December 16, 2012

From Challenge to Success

We checked the weather and decided to do an impromptu banding session.  The nets went up and the rain came down.  So much for the forecast.  We closed the nets and waited for the downpour to pass.  The nets went up and dried and then we finally we broke the lack of captures.

Gray Catbird

Not the exact bird we captured but we did get a Gray Catbird.  No picture as the camera was put away so it wouldn't get wet.  This time the catbird was an adult.  It will be fun to see if the juveniles migrate through and the adults claim the winter territory.

We heard a Northern Cardinal but it didn't find the net before more rain clouds came rushing in.  We closed up but we have higher hopes for more captures in the next sessions.

December 6, 2012

A short entry for today.  We were hampered by lack of birds, lots of people (other than volunteers) and activity on the property, and the threat of rain so we closed early.  We will be switching to Tuesdays (see below) to hopefully have quieter days.  We once again kept track of the birds at Possum Long and added Cooper's Hawk to the species tally.  Starting in 2013 we will start a page with a "species seen and/or banded list".

One of the birds seen and heard was this Pileated Woodpecker that was excavating on the pole of the Osprey nest.  It was joined by another and then they flew "off into the sunset".  We hope to see them again.

We will be taking a break from planned banding sessions until Tuesday, January 8, 2013.  We will report if we do any impromptu sessions.