Closing Out 2019

We drove through the fog to the site before this dawn wondering how the day would play out. Not too cold, but fog keeps things quiet for most of the mornings as insects are not moving so birds are staying at the tops of the trees as the light kisses the treetops.

Our first bird just after dawn was a recaptured Carolina Wren.



Odd thing about this Carolina Wren. It appeared to be a juvenile based on all plumage signs. Buffy eyebrows. No white spots on the wings. But it was a recaptured bird so we know that we first banded it 2 years ago! It should have bright white eyebrows and bright white spots on the wings as an adult. Hmmm... Let the investigation begin.



The next net run was also interesting. Andrew headed down the lanes and stopped short at Net 19 as bird activity was evident. A Tufted Titmouse and an an Orange-crowned Warbler were dropping to the ground just behind the net and we were hoping they might fly in for capture. Instead, they suddenly headed toward the river.

Moments later, a larger shape flew in from the river toward the net and hit and bounced out. It was a Cooper's Hawk that escaped. We were disappointed but noticed that we weren't even seeing an Eastern Phoebe already in the net. A new one for the site.



There are not a lot of new blooms along the lanes these days but there is a single Stokes Aster planted by Rollins students earlier in the year that was showing nicely.



Our newly discovered Rouge Plant across from Net 13 has freshly ripened fruits to make a nice holiday scene along the river.



A chunk of tree feel behind Net 13 awhile ago and now there are many fungus feeding on the decaying wood.



Kate discovered another fungus on the tree felled by Hurricane Matthew and we are trying to ID it. The crew followed up with inspections and found an entire ecosystem thriving along the still living trunk. Perhaps we need a whole new post for that science.



Once the fog burned off enough, the light made it toward the river and Pat, one of our local American Alligators, crept back up the river to warm up.



Our final bird of the day was a Gray Catbird first banded nearly 2 years ago.



The take away from this Fall might be that we caught fewer birds but we did notice that numerous birds were recaptures returning for many years. We will tally them up by the end of the Session.

With Christmas falling in mid-week this year, we will take off this next Sunday in case people are traveling all over and then skip the following Sunday since Andrew is out of town for a late holiday break.

We look forward to starting 2020 just after the New Year. Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, January 5th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.