September Migrants Return

Fronts to the North and South have birds pretty well stuck where they are for now. That meant we would have to see what we could manage with what got here in the past couple weeks since we had to miss last week. Turned out that certain species are right on time based on our records.

Case in point, we captured our first Veery of the season today. Last year we only captured one Veery but it was at the same time of year. Hope we can get more of them this year.



Can't believe there are still Cardinals around that we haven't banded! Today we caught a young male to add to the list.



The other species that arrived right on time was the Common Yellowthroat. They made up the majority of our captured birds.



We only caught 2 adult Yellowthroats. All the rest were male and female hatch-year birds.



Another week and another Ovenbird was banded.



The second most caught species today were White-eyed Vireos. Like the Common Yellowthroats, the majority of these were also hatch-year birds. You can tell most juvenile White-eyed Vireos by their dark eyes.



Then compare that to the one adult we caught that shows the much brighter eye.



Bird-of-the-Day actually belongs to this little bird. A Painted Bunting! Typically, we begin seeing buntings in October so this was a fun surprise.



Better still, it turned out to be a recently fledged bird. That means it was born somewhere close to where we caught it! Breeding Painted Buntings at Lake Lotus. Sweet!!



It is going to take something extra-special to beat that next week. I think we are up for the challenge.

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 23th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Calm Before the Storm

Word of the Day: Wet.



Our last storm was the previous Thursday, but the humidity is still high and shoes and pants are soaked just walking the net lanes. The past two days have opened up the East Coast for good flying weather so bird sightings were actually very low. If Andrew wouldn't have checked the net lanes on Saturday we would have been stuck with one bird this weekend. He caught 3 on Saturday with limited nets.

One new addition for the season was the return of Golden Silk Orb Weavers.



We did more clipping around the area to trim up some plants and waited. Near the banding table we found some mushrooms enjoying the moisture from the past few weeks.



Near Net 14, a Lubber Grasshopper rests while molting into a new set of wings.



Two feet away, a very young Anole poses in the morning sunlight.



The end of the net lane was partially under water but we found a glowing pink mass near the swampy areas.



Clusters of the Apple Snail eggs are on many Cypress trunks. Should be good feeding for the Limpkins soon.



Out near the flooded spots, Primrose Willows are beginning to bloom. These plants have not been seen in numbers before. They are spreading now.



Next to the blooms, many Darners flit along the mouth of the river.



We did still manage to catch a few birds this weekend. A couple of Carolina Wrens joined the totals with one recapture and one new bird.



We also banded two new Ovenbirds.



We had a Common Yellowthroat in the nets but it escaped before recovering. However, that lets us know that this species is now on the way through and we should start banding them in numbers next week.

Seems like the remaining rain that was Isaac is trying to return into the Gulf so we will see what next week brings. Rain? Hurrying birds through the front? Time will tell, as usual.

NOTE: No banding on Sunday, Sept. 9th due to threat of rain.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 16th.
All nets will be opened by 6:35 A.M.

Storm Watch

Tropical Storm Isaac was closing in on the edge of southern Florida but the radar indicated that we could probably get our day of banding in before the rain arrived. All we needed was a few hours on this Sunday morning. A large batch of storms were being pushed toward Central Florida ahead of the tropical weather so we headed out, fingers crossed.

We were secretly hoping for some sort of fall-out ahead of the weather but it was not to be. We began the day with a couple of Carolina Wrens and then things grew quiet. As we were setting nets in the dark we could see the reflections of barricades across the river. Odd. Just after daylight, Rangers Frank and Gary stopped by to ask if we had seen the dock. Nope. But on clearer inspection...



The dock is part of the new school programs being developed for the park by the rangers and children will get a chance to sample the waters, its flow rates, and other data during their field trips visits. Looks promising. Might provide some good views of gators from time to time, also.

Another item not noticed in the dark was a very large fungi along the net lanes.



Just how large? Here is a shot with Andrew's simple cell phone laid upon it. The phone is 4 1/4 inches so this fungi is about 8 inches across!



Out near the pier, a Viceroy Butterfly flitted along the blades of the Guinea Grass.



The rest of our day was pretty uneventful and we were wondering if we could even make our last year's date of 3 birds. Fortunately, some Downy Woodpeckers were foraging along the mouth of the river and helped us beat our record of 2011 of this week. Susan was busy with a couple of clingy birds before we headed back to the table.



The interesting thing was that we caught two females but the male was basically oblivious to their calls and continued to feed through the willows.



At least he provided some good photo ops as we got the females into bags.



Back at the table, we banded the woodpeckers and took the youngest back to where Dad was for release.



