Mixed Late September

Back after the rains and ready to find if anything flies in before the typical peak saeson. We started the day with with our first migrant, an Ovenbird.



Jenny soon returned with a male Northern Cardinal.



Ready for his close up.



Later in the morning, Christine notices a sign of digging under the main table. We are guessing that is an Armadillo hole dug out for sleeping during the rains.



Bird of the Day goes to our latest Swainson's Warbler. Our 3rd on record and the first in two years.



Next, we had our first White-eyed Vireo of the season.



Richard and Christine donated a couple more Wax Myrtles to install. Connie took to the task with gusto.



Only problem was, was that the humidity was still high so she got a bit sweaty but did a great job placing the new trees.



We were alerted to a Barred Owl down at Net 18. Jenny made a bee line toward it. This is the second raptor we have catured in the last two trips out.



Jenny works with raptors and has been waiting these past couple of years to have them get caught and recorded. We decided not to band this bird as it is local and the data is not that interesting to the bandng labs. But someone seems plenty excited to extract a predator.



Next up was another Ovenbird.



We wrapped the day with an adult Tufted Titmouse. They have been up early lately but still mainly staying at the tree tops.



We will try to get out both days next weekend but the weather is looking pretty sketchy for Sunday. Peak should be near in October.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	2	0	2
Northern Cardinal	1	0	1
Carolina Wren	1	1	2
White-eyed Vireo	1	0	1
Tufted Titmouse	1	0	1
Swainson's Warbler	1	0	1
Barred Owl	1	0	1
Totals	7	0	7

NOTE: To ensure the safety of our volunteers and the general public, new visitors are discouraged from attending banding at this time. The few of us who remain will update the blog as long as we can and hope to see new faces in the future. Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.

______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, October 3rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.

No Banding September 20th

We will not be banding this Sunday. Weather trends are not drifting toward favorable conditions and better safe than sorry.

On the bright side, it is almost Fall with double days coming up!.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 27th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Session 13 is Underway

We were excited to finally get back to banding after the COVID numbers dropped and we headed out for our first week of Session 13. A check on the early morning NEXRAD views let us hope we could get some migrants now streaming in toward Central Florida.



Our first bird of the morning was, in fact, a migrant. They are one of the early arrivers and have probably been here for a bit, so it was nice to start the Session with a migrant Ovenbird.



Christine got a nice shot of all of us wearing our face masks/coverings as we work to process our second Ovenbird of the morning. We are practicing the basic Social Distancing and sanitizing as we proceed through the morning.



August usually holds most of our Waterthrush captures. We were worrying that we had missed most of them by not being able to band in August. They actually arrive just a bit before Ovenbirds. They are still filing through, though, with our first Northern Waterthrush being brought in next.



Jenny had been itching to get a raptor in the nets since she started here. We only get them occasionally, but today was her day! A Red-shouldered Hawk flew into Net 6 just after the Watertrhush and she was there to retreive it.



It was a juvenile, probably one of the three that were born here in the Spring. Search back to our May 3rd post when they were on the nest about to fledge.



Jenny posed for a shot of her and the hawk before we released it. We usually band these birds, too, but are out of Hawk bands at the moment.



Once the photo ops were done, Jenny placed the hawk on the ground and released it. It flew to a nearby tree across the river and eyed us for a few seconds before heading back into the woods.



We actually had a Carolina Wren just before the hawk. It was a juvenile that was born here last Spring.



Shannon is relocating to New York this week to work at the American Museum of Natural History, so we were glad to get a couple of birds for her to band before she leaves us for a while. Next up was another Northern Waterthrush.



Just when we were wondering out loud where the Common Yellowthroats were, we picked up one before the day ended. Shannon got to band that one, as well.



We will miss Shannon as she heads North for an exciting new opportunity. Her help has been outstanding and her presence will be missed. Great luck to you in the future, Shannon. Stop by, anytime!



A typical start to an early September. Nice to see the migrants returning. However, the Tropics are rumbling and we have to miss next week. We will return (fingers crossed) on the 20th.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	2	0	2
Northern Waterthrush	2	0	2
Carolina Wren	1	0	1
Common Yellowthroat	1	0	1
Red-Shouldered Hawk	1	0	1
Totals	7	0	7

NOTE: To ensure the safety of our volunteers and the general public, new visitors are discouraged from attending banding at this time. The few of us who remain will update the blog as long as we can and hope to see new faces in the future. Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.

______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 20th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.