Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The Cloud Has Lifted!

Captain Sam's
For over two weeks, the days have been long and slow. Today however, everything changed as a number of factors came together. A look at the radar this morning seemed to indicate that a good number of birds north of us lifted and were on the move last night. Additionally the wind had come out of the Northwest and there were scattered pop up storms along the coast. The first few net runs brought back a large number of birds. Overall we banded 112 birds, had 5 recaptures totaling 19 different species. Among our highlights were a Wilson's Warbler and two hatch year Blackburnian Warblers; one male and one female (see pictures below). Today was the first time since 2011 that a Blackburnian Warbler was caught. Typically migrating Blackburnians stick to mature forests and stay in the treetops. As such is the case, it was really a treat to not only catch one but two! I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the differences between male and female hatch year Blackburnian Warblers. In males, the neck and patch around the eye are going to a mix of black and brown and their shoulder patch will be a dusky or faded black. They will also have some black streaking coming in on the side and flanks. Females on the other hand will be olive-brown on the neck, eye patch and
in their shoulders.

-Michael R    
Hatch year Blackburnian Warbler male (top) and female (bottom)

Wilson's Warbler (hatch year male)








Little Bear
Today was our busy day of the season with 116 new birds, 14 recaptures and 19 species. We had a few new and cool catches today including a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and Indigo Bunting, Nashville Warbler, and a few Blue Grosbeaks. We almost caught a cuckoo and we saw a Bobolink and a Merlin flying around the station. There wasn't a net run that we didn't catch any birds, our slowest net run was 4 or 5 birds, so it was a pretty steady paced day. Hopefully we will have to same luck for the rest of the week, and maybe we will catch that cuckoo.

          
                                       Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (hatch year)     Indigo Bunting (hatch year)








  Species Captain Sam's Little Bear
New Recaps New Recaps
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
-
-
1
-
Acadian Flycatcher
2
-
-
-
White-eyed Vireo
2
1
6
1
Red-eyed Vireo
7
1
10
-
Carolina Wren
-
-
-
3
Veery
1
-
-
-
Swainson's Thrush
3
-
-
-
Gray Catbird
4
-
3
-
Northern Mockingbird
-
-
1
-
Ovenbird
-
-
1
-
Worm-eating Warbler
1
-
-
-
Northern Waterthrush
3
1
11
-
Nashville Warbler
-
-
1
-
Common Yellowthroat
61
-
43
1
American Redstart
12
-
8
-
Magnolia Warbler
-
-
1
-
Blackburnian Warbler
2
-
-
-
Black-throated Blue Warbler
5
-
2
-
Palm Warbler (western)
2
-
15
-
Prairie Warbler
3
-
3
-
Wilson's Warbler
1
-
-
-
Yellow-breasted Chat
1
-
-
-
Northern Cardinal
-
1
-
2
Blue Grosbeak
-
-
2
-
Indigo Bunting
-
-
1
-
Painted Bunting
1
-
7
5
Baltimore Oriole
1
1
-
-




 Banding Stats Captain Sam's Little Bear TOTAL
# Birds Banded
112
116
228
# of Recaptures
5
13
18
# of Species
19
19
27
Effort (net-hours)
136.5
100.0
236.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
85.7
129.0
104.0
Nets
26
20
46

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Blaine Carnes (LB)
Mattie VandenBoom (CS)
Alison Nevins (LB)
Col Lauzau (LB)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Michael Rodgers (CS)
Ryan Donnelly (LB)