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.
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