2016 Sparrow Drive

Has it been a year already since the Sparrow Drive at Weekie Wachee? Well, really more like three! The weather the past couple of years was too risky for us spending 5 hours on the road to just be rained out. The weather was much nicer this year so the volunteers from the banding site were rounded up and arrived at dawn to help set nets.

Once all who were going to attend showed up by 9 AM the marching through the grasses began. The cold front that came through the other day left the area a bit squishy and wet feet were had by all in short order.



I got a new point and shoot for Christmas and brought it along to test in the field.



A number of other banders were out for the drive, including Jim McGinity who helped extract captured birds with us.



The first couple of runs produced nothing but in this section we captured some Savannah Sparrows and other birds.



The crew finished the first circuit and headed back to the trucks to watch as some of the birds were banded.



Marianne Korosy is in charge of the Sparrow Drive and bands all the birds we capture.



A few of us held birds so visitors could get photos. Here, Tony holds a LeConte's Sparrow that was just banded.



A close up of the LeConte's Sparrow.



I got the Grasshopper Sparrow to display to answer any questions from the group.



Let the next round begin!



Since our banding crew has a lot of experience extracting bird we station ourselves at intervals at the nets to get to birds as quickly as possible.



Jim gets another bird as Lynn moves down to the next position.



Clay extracts and holds up a Swamp Sparrow. Clay helps manage this property and maintains the nets and poles used out here.



Killian has his hands full of birds in bags and heads back to the trucks with our recent catches.



We got more Savannah Sparrows on this final sweep...



...and another House Wren for the morning.



Before we loaded out, Marianne called us over to look at the Swamp Sparrow we just had banded. No of us had ever seen anything like it. This bird had a single white feather on its wing. Pretty cool.



Back near the cars, a Gopher Tortoise was trying to decide if it should come out for a snack.



We have been doing these drives for years and never think to get a group shot. Thanks to Jim for thinking about it just before the truck took all the Wekiva Basin banding volunteers back out of the preserve.



A lot of birds, a lot of fun. Until next year...

Of Bobwhites and Albino Wrens

Friend Paul Hueber found an albino House Wren at Lake Lotus last week so I took a lunch break to see if I could relocate it.

Just as I pulled into the parking spot, I noticed a small lump along the edge of the trees. Maybe a small bird? I got out the camera and eased out of the car. Sure enough, a Bobwhite Quail was sitting perfectly still in the grass.

I got closer, snapping pictures and using the swing set as a barrier between us, and suddenly spotted another. And another. And another! There was a small flock of the birds there quietly feeding in the grass.



Talking to Gary, one of the park rangers, I got the whole story. They released 11 quail in the park to try and establish the bird which once used to be found here until a few years ago. No wonder they didn't seem too afraid of my approach.



Hope they survive the hungry hawks!

I continued to search for the House Wren. Arriving at the location given by Paul, I could hear a wren chattering in the trees. Quite a distance from me but I was eventually able to spot it following another small bird around. The best I could manage was this far-away shot as it displayed on a branch.



Then, like the ghost it appeared to be, it vanished. A few minutes later it emerged quite close to me as it flew under the boardwalk beneath me and across to the other side into the dense lake grasses. I never saw it again.

What an interesting find.

Catbirds are Here!

Boy, are they! Out of the 89 birds captured today (the highest total this year) 64 of those were Gray Catbirds.

They began to hit the nets even before I got the triple nets set up, flying in on both sides of me as I struggled to set the final pole. Luckily, the figure of Lorne Malow emerged in the pre-dawn dark to assist in removing them with me.

Back at the banding table, Lane arrived just in time to begin banding as I headed over to net 10 to find several more Catbirds waiting for extraction. Shout indicating the other volunteers were running out of bags came from down the net lanes indicating that they, too, were being kept busy with more Catbirds.

The flood gates of migration for these birds were flung wide open.



I was able to make a dash to the 'loop' with all of the remaining bags, passing other banders with hands full of birds heading the other way, and found even more hitting every net we had open.

Rounding the inside of the loop at net 15 I saw a different color scheme flapping near the edge of the net pole. Our 1st Wood Thrush of the season! It nearly made its way to an escape as I approached and quickly sealed off the exit.



We also managed to capture another new arriving species of Thrush, a Swainson's Thrush. Nice to see they have made it. The Gray-cheeks will not be far behind.



During my forays back and forth I was sure I was hearing another familiar Fall sound. The scolding of a House Wren. It took a bit longer before my suspicions were confirmed as we were able to band one before the end of the morning.



We finally were able to throw some more color into the mix as, near the end of the nearly endless procession of bird bags was reached, Lane removed a beautiful female Hooded Warbler from it's holding place.



There will be little rest for the next few weeks, if the weather holds, for all of us anxious Wekiva banders.

Fine by me.