Beautiful Day

After a very windy day at the Orlando Wetlads Festival, we had a beautiful day today. Ended up with a nice bird we rarely catch.

To start the day, we had a female Northern Cardinal. They are calling like crazy as they begin to start building nests and starting a new brood.



Missed one Hermit Thrush in the net, but we did get one recapture before that.



A Western Palm Warbler was captured in the middle of the lanes where we usually don't get them. Fine with us wherever we get them.



Gray Catbirds are spread out but we did one of them as they begin to get restless before they move on.



Yellow-rumped Warblers are starting to show up and we got 7 today. The males are beginning to shift into their alterative plumage,



As Andrew was checking nets on the last run there was a weird sound out by Net 21. It was short and loud but didn't make a recognizable sound to his ears. But it kept repeating. By the time he got to the net, there it was...a female Belted Kingfisher with her bill caught in the net, all of the notches of its bill tangled in nylon. It was soon extracted and brought in for banding.



A great end to the day and Jennifer released it across the river.

We did have a day before this one at the Orlando Wetlands Festival but there are so many pictures to process that it will have to wait for its own post in the near future. Photos from several photographers make a longer post and story. Want to let everyone when the next outing will be first. Trust us, you will enjoy that post. It was super windy but yeilded a great result!

When we can, we add videos and other photos to our Instagram page. Check back from time to time.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Carilina Wren	0	1	1
House Wren	0	2	2
Northern Cardinal	1	3	4
Gray Catbird	2	0	4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	0	1
Hermit Thrush	0	1	1
Myrtle Warbler	6	0	6
Totals	10	7	18

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, February 26th.
All nets will be opened by 6:25 A.M.

Last Sunday of 2022

A bit of fog was trying to settle in as we headed out to our last Sunday of the year.

We began the day with a recaptured Carolina Wren and ended up with 4 overall. One was new.



We then recaptured a Northern Cardinal pair.



Next up, a couple of recaptured Hermit Thrushes.



Reserving Bird-of-the-Day for our 7th Belted Kingfisher ever banded, even though it was the third official bird in nets today.



This beautiful female was grumpy in the net but was very relaxed by the time we banded her.



Didn't even hear a Gray Catbird until later in the day so it was nice to get at least one today.



Our first Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler) was last week as they are slowly arriving this Winter. Nice to have a second this week. Both were juvenile males.



Taking the next two weeks off for the holidays. Both major days hit Sunday, so enjoy and we will be back the 2nd week of January. Thanks for all of the support through last year! Back to festival time in 2023.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Northern Cardinal	0	3	3
Carlina Wren	1	3	4
Belted Kingfisher	1	0	1
Gray Catbird	1	0	1
Hermit Thrush	0	2	2
Myrtle Warbler	1	0	1
Totals	4	8	12

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, January 8th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.

Locals and Migrants Beat the Wind

Winds were forecast to be in the area later in the day. Instead, they were blowing at dawn and we wondered how good the day could possibly be. Turned out that it was not that bad, considering.

We bgan the morning off well with three birds right out of the gate. First up was a male Northern Cardinal.



We picked up two new Gray Catbirds but they are starting to move back into the brush more than before.



The first run also included the first Hermit Thrush of the season. They look a lot like Swainson's Thrushes, but we always remind ourselves, and others, "Tail, tail, tail!" Hermit Thrush have reddish tails. Swainson's are uniform brown.



House Wrens are chattering around the property, as usual. We only got one today.



Jenny proclaimed that she had the Bird of the Day next. What could it be? Our second Belted Kingfisher of the month! This was Jenny's view...



This was Connie's.



We had a couple of new visitors today. Robin came along with his partner Michael and got to get some shots with the Kingfisher before its release..



Our one recapture of the morning was an adult Carolina Wren.



As the crew was removing the Kingfisher from the net, they commented on the fact that an owl was watching nearby. 30 minutes later, that Barred Owl hit the same net. We do not band these owls as they live on property and provide no real data. She was released away from the nets shortly after everyone got photos.



We were hoping for more Indigo Buntings today. However, we only got one female.



Robin got to release that bird.



Connie directed our final bird of the day into the nets just before closing up. Palm Warblers are flocking in all over the state right now so it was good to end the day with one of them.



Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Northern Cardinal	1	0	1
Indigo Bunting	1	0	1
Carolina Wren	0	1	1
House Wren	1	0	1
Belted Kingfisher	1	0	1
Barred Owl	1	0	1
Western Palm Warbler	1	0	1
Hermit Thrush	1	0	1
Gray Catbird	2	0	2
Totals	9	1	10

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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, November 14th.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.

A Bit of Migration

It was a beautifully cooler morning as we headed out to see what the winds would bring us. Birdcast predicted a large migration for the overnight, but you have to add in that a lot of birds on the move are probably waterfowl and not necessarily all of the land birds we look forward to. However, it was a pretty good migrant day today.

Things started well as Connie brought in a female Painted Bunting.



Next up was one of our first Common Yellowthroats today. This was an adult male.



We caught few House Wrens throughout the morning.



Despite the number of species, we only got one Ovenbird.



Indigo Buntings are arriving in larger numbers. We got 3 today.



Gray Catbirds were heard around the property but we only got one of them.



Next up was another adult male Common Yellowthroat.



Carolina Wrens are emerging from the brush again and we caught adults and juveniles banded earlier in the year.



A big suprise today was a fairly late juvenile Veery. Typically, this species is the first Thrushes to arrive a month or so earlier. This guy is moving through a little late.



An adult Carolina Wren was finally captured after a few juvenile recaps.



Bird of the Day was reserved for the first Belted Kingfisher we have caught since 2015. We also caught 4 the year before.



We did recapture a juvenile White-eyed Vireo as the morning began to wear down. It was a bird we first banded in September.



The rest of the day was filled with Northern Cardinals. First up was a juvenile, noted by the black still remaining on the bill.



The next two birds were unbanded adults. Like this male...



...and a female just after that. Where are these new birds from? Been around for a year or so or new residents?



Hoping we can keep these numbers up for a while. Of course, it depends on the weather. We are ready for any scenario.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Common Yellowthroat	5	0	5
Painted Bunting	1	0	1
Northern Cardinal	2	1	3
White-eyed Vireo	0	1	1
Indigo Bunting	3	0	3
Gray Catbird	4	1	5
Carolina Wren	2	2	4
House Wren	4	0	4
Veery	1	0	1
Ovenbird	1	0	1
Belted Kingfisher	1	0	1
Totals	24	5	29

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, October 17th.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.

A Wave of Buntings

The Indigo Bunting wave arrived right after sunrise today just as expected. There may be more days in the future that we catch the same or more but this is the first big push for them to head South.



The bags were stacking up quickly and it took a little over an hour to get through the first morning rush. We will take it!



House Wrens are still arriving in good numbers and we captured 5 of them this morning.



No surprise, either, that Common Yellowthroats are representing on a nice cool day. Finally. Dry feet!



Last week we caught just a few female Indigo Buntings but now the males are also arriving sporting more of their name sake color.



Our 2nd Black-and-White Warbler in as many weeks is always a nice surprise.



Western Palm Warblers are also showing up in good numbers this weekend and we managed to band two of them today.



Even though the area is getting a break from the rain, there is still enough moisture around to make many species of fungus grow quite well.



Brown Thrashers are still moving about and getting jewelry from us.



Before she had to leave for the day, Becki got to band her related bird. A Belted Kingfisher (their alpha-numeric code is BEKI) made our 4th ever banded here.



All previous birds were females but this one was a male.



Once the data for the Belted Kingfisher was recorded Palmer got the privilege of releasing him along the river.



Did we mention that we caught a lot of Indigo Buntings today?



We only netted a single White-eyed Vireo this Sunday but it, like all the previous birds this month, was loaded with fat put on for migration.



Somehow we still catch new Northern Cardinals. Thought we had banded all the locals by now.



We captured 3 Ovenbirds including this recapture from a couple of years ago.



If not for other commitments we could have stayed longer but all good things must come to an end. On the way home looking for arriving ducks, Andrew spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes a couple miles from the banding site. Not totally rare around here but still a surprise.



We had an excellent day. The birds were plentiful, the weather was perfect, and the company a joy. Hopefully we can wind down October with another fantastic Sunday.
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Next (planned) Banding Days: Sunday, October 25th.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.