Florida Fall

Our most popular capture today was the 'Winter Leaf Bird'. Welcome to Florida Fall. For those outside of the state, let us explain...

In Northern climes, "Fall" happens before Winter as all of the deciduous trees shed their leaves and grow dormant. In Florida, the dominant oaks wait until late Winter to begin new growth and then push all of the dead leaves off of their branches en masse. A bit of wind, and the day sounds like rain as all of the dead leaves fly about and loads of leaves land in our nets. Most of the day is spent removing them.

The morning actually began with the first flying creature in Net 1. A Brown Bat. Some of the crew headed back to the table to get gloves but Andrew decided not to wait and, with the help of Jenny, extracted the bat as carefully as possible.



Gray Catbirds have been few and far between. Our first bird was a recaptured one.



In the adjoining net was a recaptured Carolina Wren.



Cherry Laurel are in full bloom as is the few Black Cherry trees along the river.



Out near the lake, Swamp Dock is exploding where we used to have Net 21. The seen birds here are very different from the birds found up the lanes but their numbers are still fewer than in the past years.



Our final bird of the morning was a female Northern Cardinal.



Cold fronts are swinging through, hopefully wringing out the last of the oak leaves, and then we can get some migrants as they start to head North.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, March 3rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:20 A.M.

A Little Better

The predicted rain did not materialize much over the past week but we did catch a few more birds. Only two weeks remain in our 2011-2012 Session. Then we pack up for the months of June and July. By then the humidity should return and we will all be happy sleep in.

Still, work to do today so we got things in gear with the help of a visitor, Lauren, and listened to the dawn chorus at sunrise. The Barred Owls were not heard this morning but Richard and Christine did see one fly across the road as they approached the parking area. No Towhee calls, either, but we did finally get a Chuck-wills-widow to give us a few calls before the morning began.

Our first catch of the day was an infrequent animal. A Little Brown Bat. We do get one or two every session but we usually don't get a good photo. Andrew used a holding bag to secure the bat while Christine managed to free its legs and wings. We then walked it back to the table for a photo and then released it safely into the morning air.



A few minutes later, Charles announced that was something in Net 3. The bat had just flown in that direction so we feared the worse. Fortunately, it was our first bird of the day. A Common Yellowthroat.



Shortly thereafter, Richard returned from his round and delivered a Red-winged Blackbird which Lauren got to band. Add another adult female to this species list.



Things soon grew quiet and we did our rounds and kept an eye out for anything special. Nope. The bull gator did finally glide across the lake but there was not much activity anywhere for a stretch. We did notice that the Button Bushes are moving into full bloom. Such an intricate and fascinating flower.



During one run we noticed some little noises that seemed to be coming from an overhead branch in one of the dead trees near the end of the net lanes. Closer inspection revealed a pair of Downy Woodpeckers coming and going to a small hole where the chicks were calling for food. Here, the male makes a quick leap from home to find more insects.



He didn't usually have to go too far. We followed the sounds of some baby Cardinals into the shade and the woodpecker zoomed in. He inspected each branch and crevice before making a catch and returning to the tree.



When things get too quiet, Andrew hops the river. Some smaller gators were seen and Purple Gallinules waded through the vegetation on the far side of the lake. Closer to the pier, a Common Gallinule poses in all its silky glory. Love those feet!



Along the boardwalk next to the river a Red-shouldered Hawk flew off but led to the discovery of another that has recently left the nest.



With things being quiet we decided to call it a morning. Just as we were closing the nets we made 3 more captures. Out near the lake we got our second Common Yellowthroat.



Over at Net 9, Charles got two juvenile Northern Cardinals. Both females. You can easily tell the younger birds by their black bills and yellow gape still present. Cardinal bills turn their familiar orange as they reach adulthood.



That wraps our morning! Forecast is again calling for a better chance of rain for the next week. We shall see...
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, May 20th.
All nets will be opened by 6:00 A.M.

Session 3: A Fine Finale

We woke to heavy smoke this morning generated by several fires in the area. They were thought to have been sparked by late storms yesterday. Humidity is up, too. Beginning to sweat at 5:30 AM makes us glad we decided to not band June-July. Today is the last banding day of Session 3 and with a clear radar and all this smoke, could it be a fizzle on the way out? Hmmm...

Susan called Andrew while they were setting nets before dawn. First catch of the day. Already?



Not a bird, but a bat! Not exactly sure which species but there it was. We had some thin gloves but it turned out that we just had to get the strand around the wing free and the bat flew off into the gloom. Whew!

Once the Sun began to rise we caught our first bird of the day. One of the first 4 Northern Cardinals we ever captured here back in 2008. Next up was one of our newer members of the property, a young Carolina Wren.



Things grew quiet and we began to wander and do some trimming and watching Nature. As the Sun crept higher, we could easily see the smoke that was filling our noses all morning. Fortunately, the breezes kicked in and cleared most of it out by 8:30. The stumps in the photo are of invasive China Berry and Camphor we felled a while ago.



