First Real Cold Front, Birds Must Be Headed South

The first real cold front rolled through overnight and left us with a bit of wind but not as bad as last week. It was just a little moist since the rains passed through the night before. Radar was picking up good movement of birds over the state but most were probably arriving waterfowl instead of smaller land birds. House Wrens were calling all over the property today but it took a while for one of them to find a net.



The morning grew quite quickly and we walked the lanes for the next 90 minutes before our next bird. Ovenbirds have been quiet for a bit but we eventually got one later in the day.



Luckily for our new visitors, we did catch that bird why they were there. They got to release the Ovenbird back into the woods.



Andrew ventured out to Area 21 (where Net 21 used to be) and found Swamp Sparrows and a flock of Western Palm Warblers. If you look closely, you can see a band on this bird. Was it one banded recently or in the past many years? We will never know, but it is still in the area.



An immature Red-shouldered Hawk was calling right at dawn and cruising the river all morning long. After preening across from Net 11 it flew over to Net 3 before heading off after something of interest farther South.



Once the sunlight made its way to the river, we discovered our first adult American Alligator. To our recollection, the first of the year. Water levels have been very high since last year but they have now dropped to reveal some bank to bask upon.



Retired Ranger Frank stopped by again this Sunday and quickly noticed something particular about this American Alligator. It was missing a right foot! He has memories of this female on a nest behind the tram lanes about 8 years ago. There are culverts and links to Bossy Lake nearby that allow gators to get to Lake Lotus so she probably made her way through there. Alligators often suffer injuries during territorial and other fights and mating among one another.



The day was winding down when we added a new Hermit Thrush to the tally. The rufus tail is the main tell for the ID on these birds to distinguish them from Swainson's Thrushes.



We began closing nets for the day when Connie began to walk back to the table with the final bird of the morning. A recaptured Tufted Titmouse we recently banded.



We expected to hear Robins this weekend. Nope. Perhaps this week. Bigger cold front on the way this week bringing much cooler air (why 40s are being brought up...?) and then we will see what gets here as we wrap up the arriving migrants of the year before Thanksgiving. We did see our first Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler of the season. Hoping they are going to be here in large numbers this year.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, November 17th.
All nets will be opened by 6:20 A.M.