FOS Northern Parula and good numbers of Prairie Warblers

Captain Sam's
It was a good morning for warblers down at Captain Sam's.  In addition to our first Northern Parula (a hatch year female) of the season, we had 12 Prairie Warblers, making up a third of the day's new birds.  And while we caught a decent amount of migrants this morning, we do seem to be missing some of the more common resident birds of the island.  Cardinals, chickadees, and wrens, which can be seen readily around Kiawah, have been relatively scarce at the station.

After a brief respite from the heat after this weekend's storms, warmer weather is making a return. Here's hoping it doesn't slow down the birds!

-Brandon


Little Bear 
It was a fairly good day at Little Bear with 21 new birds and 4 recaptures, made up by a total of 11 species.  Highlights of the day included our first of the season Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and “Traill’s” Flycatcher.  Prairie Warblers were our most numerous species today, making up a third of the new birds banded.  All age and sex classes were represented in this bounty of Prairie Warblers which allowed me the opportunity to take pictures and share with you a quick trick to ageing and sexing them during fall migration. 

During the fall migration, Prairie Warblers can be quickly aged and sexed by looking at their facial patterns.  Younger/hatch-year birds will often have grayish mottling throughout their face and most notably around their eyes.  Adult/after-hatch-year birds will lack the gray mottling and have fairly yellow to bright yellow feathers surrounding their eyes.  Prairie Warblers can also be sexed based on the color and distinctness of their facial markings.  Males will have distinct facial markings that are completely black in adults or gray with black mottling in younger males.  Females will have more subtle facial markings that are usually dark olive but can occasionally have black mottling in adults.  Young females will have the most subdue of facial markings and can almost be lacking on some individuals.  This trick only works in the fall before they undergo their pre-alternate molt and as with any ageing or sexing trick, it is always best to consult multiple characteristics before making a final determination.  Here is a link to a more in depth post on aging and sexing Prairie Warblers by Aaron from 2012: http://kiawahislandbanding.blogspot.com/2012/08/tuesday-results-ageing-sexing-prairie.html 

-Mattie

Prairie Warbler (AHY, Male)

Prairie Warbler (AHY, Female)

Prairie Warbler (HY, Male)

Prairie Warbler (HY, Female)

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Screech Owl	-	1	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	6	1	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
Ovenbird	2	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	1	3	-
Common Yellowthroat	3	-	1	-
American Redstart	6	-	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	12	-	7	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	1
Painted Bunting	3	2	4	2

Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	36	21	57
# of Recaptures	5	4	9
# of Species	9	11	14
Effort (net-hours)	135.2	95.2	230.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.3	26.3	28.6
# of Nets	26	20	46

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (LB)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Kristen Oliver (LB)
Brandon Connare (CS)
Paul Carroll (CS)