Thrushes and Wrens and No Bears

Finally, a warmer day but not a ton of birds. This after watching NEXRAD radar the night before and it indicated large flocks of birds moving in the dark. By morning, however, they were noticed all the way to the North and into Georgia.

We were catching thrushes like this younger Hermit Thrush.



We also captured Carolina and House Wrens but we were more excited by our first Ovenbird of the season.



Talk soon led to the fact that we haven't caught any Myrtle Warblers at this site so Andrew took a walk down by the lake to see what was flying around just past the net lanes. One interesting find was a Marsh Wren feeding in the weeds along the lake's edge.



Right after that find, a small flock of the questioned birds did fly in. Myrtle Warblers! First a few males.



Then a beautiful female dropped by.



The rest of our morning was spent walking the net lanes and deciding where we will be placing native plants in the near future. We will then monitor if certain plants attract more birds than others. Should be a fun experiment!

Spring is springing according to the Maple trees.



Suppose to be another chilly morning next weekend and we shall see what else is hanging around. Robins are on the move back North and Spring migration appears to be underway.

NOTE: No banding February, 28th. Wind chills are predicted to be about freezing. Will Winter never end?

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Next Banding Day: Sunday, March 7th.

We will open nets by 6:15 A.M.

A Chilly, Though Exciting, Day

Once you get out into the field you never know what you will find. We had an interesting day all around, even though it was another fairly gloomy and cold morning.

While setting nets, making lots of noise in case the bears were nearby, Andrew discovered some items near nets. Out at Net 17, golden eyes shone in the head lamp from a couple of raccoons digging in the dirt. Turned out they were digging out and eating turtle eggs which Maria photographed later.



As the light was coming up, Andrew also found another item of note. Honeycomb! This was dug out of a spot just next to Net 12. Seems the bears are here more often than we thought.



Most of our birds were recaptures, including this female Cardinal which we were wondering if she was about to lay some eggs based upon her body mass.



Here, the crew weighs the Cardinal before we took her out of the bag.



Another recapture was a Carolina Wren. Caught in Net 2 which was surprisingly busy today.



This was the first time Ivana removed a bird from a mist net and she got to release it after we recorded all relevant data.



Also in Net 2 was a recaptured Hermit Thrush.



Ivana also got to release this bird. It really wanted to go one minute but then just settled into her hand for a minute before finally flying off.



It was a really cute moment to behold.



We captured a Catbird along the way. It was a younger bird as demonstrated by the inner lining of the mouth which is a light color until they get older when the roof of the bill becomes all black.



We also tallied a House Wren and few other birds. 3 times the count from previous weeks! That was fun enough. Then Maria had the close encounter of the day.

All of us were away from the banding table (can't recall the last time that happened) and were headed back. Maria was in the lead and she seemed to be removing a bird from Net 3 below the banding table. Turns out that the mother and cub Black Bear had just run straight past her and bounded across the river. Though startled, she proved that she is becoming a real photographer in that she did not let her fear of just being run past by bears to make her forget to grab a quick shot as Mama Bear got across the river.



We had been back and forth the net lanes all morning and even had people up in the woods earlier and none of us heard or saw the bears which were obviously there all along. Kind of scary but an ultimately exciting discovery.

Last bird of the day was our Bachman's Sparrow we banded last week. Here Richard takes down the current data.



To wind up the day, Maria took a shot of the new blooms that have been popping up along the lanes and into the woods. This plant is called Innosence.



We will be even more watchful for bears next time and hope for a sunny day.

NOTE: No banding February 14th. Forecast calls for near freezing temperatures.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, February 21st.

We will open nets by 6:30 A.M.

Surprise Sparrow

It was one of those mornings that leaves one wondering why we got out of bed. Not too cold or anything but as we started to set nets the winds slowly increased and eventually the front moved through and the temps did begin to drop hour by hour. Oh, to be back in bed. Too gloomy.

However, there are the little moments that erase such selfish thoughts. The best of the day happened right after sunrise.

Andrew was checking nets and was all the way at the end of the net lanes checking for any birds and monitoring the weather. After staring at the dark, cloudy skies, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed a dark shape in Net 13. Wasn't moving but it had to be a bird.

Turned out to be not just any bird, but our first sparrow of this banding season! In fact, our first ever Bachman's Sparrow!!



Bachman's Sparrows do reside and breed just to the North of us near our old banding site in Wekiwa Springs but we never caught one as they stick to the pinewood flats near the Youth Center. Usually the sparrows we see around Lake Lotus are Swamp Sparrows and last year we caught a Clay-colored Sparrow in the same spot.



To our knowledge, no one has recorded a Bachman's Sparrow in this park.



We also caught a recap Northern Cardinal and a new Gray Catbird but this first bird of the day made the slightly uncomfortable weather blur away for a little bit.



Hoping for more sparrows before the season is over!
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, February 7th.

We will open nets by 6:40 A.M.

Nice to be Back

Has it really been a month? So nice to be back out to see what be flying through after all this time. We did stop by to see how the site fared after all this time and the biggest change was that at least one of the bears that were across the river in the park made it over to investigate our area.

