2016 Sparrow Drive

Has it been a year already since the Sparrow Drive at Weekie Wachee? Well, really more like three! The weather the past couple of years was too risky for us spending 5 hours on the road to just be rained out. The weather was much nicer this year so the volunteers from the banding site were rounded up are arrived at dawn to help set nets.

Once all who were going to attend showed up by 9 AM the marching through the grasses began. The cold front that came through the other day left the area a bit squishy and wet feet were had by all in short order.



Andrew got a new point and shoot for Christmas and brought it along to test in the field.



A number of other banders were out for the drive, including Jim McGinity who helped extract captured birds with us.



The first couple of runs produced nothing but in this section we captured some Savannah Sparrows and other birds.



The crew finished the first circuit and headed back to the trucks to watch as some of the birds were banded.



Marianne Korosy is in charge of the Sparrow Drive and bands all the birds we capture.



A few of us held birds so visitors could get photos. Here, Tony holds a LeConte’s Sparrow that was just banded.



A close up of the LeConte’s Sparrow.



Andrew got the Grasshopper Sparrow to display to answer any questions from the group.



Let the next round begin!



Since our banding crew has a lot of experience extracting bird we station ourselves at intervals at the nets to get to birds as quickly as possible.



Jim gets another bird as Lynn moves down to the next position.



Killian has his hands full of birds in bags and heads back to the trucks with our recent catches.



We got more Savannah Sparrows on this final sweep...



...and another House Wren for the morning.



Before we loaded out, Marianne called us over to look at the Swamp Sparrow we just had banded. No of us had ever seen anything like it. This bird had a single white feather on its wing. Pretty cool.



Back near the cars, a Gopher Tortoise was trying to decide if it should come out for a snack.



We have been doing these drives for years and never think to get a group shot. Thanks to Jim for thinking about it just before the truck took all the Wekiva Basin banding volunteers back out of the preserve.



A lot of birds, a lot of fun. Until next year...

Orlando Wetlands Festival a Success!

Settle back for a long post.

A long day but a very rewarding day. A lot of birds and a lot of educated visitors. Overall the best OWP festival we have ever participated in. Having a new spot (actually just a few yards from our initial spot years ago) and the addition of the new Education Center helped to focus more visitors toward us and they got to witness many birds being banded and got to learn a lot about banding and results gathered from it.

Andrew arrived just at dawn to survey the area and to record the setting moon to the West. Nets would be set up along the berms just ahead.



Without our knowledge, signs were posted at several locations signaling that we would be doing the banding over at the wetlands so that visitors over at the main event at Ft. Christmas would know we were going to be there.



As we set net poles, we noticed a Gopher Tortoise burrow nearby. Later in the morning it would try to find a way out among the crowds.



During the initial setup, Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles visited the bird feeders already present at the Education Center. We were hoping to catch some but the foot traffic made it unlikely. Still the Red-winged Blackbirds stuck around for awhile calling all the while.



Here, Richard sets up information across from the banding table.



We started the morning by catching some Gray Catbirds and a couple of Myrtle Warblers. Not long afterwards we caught a Northern Cardinal. Surprisingly, this Cardinal already had a band. A recapture from our banding demo in 2007! Great Data. Then came the onslaught of Myrtles which made up a huge percentage of the species captured during the day. Before midday, Abe and Maggie arrived to help band some "Yellow-rumps" as most most folks know Myrtles as.



Why Yellow-rump?



Maria made a welcome return to the fold along with Jasmine and handed out a lot of information to visitors before heading over toward the Ft. Christmas venue. Along the way they discovered interesting sights like alligators...



...scorpions...



...and Boa Constrictors!



Once Maria headed back to the table she discovered a Common Ground Dove lurking in the trees.



Back at the table we are still catching Myrtle Warblers. Surprisingly, even more than in the morning. For this capture, Abe checks for fat on one of our migrants.



We were fortunate enough to have birds in hand at almost every time a group of visitors stopped by. Even better, we caught the Bird-of-the-Day right when the biggest group debarked from the tour bus. It was a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! Andrew prepares to band our new bird in front of 40 visitors.



A very unexpected bird for the day. The crowd was thrilled.



Jasmine got to release the young bird back toward the marsh once all of the data was recorded.



The rest of the day was filled with Myrtle Warblers, one after another. Good enough to show each wave of visitors how we band our tiny wanderers.



Data is recorded, information is given out and everyone has a great time.



Once the birds are processed they are set for release. Here, Richard helps a visitor release a warbler back into the marsh.



When the next bird is brought in, Andrew shows the kids how we weigh them in the bag (and then just the bag) to get an accurate weight of the birds. Most Myrtles are around 12 grams.



Another visitor gets to release one of our newly banded warblers.



One last interesting find of the day before we folded up the day (we ended up with 36 birds) the gang found this insect. A Sculpted Pine Borer beetle. Very cool. We know it is a Chalcophora species but if anyone has a more specific genera, feel free to pass it along.



A great day. News seems to be that all who attended had a wonderful time, visitors and volunteers alike. With a few tweaks we will make next year even better!

Back to Lake Lotus next Sunday. Birds are still massing for a trip back home.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, February 27th

All nets will be opened by 6:23 A.M.