Water Finally Receded. Reached Net 21 Again.

We not sure if we could get to the end of the lans this morning and the dark didn't give us many clues, Jenny decided to brave it, anyway, and we got out to Net 21 for the first time since Ian.

The rest of the morning gave us some nice birds and interesting observations. Our first bird of the day was a Carolina Wren. We had two recaptures of them today.



Northern Cardinals are ever present and we got another new male early on.



Eastern Phoebes are still very vocal and difficult capture. We did mangage to band one today.



Common Yellowthroats are spilling through right now. You can hear them along the river and we caught one, an adult female,...



...and two, an adult male,...



...and three, another female. They should be here through the year and beyond.



Gray Catbirds are being a bit elusive for the past couple of years for some reason. We did get two this morning.



Our next thrush of the day was a Swainson's Thrush.



Our second Northern Cardinal was a female.



Western Palm Warblers have been seen all over the area for a few weeks. It took us this long to get our first one.



Most of us look out for other interesting things around the property while checking nets. Lynn finds all kinds of sightings, like this Giant Swallowtail caterpiler waiting to transfer into a flying miracle.



Connie planted a Cassia a couple of years ago and it was doing well. We were concerened it would not fare well during Ian. The storm wiped out all of the Guinea Grass surrounding the plant but the Cassia held firm and is now 12 feet plus and blooming well.



Spiders do very well throughout the property and we walk through webs every morning. Some stay off to the side of the trail like this Triangle Orb Weaver (Verrucosa arenata). A beautiful spider.



Green Tree Frogs are welcome site as Cuban Tree Frogs have been taking over a lot of territory of late.



Continuing the Ovenbird recapture streak, we recaptured another new bird that is now at least 6 years old. Nice to be getting all of these returning birds to the site.



An American Redstart was brought in. After a close inpection we could determine that this is a juvenile male. Note the black splotches on the neck and the brighter orange in the 'wingpits'. Females have a more uniform gray in those areas.



We were trying to go home but then we had a spate of Western Palm Warblers show up to keep us busy.



Western Palm Warblers are flowing in all across the Central Florida area and we are glad they are back. Next we wait for the Yellow-rumps in a month or so.



Should be getting some rains in the area again over the week and hope it is not too heavy to block us from Net 21 so we can find some new species along the way.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	0	2	2
Carolina Wren	0	2	2
Western Palm Wabler	6	0	6
Swainson's Thrush	1	0	1
American Restart	1	0	1
Eastern Phoebe	1	0	1
Common Yellowthroat	3	0	3
Northern Cardinal	1	2	3
Gray Catbird	2	0	2
Totals	15	6	21

______________________________________
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, October 30th.
All nets will be opened by 7:05 A.M.

Better, but Still Slickery...

We could get down to Net 24 today, but there are still stretches that are, as Andrew calls it, 'slickery'. Mud has not dried out yet so you can still slip a bit in certain places. Net 24 is now a 'beach' full of washed up sand and productive today. Just missed the Kingfisher...

A Flying Squirrel hit Net 15 again this morning. Probably the same individual as last week. They are much more dexterous than birds and just crawl out as soon as you pull the net a bit taught.



Common Yellowthroats started early in the morning letting us think this might be a descent day for captures.



Next was our first Indigo Bunting of the season. This feamle was speeding across the lanes and hit Net 20. A few were heard last week and this week.



Gray Catbirds are starting to flow through again. We caught new and recatured Catbirds today.



Still recapturing juvenile Carolina Wrens. The adults must be staying up in the woods.



We got our first Eastern Phoebe of the season. Apparently, right on time.



Another male Black-throated Blue Warbler was captured for the second week in a row.



A female American Redstart brightened the day.



We ended up with 5 Common Yellowthroats including this adult male.



A great surprise near the marsh was a female Black-and-White Warbler. This species is seen mostly in this area of the Cyress stands headed toward the lake but they usually stay about 20 feet over the nets.



House Wrens are beginning to settle into the property and we banded two new ones today.



A recaptured Ovenbird joined us in Net 2 just beyond the table. This bird was banded as an adult 5 years ago making it at least 6 years old.



Finally, another female American Redstart rounded out our day. Much better than last week. Hope the peak isn't over and we can keep a good streak going for a few weeks.



