April 19th, 2009

Wow, what an interesting day! We arrived early to try an get some exiting migrants but that really didn't help things too much. We still ended up with 10 birds (better than the recent averages of 2-5) and snared some good birds with some other fun bird watching to round things out.

Northern Parulas were calling early along with the Chuck's Wills Widows and soon the Barred Owls chimed in before dawn. Even the Great-crested Flycatchers were singing early. Cardinals and Carolina Wrens joined in on the dawn chorus and we waited for results.

The first catches were predictable. Gray Catbirds. One has now been caught, banded, and recaptured 3 times in as many weeks. This species is all over the property right now. Seen across the river and in the net areas with regularity.

We did have a rather nice early result that prompted Richard to want a photograph. 3 birds at one time, the first time this has happened in quite a while. Susan, Maria, and Andrew all celebrated.



As stated before, Catbirds were not a surprise today but the Ovenbirds were. Nice to see in the Spring. Previously at Wekiva State Park Ovenbirds ended up being regular visitors to specific nets. Will be interesting to see if we get similar results here.



Another Brown Thrasher finally found a net. They have been calling in the mornings and it is always a thrill to hold and band one.



Andrew heard a rasping sound in the woods and ran back for the camera. Good thing. We now have baby owl sightings!



Baby was way up in the trees early in the morning so the images are not great but good enough to make the ID and stir awe.



Why was baby rasping? Because it was awaiting a good breakfast. Like the new mouse kill this parent was bringing in.



Out in the trees we found an old nest box, apparently set up by the park employees at some point. More investigation is needed but we figure there will be no new residents for this house.



Meanwhile, more birds were being captured. Like this Common Yellowthroat that Richard had a chance to band. Plus, Maria gets her first photo credit.



This day actually felt like it used to in the past where we were busy really banding birds. Go figure. That IS why we are here, after all.



Everyone wanted to see the owls so we trekked back into the trees to find them again. Do we need to remind you that we live near Disney? Everything is robotic, right?



Or we could just fix the reflections...



A Limpkin was calling across the lake. A quick scan near the pier revealed a sunning alligator. Over half a dozen were seen cruising the lake's edges.



No Coral Snake today but we did get a nice Leaf-footed Bug in the plants.



To end the morning we got the Bird-of-the-Day. A Painted Bunting. Always a joy.



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Next Banding Day: Sunday, April 26th.

This is the Lake Lotus Earth Day event so we will be doing a banding demonstration for the park IN the park.

We will open nets around 6:25 A.M. but the event starts officially at 10 A.M. We will be to the right of the tram drop off just before the boardwalk. See you there!

April 12, 2009

Another noisy start and another mediocre catch today. At least the migrants are still around. All we banded today was a few Gray Catbirds. We spent the majority of the morning bird watching instead, which isn't a horrible way to spend a few hours of the day.

Highlights of the watching were: Worm-eating Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Tutfted Titmouse, Chimney Swift, Cedar Waxwing, Indigo Bunting, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo. Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Susan also had the best find: a Coral Snake. Time to watch our steps.

Didn't take any pictures until the end of the morning. While closing up nets, we spotted a Barred Owl right next to net #8. Earlier, a clump of feathers was found here. Wonder if the owl got something from our net for a snack?

If so, it only gave me a wink.



The owl was trying to rest so picture taking was brief but how can you resist a little photo shoot with a close, willing subject?



Sleepy time.



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Next Banding Day: Sunday, April 19th.
We will open nets around 6:25 A.M.

April 5th, 2009

Spring Migration is on and so are changes in the landscape around the unused property of Lake Lotus. A chilly start to the morning lead to a perfect day and we ended up with 6 birds to process and one that got away.

Most of our birds were migrants but we finally recaptured a Carolina Wren after several months of them staying back in the woods. Andrew was trying to get a shot of the reported new baby Barred Owl when Sasha, a welcome visitor, spotted the Carolina Wren in the net and set about removing it.



A happy sight in the back row of bushes near the river: a Prairie Warbler. A clear sign of Spring.



Richard took a break from hacking down oaks in hopes of revealing more under story to check the nest boxes.



Later on, Sasha found a Gray Catbird waiting patiently in a net near the end of the trail.



Back at the banding table, Andrew digs into the tools to band the new bird.



Then one more photo for the website.



Near the end of the morning we captured a House Wren. Not unlike the one that escaped at 7 AM!



So, things are looking more lively, flowers are blooming, and we have more to research.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, April 12th.
We will open nets around 6:30 A.M.

March 22, 2009

Still hard to believe that a day can start so loud from the waking birds and turn out to be just another day with very few actual captured. Chuck WIll's Widows and Barred Owls called in the dark and Cardinals sounded off in every direction along with the Wrens, House and Carolina.

We did end up with all migrants, though. Two Catbirds and a Common Yellowthroat. The morning was a little chilly it turned out to be a perfect day, weather-wise.

Both of our Catbirds turned out to be adult birds. The Fall seems to get us nothing but juveniles.



It was also nice to see another Yellowthroat. It has been about 2 months since our last one.



Meanwhile, Richard made one of the bird boxes a little more accessible for any Wood Ducks that might want to call it home.



Over at the fishing pier, Tree Swallows filled the air scooping up the emerging midges. So gorgeous to watch, so hard to photograph!



Braving the hundreds of streaking Swallows was a Wood Stork heading for a quieter wading spot.



Teasing us just across the river was a huge feeding flocks which consisted mainly of Myrtle Warblers but >Kinglets, Goldfinches, Cardinals, Gnatcatchers and more was part of the feeding frenzy. They just would not grant us an audience even though our nets were waiting a mere 30 yards directly across from them.



