Got a few things to update you on before we get to today’s post, which happens to be a continuation of a recent feature. For starters, if you have spent any time at all here at Intrigued, you know about our annual Haunted Trail event. The all consuming, year round prep and exhausting build for the two night event held in late September. Our partner in haunt, Paul, has finished making this year’s video recap. I wanted to share that link in case you would like a sampling of how the trail turned out this year. Note, if the embedded link below does not work for you, try going directly to it using this link – https://youtu.be/wnZ5veDpNcA?si=1TM4lSygwhsnYMl_
Amazing how well the finished trail looks knowing the complete chaos leading up to the opening. A huge thank you again to everyone that helps us put this event on.
The other update is on the running front. The recent 50 mile ultra race hit me and hit me hard. I finally got the race recap up on the mothership if anyone is interested in reading about all the mishaps that when on during that torturefest (link here). I recommend not reading that if you are thinking about taking up long distance trail running ha. I’ve spent a solid two weeks trying to get back on my feet. The bad ankle I started the race with doesn’t seem to want to heal and the body is one big ache. Got fed up with the snail’s healing pace and went for a 7 mile run today. Lungs felt great, but the legs were a mess. Worst of all, now the ankle doesn’t even want to hold my weight – damn you weak-assed body parts – you shall suck it up and get in line or I’m gonna keep beating you until you change your attitude.
With those updates out of the way, I can finally get to today’s featured feathered friend (about time Bri!).
Look familiar? Hit the jump for the second part of our encounter with the Snail Kites during our 2023 April visit to Florida.
If you missed the first post on these federally endangered birds, you can get caught up here. I think I might have mentioned to several of you in the comments that this second part was in the queue and there would be some additional background provided on some of the specimens that were photographed.
Normally in the field I am doing everything I can to keep The Beast on target when it comes to birds in flight. I absolutely love my rig, but it is on the heavy side due to the 200-400 glass with end to end f4 – lots of heavy inner glass to get that light freedom. I also do not tend to “chimp” at the LCD panel on the back of the camera in favor of not missing shots. The end result is I do not tend to notice federal bands until back in the digital darkroom. In this particular case, I thought I had seen some glinting from the legs on a few of them, but wasn’t sure until I started processing them.
Sure enough, several of the specimens were sporting both federal (sliver metal) and colored metal bands. The federal bands are quite difficult to get a read on as there isn’t much contrast in the numbering and they tend to extend all the way around the band. Without multiple angles, you will be missing a lot of digits. Instead, I focus on the color bands which are usually shorter and generally have good luck identifying the bird on the banding site with those numbers/letters and the specific color. Let’s take a look at our first celebrity.
This young fella or lady was hunting the open waters quite regularly. It took up a significant amount of space on the digital card – many of which immediately hit the circular file thanks to bad execution. In the mix, I did manage to get some decent shots and from those was able to zoom in and pick off the band ID – this one was given the tag of E56.
Submitted that to the banding site and received the following information back. Female and immature Snail Kites are a rich brown with white highlights. In this case, I am not sure if it is a female or if 9 months still puts it in the juvenile stage and thus it could be a male. Per the cert, it was banded on 5/26/2022 in the nest. What became a consistent theme is they did not record the sex.
Continuing on with the next banded specimen. There are actually a number of shots of this particular Snail Kite as well. It was being shy with revealing its jewelry and wasn’t until many shots in did I notice the band. Here it is cleverly obstructing my view to the legs.
Eventually The Beast managed to get a shot which confirmed it. Problem was it was keeping its distance from the bank I was standing on making it difficult to even get the condensed number.
Then I got lucky. Our specimen decided to take a rest and landed in a bramble directly across from me. Can’t hide it anymore!
The shot above shows you how hard it is to read those federal silver bands. Guessing those are really for the ones they have in hand. Taking a closer look, our specimen has been given the N21 designation.
As before, submitted this new specimen and sure enough, received a certificate of appreciation back. He/She was even younger than the last one. Also banded in 2022, but this one was banded in the nest on 7/26 – 2 months younger to the day. Undetermined sex, so again, not sure if a female or potentially a juvi male.
We are not done yet! This next specimen I can confirm is an adult male. Believe this is the first breeding male in either post, which means you get your first look at their unique coloring. Notice the solid gray coloring throughout the body and wings with a wider tail band. You will also notice the pink/red base of the bill that is absent from the females and juveniles.
Also notice the redder legs compared to the other specimens above. I just think these males are super cool and even look deadlier with those brightly decorated hooks and toes. Let’s have another in-flight look.
I did not get very many shots of this male at all. Beyond a couple of similar shots this is about all there is. Luckily, just enough to see the band. This one was more of a silver (not the federal band) and they swapped the position of the letter and the number.