Insects for the day included some Lubber Grasshoppers and some Leaf-footed Bugs.



A bit later a Buckeye Butterfly was seen along the lanes.



Bill spent some time trying to get some shots of the fish in the river. A small school of rather nice looking Bass were spotted over what we think is a portion of a boat submerged in the riverbed. We will try to raise it in the future as the river level falls.



There have been an increasing amount of Talapia filling the river, also. Some are huge!



One of the biggest surprises of the morning was Bill's encounter with the resident Bobcat. We have found scat in the area for years and there have been rare sightings by others over the years but we finally got a shot. According to Bill, the cat was spooked by the rangers but reemerged from under the boardwalk to clean its fur and just look around as he tried to get some shots before the cat moved back into the park.



Meanwhile, up in the pines, a Pileated Woodpecker swung in for some food options.



All along the lanes, the Beauty Berry plants are blooming nicely.



We repositioned Net 19 in preparation of adding new plants there soon and headed out for one more net check. Christine noticed two birds in Net 14. We ran to them before they could escape and discovered two Red-bellied Woodpeckers! Net 14 is near a known nest tree this year and we wondered if we could capture any of them. Christine removes one as Andrew gets the other.



Seems we got Dad, noted by the bright red feathers extending all the way towards the bird's bill.



Surprising us was that Dad also has a brood patch.



The other bird was one of the newly fledged chicks!



As we headed back to the table we found a couple more birds. Another Red-bellied Woodpecker from another family. This time a Mom.



She was none too happy and showed it by grabbing Andrew before being released.



We have been hearing young Northern Cardinals back in the woods and were wondering if we would catch one. Today was the day! We caught two!! The females are always a bit more dull but still beautiful.



Young males show more red all over, especially around the head. Both birds show their age by the dark bills that will turn bright red-orange as they become adults.



So, that wraps up the Session. Susan captured the exit march as we headed toward our cars. We all say goodbye to the site for banding until August.



Just outside the gates we found a bunch of Leather Flower blooming along the fences.



We will do some ground work a few times during the next couple months, including adding Sand Cord Grass around Net 19 and replacing the wild Coffee around Net 12 with Maple-leaf Viburnum. Black Berries will be added near the Mulberry trees. Should have fruit all over soon.

Session 4 will begin on the first Sunday in August. Weather permitting...
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 7th.

All nets will be opened by 6:20 A.M.

Some Fall Birds Right on Time

Still a week or two from the peak of migration but some birds are showing up right on schedule. However, there are still very few birds around in total despite strong indications that birds are on the move when viewing nightly NEXRAD radar.

When large masses of birds rise in the evening you can see their patterns bloom into bright blue shapes. Sometimes you hear references to 'ground clutter' when weather radar is shown on TV but this is often caused by huge flocks of birds that the radar is bouncing off of. Last Friday the NEXRAD looked like this:



This prompted us to try and band both days of the weekend in hopes of capturing some new migrants. The weather must have been too clear overhead, though, which kept the birds heading south all during the morning. By 7:30 AM on Saturday we only caught local birds.

Our resident Carolina Wrens were still flying into nets.



Blue Jays were actually very active Saturday and we did catch one of them.



Migrants were few but the last bird of the day proved the migration schedule was still on track. Last year on this date we caught our first ever House Wren at Lake Lotus and, right on time, another one joined us.



So much for Saturday. Sunday was a little better but not by much. Another 'on time' migrant did show up but as Andrew was removing the first Carolina Wren of the morning he got a call from Maria. Seemed she had a much more interesting catch.



Three people and some heavy gloves later, the bat was freed. More local fare was brought in a bit later in the form of this beautiful White-eyed Vireo. You can tell that it is still a fairly young bird by the not totally white eye.



Bird of the Day belonged to this female Downy Woodpecker! Not rare by any means but hard to capture as they usually stay so high above the nets. That foot sure gives away the fact that they are one of our remaining links to dinosaurs.



Maria got the bird from the net. She is called the "Woodpecker Lady" in our group as she was almost always the one who got the woodpeckers when we were at Wekiva Springs.



Like the Black and White Warbler, Downys prove that simple colors, or lack thereof, can be beautiful.



Welcome to the catalog, little lady!



Net number 11 seems to be the hot spot for Common Yellowthroats. Here, Andrew extracts one of many for the day.



An interesting fact arose when guests began showing up the the banding site years ago with high-end digital cameras. These small birds seem to hear either the focus lock or the shutter trigger and begin flapping like crazy right as pictures are shot with these devices. It makes most shots appear like this, at best.



Our trusty older Olympus digital had just run out of batteries so the bird had to be restrained for a more calm pose.



As mentioned earlier, birds are still arriving on time, if not in greater numbers yet. This time last year we also got our first Catbird to band and here was the first of this year.



Lack of birds still do not diminish the wonderful views provided by nature.



Here's hoping the next week brings us some more birds!
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, October 4th.

We will open nets by 6:50 A.M.