Winter banding was
the slowest it has been in the 4 years I have been
banding at Tomoka State Park. There was much
discussion as to why birds seem to not be present in
the numbers as seen last year on all the bird list
serves. No conclusions were drawn, just a lot of
speculations: drought? decreased food sources?
warmer weather keeping birds further north? here but
more spread out? Sometimes it takes a number of
years to sort these questions out. What I do know
is that the number of overwintering birds on
Helicopter Island was way way down.
Only 2 species were
caught all winter for 2007-2008 and they only
totaled 19! Hard to imagine after a winter of 96
birds in 2006-2007. For one thing, the number of
Yellow-rumped Warblers was in the thousands in the
park and easily caught. And Blue-headed Vireos (BHVI) and
Ruby-crowned Kinglets (RCKI) were higher in number
as well last winter. This winter I have not seen a
single Common Ground Dove and I banded a couple of
them last year. Even worse, it seems like the
catbirds decided to overwinter elsewhere. I rarely
if ever heard a single mew from them and I didn't
recapture any (only a very small number caught at
all in the fall.)
Two banders, one
from Connecticut who did not get to band any birds,
and one from Great Britain who actually got to band
several Yellow-rumps, visited the station. We
shared banding information and birded the skies in
the "down" time! Another couple and their friend
visited the banding station in February for the 3rd
time (and brought me a great lunch). They don't
seem to be discouraged by the decrease in banding of
birds. They enjoy the park tremendously! A young
woman who works for Volusia County spent a morning
with me as she is interested in learning to band.
Even the fishermen asked about the banding and had
an opportunity to see one released. Some lost
kayakers came ashore and also got to see a bird
released. So, education continues at TBBS!
This winter I set
up nets at Merritt Island during the Space Coast
Birding and Wildlife Festival. In 8 hours I only
caught a single Gray Catbird (GRCA). I also did a
banding demonstration at Penny Retirement Center
near Green Cove Springs where we caught only 2
cardinals all morning but I will admit it was really
cold!
VISITORS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
