4. That lead us to move that net a few yards away to become Net 25 where we caught a Titmouse last week. Net 4 has not been very productive over the past few years so it was time to try a new location. Net 4 was the net that we caught our very first 2 birds at Lake Lotus, a pair of Cardinals. Sad to see it go, but science moves on. It was also being taken over by vegetation and was difficult to get to after Hurricane Matthew dragged down a large oak across the path to it.



We heard many Common Yellowthroats along the river today, but our sole capture was a juvenile male.



Eastern Phoebe have been calling since last week so it was nice to capture one today. These agile flycatchers avoid nets most of the time and even have been seen sitting directly on top of a net from time to time.



Net 3 snared two Carolina Wrens. Both recaptures.



Carolina Wren Number 2.



Ranger Jason stopped by to check on things and asked about mowing efforts. We informed him that it was a bit overblown at times and said we would set flags and such to mark off where and where not to mow.

The planting ladies took that to heart and headed out mark their territory. Big time!



Our native gardening is now grabbing large portions of the lanes for future native improvements. Now we just to tend the soil and encourage a place for pollinators instead of invasive grasses.



We then received another juvenile male Northern Cardinal.



A nice couple of surprises rounded out the day. First up was a female Black and White Warbler.



Finally, we got a female American Redstart. Andrew heard it calling but thought it was up in the trees. Looking closely, it was actually in Net 13.



Our newly brave youngster begged to release the American Redstart after a while shying away from it in the past. Maybe since his older brother stayed home today. Regardless, another friend of birds is born.



Finishing the post late for an update: Tropical Storm Olga has now formed and will cut out some new birds for the weekend and we will watch the weather leading up to Sunday. For now, will plan on business as usual this weekend. Stay tuned...
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday the 27th.
All nets will be opened by 7:05 A.M.

Gray Catbirds Arrive

Maybe Christine's theory is coming to light. Perhaps migration is moving back a few weeks compared to all of the years before. Climate change ain't a thing, though, right? We usually would get our first rush of Gray Catbirds on the first day of October. Here we are two weeks in.

It was our first species captured today and Jenny jumped into the banding seat to get her first actual banded bird under her wing.



Jenny brought a large group from school to observe banding today and one of the participants got to release the first Gray Catbird of the day.



Another Gray Catbird banded leads to...



...another Gray Catbird released by a new visitor.



Adult male Common Yellowthroats are flowing in and we should be catching more in the next few weeks.



The next run brought a couple more birds. It included our next Gray Catbird.



The following volunteer got to release the Gray Catbird.



Lisa is one of our new volunteers who is not afraid to chance the bite of a feisty Northern Cardinal. We are catching all of this years brood this Fall.



While Richard and others were tending to plantings, Christine discovered droppings near Net 20. Seems like we have new visitors as they determined that it was bear scat. Haven't seen bears around in quite awhile.



While Jenny's group were doing a bit of bird watching, one of the Tufted Titmice swung down and into the newly set Net 25. Back to the table!



Tufted Titmice are the real Angry Birds but Jenny got the band on without any real biting problems.



Andrew got to release the newly banded Tufted Titmouse.



The crowd gathered around next for an Ovenbird brought in next.



Ovenbirds are calling loudly and still hitting nets from time to time.



Another juvenile Northern Cardinal added to our morning totals as the kids watch.



One escaped last week, but today we caught our first migrant White-eyed Vireo. A juvenile full of traveling fat deposits like we usually find this time of year.



A female juvenile Northern Cardinal ended our day. Nice to see so many new Cardinals joining the property this year.



Curious to see how next week plays out. Indigo Buntings should roll through as well as other late October visitors.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday the 20th.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.