As you would expect, this specimen is significantly older than the other two. 12E was banded in the nest way back in May 2015 making him a little less than 8 years old. No need to question the sex, it is clearly male.
There is one more for you. This one was clearly proud of its jewelry as most of the in-flight shots have it proudly on display. I happen to really like this shot as you are not going to get a cleaner look at the undersides of these females/juveniles.
Do some digital zooming and you will notice this specimen goes by D87 – back to the blue band. Could it be that all the ones with the blue band were born around the same time?
Adding in this shot of the D87 just because it posed so nice for me among the bramble and Spanish moss. Ironically, one of the few times it was hiding the band.
It did flip around to confirm it was the same bird, this time the band was much easier to read.
Mystery solved, the last specimen sporting a blue band was also born around the same time as the first two (also with blue bands). This one is the youngest of the bunch having been banded in the nest on 8/2/22. Juvi male or female, your guess is as good as mine at this point.
One thing was very evident – the parents taught their offspring well. They were plucking the Apple Snails right out of the water like seasoned pros. They should all do well as long as the food supply remains stable. Speaking of which, I have not heard anything regarding Paynes and the recent hurricanes that plowed through the region. As with all the impacted residents, we extend our best wishes to all during those lethal weather related events. Decided to throw in another decent shot of these incredible birds…
…because I am going to leave you with a shot that I just missed. A microsecond earlier and I would have had the exact pluck and, more importantly, been able to get both the wings in the frame giving me a new addition for the wall.
Oh well, you lose some, you win some. Just like races, sometimes you are the shoe and other times the dirt.
Take care everyone, time for me to go have some very adult words with my ankle – may have to put earmuffs on the dogs to protect their fragile ears.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Your lens may be a ‘beast’ but to be able to crop those shots and get such clarity on the rings, oops I mean bands, it’s worth the Popeye muscles! Never get that with my 150-600 but can’t expect too much from a ‘cheap’ lens.
Anyway with your toe in a sling and your ankle in the ice bath you ought to pop over and check out a couple of posts you’ve missed, you slacker!
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Definitely a benefit of being able to get the leg detail, but all that time in the gym starts to wear on you after awhile (or that may just be the running ha). As they say, the very best lens is the one you have with you so no getting down with that 600 reach! Thanks for the kick in the butt, finally made it over to see your posts and still absolutely stunned at that Hoopoe and amazed at the your shots of it. Worth taking the effort to find it, that’s for sure.
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I enjoyed your post. good luck with the ankle.
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Thank you Sherry, glad to hear your visit was entertaining. I may have to break down and give the ankle a rest – it doesn’t seem to be responding to my angry verbal complaints – would also be helpful if I stopped getting on and off a ladder, but I have to get the Haunted Trail props back in storage so I can get the RV back in the shed before the weather turns. Appreciate you dropping in and for the well wishes!
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You are a “Bandit” when it comes to getting appreciated for your ability to photograph Snail Kites that have been banded. Congratulations! Great work. I love the video. The clown was the scariest, and the tree root of all evil was super. It looks like you had a good turnout as well.
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Bandit..I LIKE IT! I need to get new Intrigued shirts made up with that on it for the staff – include it with the “No Photo Didn’t Happen” series. We have a serious clown infestation in the woods – every time I get them cleaned out, they show back up again around September. So bummed the Haunted Tree took a spill in the 20-25 mph winds that were blasting through the valley the first day of the event. It was all put together nicely, the two 4″ sections stacked on the base, with the roots and arms all on when a massive gust came through and ripped it from its base, damaging the arms and definitely confirming we couldn’t keep it together for the trail – As you can see in the night portion of the video we kept the sections apart and left the arms off – Paul did add shot of the tree while we were building it that had the sections together. We will get it worked out so it can be shown off in all its glory next year. Turnout was great – lot of first timers which means it will continue to grow next year.
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I’m sure my dislike of clowns from a young age is why I dislike so many politicians. The Marilyn Mason videos are a good distraction from the current infestation of clowns in this election cycle. That’s so frustrating that the wind broke the tree of all evil roots. Maybe you can make the evil tree break wind. That would provide a bit of comic relief to the frightened folks trekking along your trail. Good to see your trail is popular and growing in popularity. That must make you feel like all the work is worth it.
