This has been an incredible week for banding uncommon and rare species . . . and today was no exception! We banded 10 new birds and had 4 recaptures of 10 different species. The biggest surprise to be pulled out of the bag today was a handsome adult male CANADA WARBLER. This is another species that has never been banded at KIBS - before today.
A couple days ago, Matt Arnold, a Naturalist for Kiawah Island Golf Resorts, told me that he was pretty sure he saw a Canada Warbler at Mingo Point. I was skeptical at first because I was unaware of any sightings of Canada Warbler on Kiawah. And then we catch one today and this is where I eat crow. Mingo Point is less than a mile up the Kiawah River from KIBS, so maybe this is the very same bird?
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| Canada Warbler (after hatch-year, male) |
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| Canada Warbler |
Even though Prothonotary Warblers are fairly common breeders in the hardwood swamps of the Coastal Plain the Carolinas, we don't band many of them, so its always nice to catch one of these striking birds.
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| Prothonotary Warbler (hatch-year, male) |
A non-bird highlight of the day was this Eastern Glass Lizard that DeeAnne, one of the banding assistants, captured. Eastern Glass Lizards are common around KIBS but we seldom ever get a good look at them. They like to sun themselves in our walking trails but as we approach, they disappear in the dense grass. Glass lizards are unique because they are legless. They also have the ability to break off all or part of their tail (which makes up more than half the length of their body) when grabbed by a predator. This allows them to escape as the distracted predator is focused on the wiggling tail. Fortunately, the tail will regrow.
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| Eastern Glass Lizard |
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