The Final Sparrow Drive?

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.

Barber Park Gulls and Sparrows

I headed over to Barber Park which is on the outer edge of my birding loop from home. There was rain earlier but I have never seen the soccer area filled with water before. Surrounding that water were many, many gulls resting on the grass.



When you find a whole bunch of gulls around it is important to scan through them in case any rare species might show up. The most common gull in Central Florida is the Ring-billed Gull and most of the birds here where of that variety. They ranged in age from adult...



...to juvenile. Some would pick around in the grasses and water but the majority of the birds were just trying to catch a nap.



Standing alone near the edge of the ponding water was a Laughing Gull. They are found in large numbers on the coast so at least I got one stray in the flock.



I was trying to get back in the car while the wind continued to howl around but I heard a small sound off to my right. Out of the cloudy skies, a small flock of Savannah Sparrow landed in a tree and then dropped to the ground.



Savannah Sparrows are not uncommon in brushy areas around the state in Winter but I have never seen them in my urban area before. They picked around at the ground for a couple of minutes right in the parking lot.



One of the birds took a look to the sky and, suddenly, they all took wing and headed out toward the lake.



This park can hold some interesting things from time to time. I definitely wasn't expecting this particular grouping of birds. Tired of the wind, I headed home. Not much else was enjoying this weather, either.

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...

Lake Apopka New Year's Drive, Part 1

Another year, another trip to Lake Apopka. I am really starting to enjoy the fact that I get there right as the gate opens and can be one of the first, and then the first, to be out on the drive. Gives me time to get to birds before others and snag some shots before the traffic scares anything off. Like this American Bittern that strode upon the stage just after sunrise.



The first American Alligator of the morning cruises the canal.



While more begin to hunt near the Pumphouse.



Red-winged Blackbirds are easy to spot through out the drive.



You can see and hear them calling all day long.



Ospreys are busy having breakfast as soon as the Sun has come up and can be found atop most phone poles.



I spotted this Limpkin along the edge of the road and followed it to an open space just up ahead.



There it revealed it had breakfast, too, and tried to position the snail shell to extract the tasty snail inside.



It let me watch the whole time even though it was still weary of my clicking camera.



Around the bend, a Snowy Egret prowled along a branch.



You can never have too many shots of Great Blue Herons. Especially when they let you get right next to them in the early morning light.



Wilson's Snipe are typically very skittish and you usually see them fly off in front of you when you walk through their hiding places. For some reason, I found a pair on the side of the drive that decided staying still was a better choice.



I guess they figured that those few blades of grass were disguise enough.



Common Gallinule are copious and as hard as I try I can't resist a shot now and again.



Another more showy Snowy Egret wades into shallow water in search of a snack.



A Red-shouldered Hawk called from one of the few manmade items on the back part of the drive.



A few Savannah Sparrows can be found flitting through the green grasses right along the road but seldom pause for a good shot.



Most of the Eastern Phoebes I saw today were so busy feeding that I couldn't get many good shots. This one stayed still for a little bit for me.



One final Red-shouldered Hawk was perched in a snag at the last turn out of the drive.



I am still trying to find the reported Gray-headed Swamphen. I have missed it on the previous 5 times around. The day is young so why not have one more try before heading home? Part Two is next!