As we ended our day, we discovered some fun insects like this Webworm Moth on some branches.



Bob made a find right near the table that made us all pause. It was a small Stink Bug with a nearly smiling face on its back. Still trying to decide on the exact species.



While Andrew got the photos of the Stink Bug, he noticed a grasshopper hiding nearby. The antennae were three times as large as the critter itself.



Nets were gathered and the rain hit just as we got to our cars. Great timing. We should have a better weather next week and the counts should improve during our next attempts. Gearing up for a couple weeks from now when a larger amount of migrants flow through.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 2nd.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.

Migrants Return

A good mix of birds were seen today and we finally had the return of some expected migrants. Of course, we have our locals to round up and we caught a couple of new Carolina Wrens, both molting.



We also recaptured a male Northern Cardinal and got a new adult female.



A couple of weeks late, but we were happy to capture some Northern Waterthrushes out near the lake.



We almost walked right past another warbler as we gathered some Waterthrushes. Up at the top of the net was a male Northern Parula. So tiny and beautiful.



Another pleasant surprise was our first Ovenbird of the season. Right on time.



Out in the swampy area next to Net 18 Andrew spied a first time sighting hiding behind the branches. A Prothonotary Warbler was feeding by the water but would not pose for a good photo. Can you find it?



We hoped the bird would fly into the nets but it was not to be. Nor did the other warblers nearby, like this Prairie Warbler.



Our day ended with one more Northern Parula.



Watching the Tropics. We should be able to get through next Sunday but we could have a hurricane on our hands soon afterwards.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 26th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.

Day 2 A Little Quiet

We had a much quieter day today but the weather was nice. Hot, but nice. Still no Waterthrushes and we only captured local birds today. Carolina Wrens and Cardinals. Our first capture was a male Northern Cardinal we first banded a year and half ago and was going through some head molt.



That Cardinal was captured in our latest net installation. Net 22. It is situated between #16 and #10 and fills a gap we had and should be a good spot for buntings in a month or so.



One of our Carolina Wren captures was one of the babies we banded last week. Guess it hasn't figured out how to avoid the nets. Yet.



Of course, when things get a bit slow we take time to explore the flora and fauna. The Guinea Grass (Panicum maximum) is exploding all along the net lanes and is in full bloom. Should be an abundant supply of seed by the time the migration hits soon.



Despite the heavy grass growth, the Scarlet Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederifolia) continues to find some open spaces to sprinkle the green with bursts of red.



Among the other vegetation, one of the Leaf-legged bug species (Acanthocephala femorata) huddle on the branches of some small oaks and other plants.



Not a lot of activity down by the lake, either. Mainly Queen butterflies and smaller things like this Powdered Dancer damselfly (Argia moesta). This is the first time we have noticed them.



Overhead, a dragonfly rests on the tip of a branch. We will tentatively ID it as a Black Saddledbags (Tramea lacerata).



Hopefully the fronts will shift a bit so we can begin getting the migrants next week.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 19th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.

Session 5 Begins

We ventured out into the humid first Sunday in August to begin Session 5 at Lake Lotus. We still have some vegetation to deal with as the recent rains have really set of a growth spurt all along the river. Even the rangers say they are having a hard time keeping up on their side.

As the season progresses, bet we see a nice Fall, bird-wise.

As for today, most of our bird captures were locals. Totally expected. Almost every bird we captured was in heavy molt. Our most numerous bird species captured were the Carolina Wrens. Babies are all over the place and males are still singing. We captured a few babies and a proud parent.



Cardinals are fewer in evidence but we did get a female near the lake.



At the same time, we captured one of the huge numbers of Northern Parula that had a very good breeding season this year.



Another excellent bird near the lake found the nets. A Great-crested Flycatcher. It snapped away as we prepared it for release. Always a fun bird to view up close.



Besides wing molting, this birds is molting out tail feathers, as well.



Just as we thought we might not get a migrant for the day, we caught a good one. A female American Redstart! A Black and White Warbler was also observed across the river. Migration is under way.



No Waterthrushes yet. In the past, we have banded them around the 7-8th. Next week should find them back in the park. Can't wait!

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 12th.
All nets will be opened by 6:25 A.M.

Session 4 Annual Report

Just in time to begin Session 5, we present the Annual Report for Session 4. The report contains information about our banding site, a chart of captured and banded birds, photos and stories of our banding events, and links to local birding organizations.



This report is a PDF files (6.3 MB) and can be read online by clicking here. If you wish to read it later, just right-click that link and save to your computer.

We are compiling other data to compare and should have those reports available in the future.

Session 5 begins next Sunday!
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, August 5th.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.