Returning Ruby-crowned Kinglet

For those who are not aware, I run the Wekiva Basin Banding Station along the Little Wekiva River out at Lake Lotus in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The NEXRAD radars have been showing huge amounts of birds migrating lately so I thought I would do a little ground-truthing to see if anything had decided to land. Seems like the weather has been very good for traveling of late so there have not been many birds actually stopping on their trek. Good for them, slow for birders.

I did not see a lot of birds out there but I could only arrive after 9 AM and most of the good activity wraps up around then. Plus, ground crews were making a lot of noise along the Little Wekiva on the park side so there was not much chance of seeing many species. I did hear some buntings so I hope to capture some next Sunday.

I headed out but was compelled to stop and go out close to the river at one point. Just had a feeling, ya know? As I scanned to branches hanging over the river I spotted some movement and raised my binoculars. Could it be? Yes! My first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season.



I thought I noticed something else about this Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It was flitting about so quickly so it was making photographs difficult but I kept trying. I had to confirm my suspicions. Ah, yes. There it is. See it?



Magnified to 200% might help. This is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet we have banded in the past! It has returned on its long journey, perhaps many times. Only recapturing it will let us know for sure and next Sunday is our first chance to find out.



Banding is a science that allows us to track birds as they move through our world (or as we move through theirs) and catching them in the first place is a bit of luck. More difficult is recapturing them in the future to derive any real data. We do recapture a number of birds as they return. Site fidelity is one of the things we look for and birds are amazing in the way they will return to the exact same spot year after year, often to the day, during migration.

Time will tell and I will post an update if we recapture this bird.

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Oh, one more thing I almost forgot! I often watch for reflections on spider webs after first seeing one years ago. As I walked past Net 6 I noticed a Spiny Orb Weaver making a web. The Sun was shining brightly through the trees and with just a little tug...rainbows.



Just have to stop and look and the wonders will appear.

Shaded Birds

Time for a stretch. Wind is blowing but I was just wondering if any birds were about outside the office. Took the short walk around the woods and hardly saw a thing. I finally found a few birds feeding...right where I had started, at the office door. A few birds were in this small feeding flock but they were all in the shade. That's where the wind was keeping all the bugs!

The most noisy species, as is almost always the case, was the Tufted Titmouse. There were several of them about and they darted from low in the hedges to back into the lower branches. They were moving so quickly that I was happy to even get a kind of blurry shot.



Slipping silently between the leaves were a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets.



Bouncing around near the Kinglets I almost missed a White-eyed Vireo. They tend to look similar as they glean insects with one another.



The other species in tow as a Black and White Warbler. Seems like you can almost always count on one of these birds if you look hard enough.



On the way home I checked out the retention pond behind a church and was pleased to find three Wilson's Snipe probing the mud. Sadly, the pond drying up fast as we are lacking inches of rain this year. There were still a few Hooded Mergansers at the far end of the pond but not much else.



Not a bang-up day but plenty to keep me happy for the few minutes I got to spend outside.

Lake Lotus Banding

Still not a lot happening around here. However, we did have a fairly good day banding at Lake Lotus today. Seems like Spring is finally on the way!

Jump over to the Wekiva blog here to check out the birds we banded and others we saw through the morning.

St. George Island Vacation, Pt. 3

I had read that a good spot to see some interesting birds was close to the park gate at the Youth Camp. Off I went early in the morning. I stopped at a boat launch along the way.

The tide was out so the oyster beds were exposed. Still not a lot of bird activity. A few Palm Warblers searched through the shrubs along the shore. Out in the channel, way out, there were a couple more Bufflehead and swimming with them were a few Red-breasted Mergansers. At least a new bird for the list today.



I reached the Youth Camp and found the parking lot quite full of birds. Over in the trees on the small incline, dozens of Myrtle Warblers snatched insects from the air while Ruby-crowned Kinglets searched the branches.

I tried to get some shots but the Myrtles did not want to play. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, however, are pretty easy to watch close up as they are more concerned about finding a meal than worrying about some big mammal staring at them. They have the speed advantage.

So much speed that every time I took a picture of them here I ended up with ghost Kinglets!



I was really after Pine Siskins which were reported a few days ago but I never found them. I searched for a while and headed back to camp. There, a few Chipping Sparrows flitted through the sites.



While Northern Mockingbirds kept a careful watch.



The whole group went out to the Youth Camp later in the day but we still only found the same birds that I did in the morning. On the way back to the campsite I went alone via a side trail that seemed to head back the right way while everyone drove back.

It was a nice walk. There were some birds I could only hear but never see but I did find a good marsh section near a bridge that was being scanned by a Northern Harrier.



Much to my surprise, there were actually two of them. I have only seen them singularly in the past. I kept wanting a closer flyby
but they eventually moved in the direction of the campsite.



I made it back a bit before sunset. Tomorrow we pack up and head home.

Lake Lotus Cruising

Not much happening in the area of late but I managed to stop by Lake Lotus for a few minutes. There were a lot of small birds to keep me busy trying to focus on their fast travels through the branches.

Most numerous were the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Hardly ever stopped looking for bugs.



Except to stare at this stranger with a giant contraption glued to his head.



Don't usually see the male Ruby-crowned Kinglets showing off their trademark but I got lucky with one OK shot.



A nice diversion for a pretty day.

Really Ruby-crowned Kinglet

One of the first Ruby-crowned Kinglets I ever saw was at Mead Garden and the crown was what gave it away for me since I had never seen one before. Out at Wekiva, we band a LOT of Kinglets. Most them are females so we don't get to see the crowns.

We even had one last winter that had only ONE ruby feather indicating it was a young male.

This morning we captured one of the most ruby of all the male Ruby-crowns I have ever seen.



Can't mistake that ID!