Oh, well. At least we can watch the flowers bloom.




*BANDING FOR MARCH 29TH HAS BEEN CANCELLED*

Bad weather (storms and high winds) still projected into the morning.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, April 5th.
We will open nets around 6:45 A.M.

March, 15 2009

A very loud start to the morning quickly led to a whole lot of nothing after dawn. The owls and Chuck Will's Widow were calling in the dark.

We recaptured a Hermit Thrush, a Cardinal, and previously banded House Wren before the quite settled in.






Next Banding Day: Sunday, March 22th.
We will open nets around 7:00 A.M.

Spring is Springing

Radar looked promising and the weather final was cooperating but there was not a lot of activity along the net lanes this day. Except for the 4 Cardinals we caught and one lingering Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

The Cardinals are getting very active now. Three of the birds we captured were recaptured residents. They are increasing their areas of activity but some are still being caught in the usual spot (Nets 9 and 13) like this male.



A little later, this female was observed feeding near Net 7. She even perched 2 feet from the net and stared right through the mesh. Then, she flew right into it!



Our recaptured Kinglet was banded back in November. A few Kinglets are still in the area but not for long.



One recaptured female Cardinal seems to be giving Maria a bit of a problem. They pack quite a bite!



Richard began to check the boxes we set up a while ago. No one has moved in yet but we will keep an eye out. A tree fell since our last visit narrowly missing this particular box near the end of the net lane.



Fingers are crossed that the weather has broken. This was a perfect morning and it certainly seems that Spring is here, finally. Wood Ducks fly up and down the river all morning long.



Many birds are singing Springtime songs like this Carolina Wren.




Since the water is lower now, Andrew jumped the river to see if there could be a verification of a possible Short-tailed Hawk sighting. None were found but there was an observance of this Osprey continuously gathering nesting material.



The most unexpected find of the morning was this American Bittern lurking along the shore by the fishing pier.



A more distressing find was also found nearby. A turtle settles in to a feast of an invasive critter. It appears that the Armored Catfish are spreading all over the Wekiva Basin. Not good.



On a happier note, the Barred Owls are usually found reliably near what is thought to be their nest site.




Next Banding Day: Sunday, March 15th.
We will open nets around 7:00 A.M.

Orlando Wetlands Park Festival

Sure, it looks pretty. Just can't tell that it was actually feeling even colder than predicted.

This was the start of our day at Fort Christmas where we would give banding demonstrations as part of the Orlando Wetlands Park Festival. It was supposed to be around 43 degrees (and maybe it was) but we were greeted with a lot of frost as we began to set up.



Maria usually hates the cold, anyway, but she looks like it might be a frozen Minnesota day as she helps get the table area in order.



I tried to get a good shot of the pond getting all steamy but this was the best that I could manage. Beyond the pond is the real action of the festival where most vendors set up their tents. I opted for catching birds over being in the middle of the action but we might retool that next time.



We had a good number of visitors once they found us. Signs could have been much better.

Catch birds we did! Right after we opened the nets we started capturing different species. The very first was this Gray Catbird.



I kept noticing this House Wren moving between the bushes and the pond and I really wanted to get it. No problem. It was our second capture.



Our most numerous bird species were Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers. Many were younger birds but I vote this male Bird-of-the-Day since it was the one old enough to start shifting back into it's Spring plumage.



I placed one net in between 2 trees based on a Hermit Thrush sighting 3 years ago. It was actually my first sighting of a Hermit Thrush outside of our banding at Wekiva. What do you know, we caught one right at that same spot I photographed one all those years ago!



We had been hearing Cardinals throughout the day. As noon neared we finally captured one. The boys showed up right before this and my youngest did me the favor of taking a picture as I banded it. He says it was smoking.



Many folks got close up looks at several birds and we explained the process of banding and shared some history of birds captured over the years.



One last bird for the day. The winds were blowing pretty hard after 10 AM and we decided to close just before the official end of the festival. Despite the nets being held open by the stiff winds, this Eastern Phoebe was quietly waiting in the net behind the trees.



Many people were noticing this bird all day and it was a thrill to finally band it.

Next year, we will see if we can get any of these birds again.


Next Banding Day: Sunday, February 22th.
We will open nets around 6:30 A.M.

February, 01, 2009

Well, we more than doubled last weeks haul with 5 birds captured. Better than going backwards. I had been predicting that we might get an increase in birds now that everything is singing like it is Spring.

The Carolina Wrens obliged with 2 recaptures. We also had a recaptured and one new Cardinal and a recapture House Wren.

We weren't particularly worried about today's banding as we had bigger plans on our minds. Placing nest boxes. We set up 7 boxes of differing sizes along the trail and will monitor then as the years roll on. There are currently 4 boxes right near the banding table for some easy observation.



Just down the net lane is a nest box in what we think is a Hickory tree.



A rather large box has been placed near the river. Richard calls this a "Raccoon Box".



This box is next to net 12. I have seen many Great-crested Flycatchers in this area during the end of last Summer so maybe we can attract a family of these gregarious birds.



Near the end of the net lane we have a box near the orange trees. It will be interesting to see what shows up here.



When I was first shown this site I knew that I wanted nets right here. There was an existing old nest box on this young oak tree and several Carolina Wrens were all around it as I walked through. We capture many Wrens in this area and there is nesting material in the box already!



The other fun part of monitoring nets in quiet times is discovering plants along the trail and next to the river. Currently blooming just past the net lane is a lot of these plants which I am sure is a Wild Radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) which is a member of the mustard family.



Next weekend we will be giving a banding demonstration at the Orlando Wetland Festival which should be a lot of fun.

Next Banding Day: Sunday, February 8th.
We will open nets around 6:30 A.M.