Back to Regular Banding

Yesterday's Earth Day Festival was a disappointment, bird-wise, so we were hoping for a better day on the other side of the river today. It did get a little better but the migrants are still not here yet.

Gray Catbirds made up the highest species catch today with four birds. They will not be around too much longer.



A Northern Cardinal was recaptured down near the lake. we caught his lady in the same net last weekend.



Northern Parulas usually prefer to stay higher in the tree canopy but this male flew directly across the river and straight into Net 19, bounced out and turned to get caught. this one had chestnut coloring down both sides of his flanks.



Next up was a second year recaptured Carolina Wren.



We did manage one Common Yellowthroat for the morning, most likely a migrant.



This adult male Common Yellowthroat kept his bill open the entire encounter. If you look closely, you can see the bristles on the roof of its mouth that aid in keeping insects going in the right direction down its throat.



Out at the lake's edge, a young American Alligator keeps a watch through the cattails. The big bull is still out in the center of the lake.



Ladybugs have set up house on the wax Myrtles Richard planted not long ago.



Back in the woods, Golden Silk Spiders are still the dominant species where they set wide webs between the vegetation.



There is still at least one female Painted Bunting down in the marsh munching on seeds. The grasses are too far from Net 18 so we probably won't catch her anytime soon.



Our final bird of the day was another adult male Northern Parula. A lot of fathers are busily feeding their chicks this time of year.



Hoping for a couple waves of birds in the coming weeks as May is almost upon us. Just need a shift in winds and we should be all set.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 30th.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.

Less Wind, Few Birds

The winds finally backed off for a bit but the birds present were also down. However, it is nice to start the day with an Eastern Screech Owl. It was captured just at dawn.



Eastern Screech Owls always close their eyes or sometimes wink when they are being banded.



The silly owl did not want to release its grip on the holding bag through the entire banding process. All we could get were these undignified shots. Once we carefully removed those talons from the bag the owl quickly changed its posture and flew off into the woods.



Next up was a Gray Catbird. They are getting rather restless lately on the edge of homeward migration time.



Other critters are getting restless, too. More and more species of spider, like this Golden Silk Orb Weaver, are setting webs all over the property. The web this gal made in the woods is just over 6 feet across!



Honey Bees are busy collecting food through the Spider Wort patch between Nets 19 and 6.



Blue Jays were busy harassing the Barred Owls. Momma was found peeking through an oak branch.



We could finally navigate into a better angle to get some nicer photos.



A few Swamp Sparrows are still out in the marsh and along the lake shore.



Bald Eagles can usually be spotted on the far side of the lake where they have a nest. Sometimes they take a flight all the way to our side to hunt or try to steal fish from the Ospreys.



Several Green Herons were chasing one another out by the lake. This one decided to hide in the shade.



One of our Limpkin made its way far up river this morning probing for shelled meals.



It was fascinating to watch how easily the Limpkin could locate these snacks when we could not see any evidence that they existed just beneath the sand.



As the day wore down we caught a couple of House Wrens. The first one was first banded in December of 2015.



William, one of our latest volunteers, got to release the House Wren.



The second House Wren was just banded last November. House Wrens are not making their presence known so it was a little surprise to get these two before they head North to their breeding grounds.



As we were closing up nets, this turtle was sitting in the middle of the net lane. It soon decided to head into dense grass but we thought it would be more safe to take it directly to the river. One let to the edge of the water it swam away in a better direction.



April is the peak of Spring migration and hopefully we can take advantage of this next month.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 2nd.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

1A Kind of Day

It was a fairly productive day but mostly with Gray Catbirds and Northern Cardinals. Both take a band size of 1A. Still too windy in our opinion.

Our first bird of the morning was an Ovenbird.



Then, we caught a blurry male Northern Cardinal.



Followed by a female Northern Cardinal.



Our next 1A bird was a Gray Catbird.



As the weather warms up the spiders come out. It is hard to miss the large webs of the Golden Silk Spider.



We then brought in an adult male Common Yellowthroat.



Our final capture of the day was an adult Carolina Wren. We should start capturing the new round of juveniles next month.



On the way out, we spied our newest baby Barred Owl tucked in the tree top.



Seems like the majority of migrants where on the West coast this week. Hopefully we can get more of them next Sunday.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 17th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.

Week 2 of Session 8

We began the latest Session last week and were at least pleased that we caught some local birds and a migrant and had relatively nice weather until the rain blew in early. Today was a reminder of the sauna that truly is August. Once your shirt is soaked with sweat before dawn and mosquitoes begin to find you you remember we are still a bit far away from Fall. Still we push on and see what we can find through this breezeless morning.

The first run was quiet but on the next pass we recaptured one of the juvenile Carolina Wrens we banded last week. This was the one that was molting in a new set of tail feathers and was caught much farther down the lane than when it was first caught near the banding table.



Nearby, one of the Northern Cardinals we banded last week was caught in the same net as last week.



Christine removed the other Wren we banded last week and then rescued a beetle from Net 3.



Another recaptured Carolina Wren soon followed. More were heard but only a few were flying about. In fact, most of the morning found the birds as lethargic as we were in the heat.



We then recaptured another female Northern Cardinal and a new male down at Net 9.



With the rains comes new growth of fungus including these mushrooms sprouting on the edge of a log. Interesting to note that even as diminutive as these bunches are that there are an even smaller version located at the lower bottom left of the photo.



We made a large dent in the push of Caesar Weed while we still gave thanks to the Air Potato Beetles for making their own dent in their food.



There has been a Marsh Rabbit hanging around Net 13 for weeks and Christine found it wandering around and resting, briefly, on a log. Can you spot it?



She also found what we think is an Orange Barred Sulphur hanging in the Guinea Grass which have returned in force despite the efforts of folks to kill it off. You can't really get rid of this stuff and we don't really mind. Buntings love the seeds and we are looking forward to October to bring in the Indigos.



The water level is dropping and the baby American Alligators were found moved over to the small pond on the neighbor's property just across the Lake Lotus property line.



While checking Net 21, Andrew noticed a flash of color across the river in the willows. Prothonotary? Nope. A male Yellow Warbler! The first any of us has witnessed in the park. Later, a female was also seen. A clear sign that migration is in full swing.



We checked for views of our usual alligators in the river but did not find them. Instead, a Raccoon clambered through the scrub and shimmied up a Cypress across the river, stirring up the Tufted Titmice resting up in the tree tops.



Octavia, the Golden Silk Spider who has taken up residence behind the banding table, was spotted trapping a Bottle Fly and wrapping it up before devouring it. Her web is now taking over most of our rope that we hang bird bags on and we are trying to be respectful of her space.



Today, we noticed 3 males in the web. They are easy to tell apart. The female Golden Silk Spider can grow to huge sizes but the males are usually a very smaller version and often overlooked.



We trudged out at the end of the morning and hope for the return of new migrants soon. Ovenbirds should begin to show up any time and them the needles keeps rising into September. For now, we have to cool down.

On a sad note, our visitor for the past two weeks, Carol, sent us a photo she took after leaving us for the day. Out at the Window by the Lake on the Lotus boardwalk she spotted a dead bird in the water below. It was a Belted Kingfisher which would be the first of the season for this area. Hopefully it wasn't one that we banded last year but collision with windows is very common for birds all over the world.



Time to rejuvenate and prepare for another warm morning next week.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 16th.
All nets will be opened by 6:25 A.M.