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Hey, I think you hit the nail on the head as we share a same opinion of politicians (most of them as least, a few have their heads on right). Marilyn has definitely had his fair share of bad press with his ex going public with some pretty scandalous information – I don’t want to dismiss those without additional diligence as I believe all should be heard, but Marilyn has been the same since he burst onto the scene. Seems to be you should know what you are getting into at some level. The odd thing about him is I actually like his covers better than a lot of his original stuff. Tainted Love, Sweet Dreams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUvVdTlA23w), Cry Little Sister (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG5sFUROGX0), Personal Jesus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl6fyhZ0G5E). Hahaha, I need to look into the break wind effect – while at the haunt trade show this year I was checking out the aromas you can add to your fog juice to increase the ambience, their decaying smell would fit the bill! Yes, the positive feedback we get and seeing everyone having fun out on the trail definitely makes the year round work worth it. Once we get someone hooked, they usually come back every year to get themselves jumpstarted on Halloween (we are technically a month early) and always looking for the new props. Main problem right now is storing it all!! Glad you enjoyed the video. It is just a taste, but gives a good idea of what what the trail is all about.
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Great Snail Kite photos Brian! I need to review my photos to look for leg banding. The embedded video link worked well, felt like I was there all over again. You may have come up with a couple of body part related props for The Trail for next year.
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Thanks Brad – definitely look for the bands – always fun to submit and get the history of the specimen. As you and Jan were there on Friday (thanks for the help), you might have noticed there were additions to the trail for the second night as we had time to fix some things and get the others out there during the day – even got the coffin opener working which we ran out of time on Friiday – so many issues leading up to the opening, surprised it all turned out pretty good – appreciated everyone chipping in and helping out.
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Glad we could help, even if just a tiny bit. I did notice a few new displays in the video. The switchbacks even made an appearance in the video.
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All help is greatly appreciated – so many moving parts and tasks to get through, especially on opening night. you would be proud of our project plan broken into 1 year out, 1 month out, 1 week out, 1st day morning, 1st day afternoon, 1st day night closing, 2nd day morning, 2nd day afternoon, final night closing. The switchbacks probably go unnoticed by those not familiar with the previous years, but I have to say that was probably the most intensive work of the entire event. Based on the responses we got it was all worth it…although now everyone wants a ski lift to down and up ha.
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How about just a rope tow back up the hill?
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Hmmmm, maybe have them stand on one of those sledding saucers and have them hold on to a rope tied to the UTV….mental wheels they are a turning.
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Your Kite encounter was really special. Great shots of all the bands – your focus is impeccable! Thanks for sharing the Haunt video – I’ve decided I really must have the “shadow crawling spiders” display. Can’t believe you threw caution to the winds and ran on your injuries – watch out, or you will be confined to a recliner – bwahahaha!
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Thank you Sam! Every once in a while I get it right. Paul does a great job with the video – gives us something to remember the trail (really important for putting together the show for next year) and gives us a way to “advertise” what the event is all about – hard to put it in words the effort that is put into it. We get a lot of mixed reactions on that crawling spiders section – some people absolutely love it and jump right in to experience the effect….but we have many situations where the guest absolutely terrified and refuses to pass through it to the point we have to make sure we have an “escape” route around it or they would turn around and head back the way they came. We are working on inverting the colors so it is white spiders on black to make it less obvious it is a projection. I’ll let you know how that goes if we get that done this year. I did just get a new video that has the spiders pouring out from a hole in the ground that we will probably include next year – now that one freaks me out a bit ha. Hindsight, probably not the smartest thing I’ve done as it is still swollen today – sometimes you just have to show those weak joints who is calling the shots or they’ll take advantage of you. Not to mention, Linda doesn’t like to be around me when I haven’t gotten my miles in. Take care and appreciate you stopping in – enjoyed your recent Hummer series!
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That is quite the display you put on every year. I would like to know how you put these videos on the site. I can only put the link to my you tube channel. It is nice to click on your video and it just shows up. 🙂
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Thank you Sandra – it is definitely a large undertaking and without all our volunteers it would never happen. Need to get the rest of the props back in storage this week and then I can start working on new features for next year. WP has now forced me to use their block editor which I absolutely hate (a strong word for a strong opinion). If you hit the browse all option below the default blocks it will bring up a list of available blocks. To their credit, they have added a lot of new blocks, but the one I use is down in the Embed section and called the YouTube embed block. If you select that it will ask you for the URL and it should embed into your post with the title page. It doesn’t always work for people which is why I also include the link. Appreciate you dropping in Sandra – as a note, I still have problems commenting on your site. Now my submissions never come back, it just says submitting and never comes back – have to go to another browser window to make sure it did show up. Just mention that in case you were wondering about my lack of commenting – rest assured I am still enjoying all your posts.
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Thank you very much, I appreciate your advice and I know you are busy this time of year. I know it is hard to read all my favorite blogs, especially when we are traveling. Quite a few of my favorites have quit blogging. But, I imagine it can get old at times. I am always checking on yours as well.
