Mixed Late September

Back after the rains and ready to find if anything flies in before the typical peak saeson. We started the day with with our first migrant, an Ovenbird.



Jenny soon returned with a male Northern Cardinal.



Ready for his close up.



Later in the morning, Christine notices a sign of digging under the main table. We are guessing that is an Armadillo hole dug out for sleeping during the rains.



Bird of the Day goes to our latest Swainson's Warbler. Our 3rd on record and the first in two years.



Next, we had our first White-eyed Vireo of the season.



Richard and Christine donated a couple more Wax Myrtles to install. Connie took to the task with gusto.



Only problem was, was that the humidity was still high so she got a bit sweaty but did a great job placing the new trees.



We were alerted to a Barred Owl down at Net 18. Jenny made a bee line toward it. This is the second raptor we have catured in the last two trips out.



Jenny works with raptors and has been waiting these past couple of years to have them get caught and recorded. We decided not to band this bird as it is local and the data is not that interesting to the bandng labs. But someone seems plenty excited to extract a predator.



Next up was another Ovenbird.



We wrapped the day with an adult Tufted Titmouse. They have been up early lately but still mainly staying at the tree tops.



We will try to get out both days next weekend but the weather is looking pretty sketchy for Sunday. Peak should be near in October.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Ovenbird	2	0	2
Northern Cardinal	1	0	1
Carolina Wren	1	1	2
White-eyed Vireo	1	0	1
Tufted Titmouse	1	0	1
Swainson's Warbler	1	0	1
Barred Owl	1	0	1
Totals	7	0	7

NOTE: To ensure the safety of our volunteers and the general public, new visitors are discouraged from attending banding at this time. The few of us who remain will update the blog as long as we can and hope to see new faces in the future. Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, October 3rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.

Final Spruce Up

Richard, Christine, Tanka, and Andrew headed out today to put the finishing touches on the nets lanes before next week for the opening of Session 4. No bears. Frank managed to get the mower in and did a great job clearing the net lanes for us. Then we got to business in the heat and humidity.

Richard and Christine head to the end to begin the next watering rounds. We now have nearly 60 native plants which are all doing well so far.



Summer flowers are blooming. Near Net 8 there are a bunch of St. Andrew's Cross (left) and St. John's Wort.



The never-ending process of weed control continued. Frank brought over some spray and we hit the unwanted plants hard.



Meanwhile, Andrew hacked away at any plants that would interfere with the nets by clearing things out from between the net poles.



A good find by Net 10. One of the Wax Myrtles is loaded with berries already! Maybe we can get some Myrtle Warblers this year.



The only dangerous part of the day was when Andrew nearly stepped on a Coral Snake on the way out. Cute but deadly.

A lot of birds around. More than 2 weeks ago. A good sign. Reports are already filtering of migrating warblers entering the state. Hope we can get off to a great start next week. Time to oil up the pliers!!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 7th.

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