Despite forecasts for scattered thunderstorms we managed to have a very smooth boat ride to the island and not a drop of rain. You really can’t count on the weather forecasts. We were able to get all 19 nets set up and open for “business” just after sunrise. There was VERY little bird activity on the island at all so, as a result, we caught very few birds. We banded a total of 5 birds with 3 of them being Northern Cardinals (one was a recapture) and 2 Red-eyed Vireos.
The island is very wet with fairly deep water standing in several of the trails (which means more mosquitoes next weekend). After being away from the island, I am always struck by how beautiful it is. The vegetation is so lush and after the prescribed burns there are a lot of goldenrod flowers in bloom. They made a nice contrast with the burned logs. We did have an exciting encounter of the reptilian kind on the walk back to the marina. We had a 3′ Coachwhip snake right along the trail. It was laying with it’s head raised and looked at us for a few minutes before it disappeared back into the palmettos.
Hopefully next Sunday we will have a lot more birds to report on.
Hammock Bird Banding 