One More for the End of the Year. Literally...

No real fun today. Only one bird. 26 species heard or seen, but real quiet.

Our bird today was a recaptured Hermit Thrush first banded almost exactly a year ago. That is info we do like, though. Means this bird is using this patch of ground to hang out for the Winter. Glad to be a safe haven for another life to continue the line.



We will plan on starting the New Year off on a better foot after a slight break. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Hermit Thrush	0	1	1
Totals	0	1	1

______________________________________
NOTE: Due to the new CDC recommendations, if you are fully vaccinated you are not required to wear masks, esp. at outdoor events such as ours. Get your shots and come on out. Otherwise, bring a mask. All current members at Lake Lotus are fully Vac'ed.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, January 9th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.

Foggy Start and Another Slow Morning

As we ettle into the Winter months, captures are rather slow. Last year was pretty steady but looking back at the last few years it seems to be about average. Still surprised at the lack of Robin flyovers (though we did have a flock of 30 circle near the lake) and we still have yet to capture a Kinglet or hear a Goldfinch.

As the fog dropped in we started the day with a new Gray Catbird.



We also captured a couple of new House Wrens. The real shock of the day was a Purple Gallinule sighting in the Marsh as we waited for birds to hit the nets. They have nested here for years but have not been seen in person for years.



Connie brought in a new Western Palm Warbler a while later but we spent a lot of the morning removing 'leaf birds' until we closed.



So, what does Andrew do when things are a bit cooler and slow and drier? Carve a path back out to Lake Lotus. First time this path was reopened since last December.



A few fronts are set to drift in over the next week but our weather is much warmer than usual for December. Really not too abnormal, historicaly. Mabye we get our first Yellow-rump? Fingers crossed.

We will head out next week and then take a couple of weeks off for the holidays.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Gray Catbird	1	0	1
House Wren	2	0	2
Western Palm Warbler	1	0	1
Totals	4	0	4

______________________________________
NOTE: Due to the new CDC recommendations, if you are fully vaccinated you are not required to wear masks, esp. at outdoor events such as ours. Get your shots and come on out. Otherwise, bring a mask. All current members at Lake Lotus are fully Vac'ed.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, December 19th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

People? Yes. Birds? Not So Much.

We arrived to a light fog and waited for our visitors from the North Shore Birding Festival. It was a good thing that they arrived on time right after sunrise as we only caught 3 birds today and all of them were captured before 8 AM.

Our first bird was a new Gray Catbird.



Just when we were going to do a tour of the property the last two birds were brought to the table. The first one was a recaptured House Wren. This bird was first banded in October and was just recaptured last week and then again today.



With limited birds in hand today, we at least got to let willing visitors release all of them. Even a humble House Wren brings joy to anyone releasing them.



Our final bird was a new adult Hermit Thrush. As we tell ourselves and visitors, the easiest way to ID a Hermit Thrush from similar Thrushes is "Tail, tail, tail!". Hermits have distictive rufus tail coloring instead of other Thrush tails that are more uniform brown overall.



The tour group headed to the Lake Lotus boardwalks to conclude their day as we continued to try for more birds. Not much was happening anywhere today. Super quiet. Birds go where they want to...

As we closed nets, we noticed the first American Alligator we have actually seen since last year after we had the mating pair just past the banding table. Today, the water was very murky for some reason (some construction upstream?) but this younger gator popped up for a bit before we left.



We always hate that we have so few birds during a scheduled event, but it was a very quiet day. Robins should be heard all morning but they were not around at all. We did manage to find few migrants while trying to catch birds such as White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Myrtle Warbler (first of the season), and a very bright Prairie Warbler. Nothing else was moving, though.

Would not be surprised that we have a more interesting day next week. Stay tuned.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Gray Catbird	1	0	1
House Wren	0	1	1
Hermit Thrush	1	0	1
Totals	2	1	3

______________________________________
NOTE: Due to the new CDC recommendations, if you are fully vaccinated you are not required to wear masks, esp. at outdoor events such as ours. Get your shots and come on out. Otherwise, bring a mask. All current members at Lake Lotus are fully Vac'ed.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, December 12th.
All nets will be opened by 6:40 A.M.