Saturday, October 18, 2014

First Ever Rose-breasted Grosbeak!

Today was another good day at KIBS with a total of 70 new birds and 29 recaptures of 15 species. The surprise of the day came late in the morning when a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was captured.  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are fairly rare on Kiawah Island during spring and fall migration.  This was the first Rose-breasted Grosbeak ever banded at KIBS!  Last fall, one was seen around the banding station but it eluded our nets.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (hatch year, male)


NEW BIRDS
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-eyed Vireo
1 Swainson's Thrush 
37 Gray Catbird 
10 Common Yellowthroat 
2 American Redstart
13 Palm Warbler (Western)
1 Northern Cardinal 
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
8 Indigo Bunting
5 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES
2 Common Ground-Dove 
2 White-eyed Vireo 
1 House Wren 
22 Gray Catbird 
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS 
# of New Birds: 70 
# of Recaptures: 29 
# of Species: 15
Effort: 131.84 net-hours 
Capture Rate: 75.1 birds/100 net hours 
# of Nets: 23 

BANDING STAFF 
Aaron Given 
Mattie VandenBoom 
Matt Zak 
William Oakley 
Libby Natola