More of the Same

Still no big results today and most of the species we caught were the same as yesterday. Where the heck are those thrushes? They are found in almost every other nearby park lately. So, we will have to settle for another Painted Bunting first thing, this time a female.



You shouldn't be surprised to see more Common Yellowthroats. They were nice and grabby today.



Brown Thrashers are noisily present all over the banding site and we seem to catch another new one every time out, now.



Carolina Wrens are traveling in pairs or more and getting captured the same way. Two at a time.



A young White-eyed Vireo joined us before the end of the day. These younger birds are very feisty and nip away at your fingers until you release them.



Seems that buntings are not the only things that enjoy the grasses. This fly has been seen often but we have yet to ID it.



Most of our Common Yellowthroats were females today. More drab but still pretty.



Ranger Frank was visiting as we banded some birds but was lamenting missing the bunting from yesterday. Just before he left we recaptured the male Painted Bunting. Pictures were again taken by all.



Then, Ranger Frank was allowed to release our Painted Bunting. Brings a little spring to your step being able to hold such a beautiful creature on your break.



Looking like is should be a great weather day next Sunday. Fall is trying to get here. In fact, this is the first week in a long time without 90s in the forecast.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, October 13th.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.

Should Be Peaking, But...

The first week of October is typically our busiest of the season. So we decided to open nets both days this weekend. Would the flood gates open on schedule or leave us wanting? The nets and volunteers were all ready at sunrise.



Common Yellowthroats continues to stream through but they have been doing that for weeks.



One species that is back right on time was a House Wren.



Much smaller than than Carolina Wrens, House Wrens are quite beautiful little birds. They will stay through the Winter and leave in early Spring.



Speaking of Carolina Wrens, of course we captured some of them today.



Another species we expect, actually a bit late, was our first Gray Catbird.



We usually joke that we only need to take one photo of a Catbird since they all look the same and we will get so many of them. However, this one was different. Almost overlooked was the fact that this Catbird had a white chin! New to all of us.



We had a visitor from the park over later in the day and she got to release another Gray Catbird after it was banded.



We have a few newer volunteers learning the ropes, er, nets. Another duty is helping to record data. Madison and Alease are learning some of the recording this morning.



While checking Net 2 back behind the table, Andrew heard a rustling sound in the leaf litter. Soon, the rhyme started repeating: "Red next to yellow, kill a fellow..."



A gorgeous Coral Snake was trying to remain hidden but we managed a few blurry shots. Coral Snakes are seen from time to time but they would rather be left alone and are not aggressive.



More of a danger are the Dragonflies. Even to other Dragonflies.



Did we mention Common Yellowthroats are still being caught?



We are beginning to catch a lot of White-eyed Vireos of late which is nice. However, this bird much think it stinks as it plugs up its nostrils for some reason.



We recaptured a male Northern Cardinal that was interesting in that we first banded it a year and a half ago when he was a fledgling. Looking big and strong. Love success stories.



Closing out with a bang was the Bird of the Day. Last year we only caught females but today we got a male Painted Bunting. It was captured in the same net we caught females and fledglings this time last year. Sure, they are interesting from the front...



...but when you see them from the side or back, wow!



While we were packing up Richard noticed something curious. Seems one of our support trees that holds up the rope that holds our bird in bags has done some growing. THis rope was tied up here about 5 years ago. He repositioned the rope to give the tree some relief.



We headed home to get a little rest before we have to be back out tomorrow morning.



So, did the peak miss us or is is right around the corner. Time will tell. Regardless, we should be seeing Indigo Buntings very soon.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, October 13th.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.

Peak Getting Closer

Saturday the 28th

Well, we had one dry week. Back to wet feet, again, as rain rains fell the previous night. The water was not restricted to the ground as the Smilax can attest.



Common Yellowthroats ruled the weekend. More of this species, like this adult male, were captured than any other though both of our banding days featured almost identical species captures.



Today we added two Ovenbirds to our data.



Our 2nd Brown Thrasher of the season was captured in the middle of the net lanes. They are suddenly very active up and down the river.



A male Black-throated Blue Warbler was caught in Net 5. This net catches most of this species over the years.



Black-throated Blue Warblers are gorgeous no matter which angle you choose.



Andrew gets data including checking for fat density on a Common Yellowthroat.



We caught three White-eyed Vireos today, a record for a single day. Usually we only manage one at a time.



New and recaptured Carolina Wrens found their way into the nets on both days this weekend.



Many folks think of Carolina Wrens as just boring brown but that is certainly not the case when they are in hand.



A majority of Common Yellowthroats captured were juvenile and adult males but we still got a few females along the way.



A nice surprise at the end of the day was a female American Redstart though she looks rather worn after a long journey.

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Sunday the 29th

Sunday morning was a bit drier even down by the Cypress swamp area behind Net 18.



Soon, the Common Yellowthroats were up and about starting with a young male.



Maria spotted a Limpkin roaming the river banks early in the morning.



One of the trees that had died a while ago broke in half a few weeks ago. This morning Andrew noticed the rest of the trunk was leaning toward Net 14. It was only being held up by a limb of another tree. One stiff wind and it could have fallen onto the net. Andrew decided to push over in the other direction.



They're back in numbers. We could hear them all over today and we finally caught our first Gray Catbird of the season.



Later on the insects began coming out in force including a Damselfly.



During a lull (we had fewer birds today compared to Saturday) Andrew couldn't stop yard work. He and Maria spent a fair amount of time removing Skunkvine from the Willows near the lake.



They were called back to the table to see the latest Black-throated Blue Warbler of the weekend.



Time to wrap up for the day. A Bird Grasshopper and friends were resting by the edge of the river.



Next weekend should be even more exciting if the weather holds. We will be there both days again.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Way Too Quiet as Front Approaches

The birds are so close but they are trapped behind a large storm front threatening to wash out our day. we give it a shot, anyway. We caught a few birds but it took two hours for things to start moving at all. Perhaps the birds in the area decided to board up their houses against the impending rain.

The only earlier bird was a juvenile Northern Cardinal, probably part of the first broods on the year as its bill in nearly orange. Cardinals are born with black bills and you can see a couple of dark splotches on this bird.



Linda got to extract her first bird when a Common Yellowthroat flew into Net 10.



Lynn's daughter got to extract her first bird, too, when a couple more birds joined us. One of them was a female American Redstart.



We are still voting for Bird of the Day but this Ovenbird is a good candidate. It was originally banded last January. So, it headed home to breed and has now returned on its way South through the same spot. We love getting that kind of data showing site fidelity.



Another female Common Yellowthroat arrived at the table soon afterward.



The other bird vying for Bird of the Day was a this Red-Eyed Vireo. Those eyes are always amazing to see up close.



The other qualifying attribute was that this bird was full of fat. When bird prepare for migration they eat as much as possible to store up fat for energy for the long trip. The fat can be seen by gently blowing on the birds feathers. That is a lot of fat!



The rain did arrive as promised a while after we ended our day and will probably around for a few days. Things should then be set for a busy weekend as peak migration gears up.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, September 28-29th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.