Still itching to find out how Net 21 is doing. Can't get out there yet, but maybe closer next Sunday. A cold front is dropping through this week and it should bring in more migrants along with it.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	1	0	1
Indigo Bunting	1	0	1
Carolina Wren	0	2	2
House Wren	2	0	2
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	0	1
Black-and-White Warbler	1	0	1
American Restart	2	0	2
Eastern Phoebe	1	0	1
Common Yellowthroat	3	2	5
Northern Cardinal	0	1	1
Gray Catbird	3	1	4
Totals	15	6	21

______________________________________
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, October 23rd.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.

Lets Go Muddin'!

A lot of water is still moving North and out of the area. Not as much as we would like yet as we cannot get to 4 net positions still. The river has receeded a lot but it left behind a nice layer on mud throughout the bottom end of the lanes. We will take a look at some of that mess, but first...!

Not long after we set all of the nets that we could, our first capture of the morning was discovered in the dark. A Flying Squirrel! Not the first time we have trapped them. Don't worry. All you have to do is hold the net open a bit and they climb right out and hop back into the trees.



So, back to the river. We posted this shot from last week just below the banding table. Note the pale tree trunk on the left.



Almost the same view a week later. The water has receeded at least 4 feet here and all of the vegetation that was underwater is dying off.



THis the river side of Net 19.See that big open pool of water? THere used to be a giant oak tree that stretched form the park side to our side. It is completely gone now. The force of water is amazing.



We were able to set nets down to Net 22. The lanes were pretty wet and muddy starting at Net 9 (two nets before 22) so, as the light was coming up, Andrew spent awhile cutting palm fronds for a bit of protection from the grime.



A closer look reveals muddy footprints that were made securing the fronds to the slop.



Now we could get to banding. Our first bird of the morning was a recaptured Carolina Wren first banded in September.



We had several visitors today and Janine got to release our Wren.



There are now a few sandy beaches along the river and the Limpkin pair were patroling them early in the day.



What is one thing that Limpkin eat? Apple Snails. Traveling the paths and showing how high the water was, a clutch of Apple Snail eggs are high up on tree. They lay eggs just above the water.



Next bird up was a female Common Yellowthroat.



Janine's daughter, Alyssa, got to release her.



Only heard a couple of Catbirds. Weird. They should be flooding in by now. But, at least we caught a Swainson's Thrush.



One of our other visitors, Margret, got to release the Swainson's Thrush.



A couple more observations by Lynn and Kate. The first was a strange looking instar caterpillar, thought to be that of the Hag Moth (Phobetron pithecium)..



Then, they found a pair of Zombie Ants. They are made into 'zombies' by being infected by a fungus called Cordyceps. Here is a link to an interesting article about it.



Time for a walk toward the lake to check the status of our unopened net positions. Passing Net 13, we look back to the river and see that all of the grasses along the banks have been flattened or washed away. Bye, bye, Bunting food.



This shot is just past Net 10 (seen in the background). More flattend vegetation and more mud.



Turning to the right, the fairly new section of the boardwalk shows missing boards. Probably a lot of the boardwalk is damaged throughout the park.



Nets 18 & 24 are on higher ground and we just had to remove some debris. We should be able to get out this far next Sunday.



Looking across the river at 24 you can make out the mud on the Cypress branches indicating the water got at least 4-5 feet higher than where the water is now. Wow.



Everything past here is still really flooded. Who knows when we will be able to check on our last net position. But, look! Our bridge is still here! Though currently pressed against some trees.



Back to the birds! We recaptured an Ovenbird first banded 5 years ago as an adult. Meaning this bird is at least 6 years old.



Nalida called for some assistance to get a bird out of Net 13. Turned out to be a Northern Waterthrush.



Our final bird of the day was a male Black-throated Blue Warbler.



This was suppose to be one of our busiest weekends. With this moonscape right now it is not surprising that we are so slow. Perhaps next Sunday.



Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	0	1	1
Carolina Wren	0	1	1
Swainson's Thrush	1	0	1
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	0	1
Common Yellowthroat	1	0	1
Northern Cardinal	1	0	1
Northern Waterthrush	1	0	1
Totals	5	2	7

______________________________________
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, October 16th.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.