September 7, 2014

This morning began with violent thunderstorms over Kiawah Island, so we decided to wait the weather out for the safety of the birds (and the comfort of the banders). By 10:30 the rain storms had moved on and we opened the station for what turned out to be a fairly productive morning. In almost three hours we captured six new birds and six recaptures from six different species. The star of the day was a hatch year male ruby-throated hummingbird, which we did not band because banders are required to have separate permits that are only awarded for projects that specifically study hummingbirds. 

Notice the one ruby colored feather in the throat.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the only hummingbirds that breed east of the Mississippi. Like many of his conspecifics, this little guy may fly across the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight this autumn while migrating to his wintering grounds in Central America. 

NEW BIRDS

1 Trails Flycatcher

2 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Northern Waterthrush

1 Northern Cardinal

1 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES

1 Carolina Chickadee 

1 Northern Cardinal

4 Painted Bunting

UNBANDED BIRDS

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  6

# of Recaptures:  6

# of Species:  6

Effort:  55.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  21.8 birds/100 net-hours

BANDING STAFF

Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom

Libby Natola

Matt Zak