We had to collect all of our bird bags that we left at the banding table as one of the bears grabbed it and left a trail of bags leading into the woods. The other main evidence was the abandoned feeder pole project. It was broken with the pole bent over above AND below ground. The rebar supporting the black pole was bent as well.



Though the birds were few throughout the day, we did recapture a Wintering Gray Catbird and a new, very young Hermit Thrush.



The last bird captured was another Wintering bird. This female Ruby-crowned Kinglet.



Toward the lake, the native wild Radish is blooming again.



Looking back up the river the latest cold spell seems to have killed off a lot of invasive species including the abundant Guinea Grass which you can see along the banks beyond the oaks.



Our other chore for the morning was checking the nest boxes before the main breeding seasons kicks in. In box number 1, where the Cuban Treefrog hung out last Fall, was now occupied by Flying Squirrels. If you look closely, you can see that there are 3 of them in this small box.



We let them continue resting and moved on. Nothing else was in any other box today but we are hoping something will use them this Spring.

Next week we close out the month and prepare for the new broods of Carolina Wrens which are sure to follow. The adult wrens are calling like crazy right now.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, January 31st.

We will open nets by 6:45 A.M.

No Banding January 17th!

Sigh. This is getting old.

We will be canceling our banding effort for this Sunday, January 17th due to the expected storms and high winds.

I will be going out there Saturday, January 16th, just to take a look around after all of this time off. Maybe even plant a tree for Arbor Day.

Maybe next week, kids.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, January 24th.

We will open nets by 6:50 A.M.

No Banding January 10th!

We will be canceling our banding effort for this Sunday, January 10th due to the expected continuing cold weather.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, January 17th.

We will open nets by 6:50 A.M.

Any Christmas Presents?

Not too many special gifts before Christmas at Lake Lotus. We did capture a few birds. Northern Cardinals, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet but spent more time watching hundreds of American Robins fly over and then we set to work removing invasive trees.

Over the past few weeks, Andrew has been gathering discarded rocks and cinder blocks and has begun forming a fence in front of the banding table. It is taking shape quite nicely. Notice the larger white block just behind the fence? That will become our official Wekiva Basin plaque.



Some folks thought it was too cold today.



Down toward the lakeside, Andrew and Richard fell the last trunk of a non-native China Berry tree. Timber!



We also captured a very cold dragonfly. Once removed from the net Christine placed it on a downed tree limb where the insect rested, awaiting the Sun to warm it up. Thanks to friend Paul Hueber for IDing it as a Twilight Darner.



We will NOT be banding December 27th or January 3rd. We can all enjoy a bit more sleep for once!

UPDATE: Ranger Cindy Falk sent along a photo of some Lake Lotus visitors across the river from us. A mother and cub Black Bear! Wonder if they ever cross the river? We will make extra noise when setting nets during our next session just in case.


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Next Banding Day: Sunday, January 10th.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We will open nets by 6:50 A.M.

A Full Day of Adventure

Back to the regular early start and back to getting some of the usual suspects. More birds this week than the past two and a lot of other interesting finds along the way.

Regardless of the number of birds captured, the views can be spectacular.



Just across the river are ripening Tangerines making us hungry.



Finally hearing the Catbirds calling up and down the river today and we caught some.



We also started catching more Hermit Thrushes



We also got a new Carolina Wren. Thought we had them all!



Down near the pier we recaptured a feisty beautiful male Cardinal.



Rain has been moving through the state again and has resulted in a large crop of mushroom. Especially eye-catching were these yellow versions.



They seemed to be everywhere just off of the beaten path.



Maria did a great job of capturing their beauty.



We also marveled at the wonderful spiderwebs formed in the many seeding grasses all morning.



Also, something has been gnawing on the lid to one of our nest boxes? Squirrels?



On the way out of the area we found many more Ceraunus Blue butterflies like the one we discovered first last week.



Always an adventure!

Still checking weather to make a firm decision on the start time but leaning to keeping it early again this week. Check back Friday for a change, if needed.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, December 20th.

We will open nets by 6:45 A.M.

One is the Loneliest Number

Our experimental later time start did not yield any new numbers of birds. Then again, numbers seem down all around so maybe it just didn't matter. We did have some good, needed rain a couple of days before which greatly increased the level of the Little Wekiva.



After a lot of waiting around on this nice morning we did catch one bird. It was brought back to the banding table and we found this little guy waiting for us.



Green Anoles are disappearing in the state, being displaced by the Cuban Anole. Cuban Anoles do not shift color like the native green variety. This one was on our blue chair and couldn't decide which color to choose.

On to the sole bird of the day. A Blue-headed Vireo!



This is only the second of this species to be captured at this location but always a welcome sight. As you can tell in this photo, this bird was carrying no extra fat deposits on it's undersides.



Beautiful birds.



As Andrew hands off the bird to Ivana to release it, it gave her a nice little nip!



We did get some stone wall building done around the table entrance and more invasive plant IDs for later removal but not much else. On the way out, we did find a nice little butterfly to observe. A Ceraunus Blue. Thanks to Randy Snyder for the ID!



Next week will we switch back to the early start time as the weather will be warmer and we will try to get the early risers.
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, December 13th.

We will open nets by 6:40 A.M.