Saturday, November 3, 2012

Saturday's Results: VESPER SPARROW

Today we banded 61 new birds and had 22 recaptures of 16 different species.  Yellow-rumped Warblers were once again the most abundant species with 35 banded.  It was also a very good day for sparrows with 5 different species being banded.  The Bird-of-the-Day was a VESPER SPARROW!  This is the first time a Vesper Sparrow has ever been banded at KIBS.  Additionally, it is the first one I have ever seen on Kiawah Island!  We also banded 2 "first-of-the-season" White-throated Sparrows!


 

We had some interesting recaptures today as well - 4 more Yellow-rumped Warblers have returned to KIBS after being banded in previous years.  The original banding dates are as follows:  01/15/2010, 11/09/11, 12/09/11, and 01/24/12.





Vesper Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)

White-throated Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)


Eastern Towhees can be aged by comparing the greater covert with the primary coverts.  In hatch-year (juvenile) birds, the replaced greater coverts will be glossy black contrasting with the duller unreplaced primary coverts.     


Eastern Towhee (Hatch-year, male)


Eye color is a characteristic that can be used to determine the age of Eastern Towhees.  Generally, adults will have a red eye and hatch-years will have a brown eye.  Caution should be used when using eye color to age Eastern Towhees after late fall as some hatch-years have already attained a red eye.  



Eastern Towhee (hatch-year, male) 11-3-12
Note the brown eye




Eastern Towhee (after hatch-year, male) 10-23-12
Note the red eye




NEW BIRDS

4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

2 Hermit Thrush

3 Gray Catbird

35 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Palm Warbler (Western)

5 Common Yellowthroat

1 Eastern Towhee

1 Vesper Sparrow

1 Song Sparrow

6 Swamp Sparrow

2 White-throated Sparrow


 

RECAPTURES

1 Red-breasted Nuthatch

1 Carolina Wren

1 House Wren

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

7 Gray Catbird

1 Northern Mockingbird

7 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

3 Northern Cardinal


 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  61

# of Recaptures:  22

# of Species:  16

Effort:  96.9 net-hours

Capture Rate:  85.7 birds/100 net-hours 

# of Nets:  17