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Thank Sandra. There has definitely been a an exit of some of the blogs I read – mostly due to giving up on technical issues on the WP platform which I can definitely understand given my constant battle with it. I am nearing the end of my 17th year here at Intrigued and and at times it has felt like work which is exactly what I did not want this to ever be. On the plus side I still enjoy showing off the things we find in the field and conversing with my fellow blogger friends stateside and abroad – not to mention the constant learning opportunities it provides both in researching for our posts and reading all the great output from others. I have to say adding Brad and Jan to the staff has helped my workload tremendously and gives our readers all new stories to enjoy win-win. Hoping things settle down as we head into Thanksgiving. Have some appointments still on the calendar and a number of tasks to get done before we head to Texas, but nothing like the pressure over the last couple of months. Take care and as always, safe travels.
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I know what you mean. It is fun to do the research, finding out more information than I normally would, if it wasn’t for blogging. 🙂
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Absolutely … kinda feel like I’m back in school…but a lot more enjoyable ha.
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Very nice trail and I love the trail name. Also, excellent photos.
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Thank you David. The trail name is actually an interesting story as it has changed this year. Up to this year it was referred to as the Trail of Tears and completely in reference to the first year we had it my good friend’s granddaughter was brought to tears midway through the trail – absolutely nothing to do with any historical reference. Our trail is set up so it gets scarier the deeper you get into it which allows everyone to get some enjoyment out of the trail – also puts the responsibility on the parent for what their kids get exposed to. Since that first year, our mantra has been…who is going to cry this year (last year a kid was having a complete meltdown and wouldn’t even go under the arch – mom finally got him called down and had a great time afterwards hehehe). Unfortunately, my friend passed away last year of an ALS derivative and continuing with that name felt odd, not to mention those that didn’t know the background making the wrong assumption. So my friend in haunt (creator of the video) came up with the great idea to change it to the Trail of Fears which allows me to easily change our references to it (especially our gigantic pumpkin arch entrance) with a single small line – genius. Appreciate you dropping in David – take care.
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Love the bird bling! Happy to hear you reported all these, it feels good to do it!! And, hey, we get a certificate. 🙂
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Thanks Donna! Oftentimes the subjects are to proud of their ornamentation to let me see them, but it is definitely fun to submit and get the history when they do. As you say, it feels good to help the birding organizations and who doesn’t want a certificate!! A belated welcome back Donna, I’ve been out of sorts as well with all the trail work and the race. Finally starting to get caught up on all the blogs I follow.
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Mice bird pics Brian. Catching them in flight, with a meal no less, nice. If I don’t ever write a comment again, it was because of watching the video and a falling over reaction. 😳🫣😬
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Thank you Jerry! It took some digital space, but eventually got a few decent ones in the tin – thank god we progressed from the days of film ha. As Brad can attest, the video is just a taste of the full haunted trail, but does give a good perspective of what it is all about. There is also a dramatic transition from the day walkthroughs to the night scenes. There is very little ambient light that make it through the tree canopy and that gets even less if it doesn’t fall on full moon nights. We try to pour as much “mood” light as possible (read spooky) into the trail as much as possible, but if you are afraid of the dark you gonna be shaking hehehe. We tell everyone we are NOT responsible for any post trail therapy. There will be more detailed posts on the event coming soon. Thanks for dropping in, appreciate it.
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It’s really remarkable to get this kind of feedback about individual birds. Good job capturing and deciphering the bands.
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I have mixed feelings about he whole banding thing – more in relation to the excessive banding they do on Piping Plovers and the like as 6+ bands on one bird sounds and looks ridiculous. With that said, I immediately go and report any bands that I photograph and wait eagerly to get the results of the submission to find out the history of the subject soooo admitted hypocrisy by me on that front. Maybe as technology improves they can make those tags less obtrusive (the large radio units they put on Sandhill Cranes is crazy) as long as I can still visibly see them in the shots I guess – there I go again thinking about myself ha. Thanks for dropping in Tanja and apologies for the delay in responding. Seeing your post on the snow out there made me shiver.
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I agree that so many different bands on one bird seem potentially problematic. Let’s hope the technology to track and monitor will improve.
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Fingers crossed!
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Great photos! It’s neat how you’re able to get the bird’s history. Thinking about all of the birds having the same color bands, when I worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, we banded all the newly hatched birds with the same color so we could identify what year they hatched.
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Thank you Andrew. Interesting, you have some background on the banding process. Admittedly, I know very little beyond the tendency to band the offspring of endangered birds in the nest and the capture nets I’ve seen. Always wanted to witness a banding process – using the same color for the year makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the additional info and thanks for dropping in and taking the time to join the conversation!
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