Several of the Wekiwa Basin Banding Station crew headed out for what will be the final Sparrow Drive done by Marianne Korosy after many years of research at the abandoned limestone quarries in the Weekie Wachee Preserve on Florida's west coast. Unlike the past couple of years, conditions were much drier which is more ideal for finding sparrows in the fields. Now we just had to hope that the winds would stay down,too.
The mornings always start with an instructional course from Clay before we get to the activity of driving for sparrows on what will be involved.
Once the instructions have been delivered, the group heads out to the first phase of walking through the scrub in hopes of moving birds into the nets.
Our first bird of the day was a Savannah Sparrow.
Kay and Becki collected the next batch of birds and delivered them to the truck for data collection.
One of the next birds was a sought after Grasshopper Sparrow and it was a new capture of a migrant species.
Next up was a Swamp Sparrow.
Lynn insists on trying to get a shot of Andrew on these days and so Andrew got one back at her.
And here is Lynn's right back of the same bird.
In between runs, Andrew ran to check on the nets. The wind had blown down the end of the nets and in the end was an Eastern (Yellow) Palm Warbler.
Marianne processed the Palm Warbler back at the truck and there was a Western Palm Warbler caught at the same time.
One of the visitors was allowed to release the Palm Warbler after banding.
Another visitor was allowed to release the second Palm Warbler soon afterward.
In hopes of flushing out other birds from the far side of the net lanes, Lynn, Becki, and Andrew waded through the far grasses. Unfortunately, all of the sparrows decided to fly in the other direction.
The morning was calm until the Sun rose higher and the brought in the winds. The nets were soon billowing which decreases our chances of captures since birds can easily escape as the nets do not sit in their normal posture. If they are open like this the birds can simply fly back out.
Lynn was there when we did catch a Savannah Sparrow and we got a shot before it headed back for banding.
The next good surprise was a Le Conte's Sparrow on the way back to the truck.
Le Conte's Sparrows are one of the usual sparrows in this area from year to year and a great bird to have visitors get to see. They are are usually very elusive in grassy fields and difficult to observe up close.
During the next net run, Andrew climbed a nearby hilltop to try and spot the oncoming volunteers as they headed toward the nets. Andrew points, "There they are!"
Indeed they are! The crew crests the ridge and drives a few more birds towards the waiting nets.
As we wrapped up the morning we got a couple more Savannah Sparrows down in the square of the nets.
One of the main target birds has always been Grasshopper Sparrows and we ended up with a couple more before we ended the day.
Marianne gave details of our last Grasshopper Sparrow of the day before we headed home for this fun season. Alas, this will be the last.
Congratulations to Marianne for a very successful banding project. We have known her for so many years and have been proud to be invited and to participate in her events over many, many years. Now, she moves on to new ventures and we return to the banding site at Lake Lotus. These Sparrow drives will be highly missed by all of us.
