The Last Day of the 2018 Fall Migration Season

CAPTAIN SAM'S

Today was the last day of the 2018 fall migration season.  Bird activity slowed down a bit with 18 new birds and 20 recaptures of 6 different species.  

I captured a Yellow-rumped Warbler with a strange molt today.  The bird was an adult which should have replaced all of it feathers during its prebasic molt this summer.  The odd thing about this bird was that it failed to replace 4 inner secondaries on the right wing, 3 inner secondaries of the left wing, all 3 alula feathers on the right wing, and 2 alula feathers on the left wing.  The unreplaced feathers were extremely brown and worn indicating that they were not juvenile feathers from this year.  

Yellow-rumped Warbler wing.  Note how brown and worn the retained 4 inner secondaries are.  

The last bird banded during the 2018 fall migration season was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  After a rather disappointing season for Ruby-crowned Kinglets this fall, their numbers had a little surge this last week including 5 today.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (hatch-year, male)

And the last bird captured of the 2018 fall migration season was a recaptured Yellow-rumped Warbler.  

Yellow-rumped Warbler (hatch-year, male)

  

 Over the next few days, I will be putting together a preliminary summary of the 2018 season so keep checking back to see how we ended up.  

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	5	-	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	6	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	12	10	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	18	-	18
# of Recaptures	19	-	19
# of Species	7	-	7
Effort (net-hours)	134.0	-	134.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	27.6	-	27.6
# of Nets	28	-	28

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,035	2,710	6,745
# of Recaptures	1,298	541	1,839
# of Species	80	76	96
Effort (net-hours)	12,347.5	4,978.25	17,325.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.2	65.3	49.5
# of Days	100	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

Late November Yellow-billed Cuckoos

CAPTAIN SAM'S 

Another solid day of banding out on the spit with 39 new birds and 31 recaptures of 9 different species.  The highlight of the day was 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a Field Sparrow.  The cuckoos are somewhat late although there have been many late migrants being seen around SC this year.  

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2018 fall migration banding season.  It has been a grueling season and my feet are ready for a break.

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	2	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	1	7	-	-
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Field Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	1	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	2	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	28	20	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	39	-	39
# of Recaptures	31	-	31
# of Species	9	-	9
Effort (net-hours)	193.7	-	193.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.1	-	36.1
# of Nets	28	-	28

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,016	2,710	6,726
# of Recaptures	1,305	541	1,846
# of Species	80	76	96
Effort (net-hours)	12,213.5	4,978.25	17,191.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.6	65.3	49.9
# of Days	99	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

First Eastern Bluebird for Captain Sam's

CAPTAIN SAM'S 

Because of the cold temperatures and gusty winds, I delayed opening the nets until a little after 7:00 am.  Even then I only opened up 7 nets.  Each consecutive net run, I opened up a few more nets, and by 10:00 am I had 25 nets open.  Similar to yesterday, the first three hours were very slow but around 11:00 am, the bird activity picked up and I was catching between 10-15 birds per hour until about 3:00 pm.  I closed up the nets around 4:20 pm to put a cap on a long and productive day.  I ended up banding 39 new birds and had 44 recaptures of 9 different species.  

The highlight of the day was a stunning adult male Eastern Bluebird.  This is the first bluebird that has ever been banded at during the fall at Captain Sam's.  Little Bear banded one in October 2017.  

-Aaron

Eastern Bluebird (after hatch-year, male)

  

       

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Eastern Bluebird	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	5	-	-
Song Sparrow	-	1	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	2	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	35	33	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	39	-	39
# of Recaptures	44	-	44
# of Species	9	-	9
Effort (net-hours)	175.8	-	175.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.2	-	47.2
# of Nets	25	-	25

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,977	2,710	6,687
# of Recaptures	1,274	541	1,815
# of Species	80	76	96
Effort (net-hours)	12,019.8	4,978.25	16,998.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.7	65.3	50.0
# of Days	98	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

FOS Grasshopper Sparrow

CAPTAIN SAM'S

It started out cold and breezy with very little bird activity.  I didn't even hear a Gray Catbird this morning!  Usually they are calling everywhere just before it gets light.  The birds finally started moving around 10:00 am and I caught a majority of the birds after that.  After starting out slow, I ended up with 26 new birds and 20 recaptures of 9 different species.  The highlights of the day included a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a first-of-the-season Grasshopper Sparrow.

The Sharp-shinned Hawk was aged as a second-year due to the orangish-red eye with a yellow ring around the edge.  In hatch-years the eye is yellow, and in after second-years (adults) it is deep red.  

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Second-year, male)

Today's Grasshopper Sparrow is only the 3rd one ever banded at KIBS.  The last one was banded in 2014.  

Grasshopper Sparrow (Hatch-year, sex unknown)

The weather tomorrow is going to be cold and windy again.  The only difference from today, is it is supposed to be colder and windier with temperatures reaching the freezing mark and wind chills in the lower 20's.  I will probably have to delay opening the nets until it warms up enough to safely band birds.

-Aaron 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	2	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
American Robin	3	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	1	-	-
Grasshopper Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	20	15	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	26	-	26
# of Recaptures	20	-	20
# of Species	9	-	9
Effort (net-hours)	153.0	-	153.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.1	-	30.1
# of Nets	27	-	27

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,938	2,710	6,648
# of Recaptures	1,230	541	1,771
# of Species	79	76	95
Effort (net-hours)	11,844.0	4,978.25	16,822.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.6	65.3	50.0
# of Days	97	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

Rain and Wind Made for a Short Day

CAPTAIN SAM'S

There was a chance of rain this morning but I thought I had a couple hours of banding before it arrived.  Unfortunately, a thunderstorm popped up and I had to to run around and close all the nets after only 30 minutes.  I decided to wait out the rain under the canopy tent and opened the nets back up a little before 9:00 am.  It then got really windy so I closed up everything about an hour and half later, and called it a day.     

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	4	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	2	2	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3	-	3
# of Recaptures	8	-	8
# of Species	5	-	5
Effort (net-hours)	45.2	-	45.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.3	-	24.3
# of Nets	20	-	20

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,912	2,710	6,622
# of Recaptures	1,210	541	1,751
# of Species	78	76	94
Effort (net-hours)	11,691.0	4,978.25	16,669.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.8	65.3	50.2
# of Days	96	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

2nd Field Sparrow of the Fall

CAPTAIN SAM'S

With northwest winds last night I was kind of expecting today to be pretty good.  But then I checked the radar this morning and it appeared that not much was moving last night.  To my surprise, we captured 50 new birds and had 40 recaptures of 12 different species.  Yellow-rumped Warblers led the way with 42 banded and another 21 recaptured.  A Painted Bunting was a nice bird for late November.  This bird had some fat so it will not likely be sticking around very long.  We also banded our 2nd Field Sparrow of the fall!  This is a species that we rarely catch and some years miss it completely. 

-Aaron

Field Sparrow (After hatch-year, sex unknown)

       

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	2	-	-
House Wren	1	2	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	5	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	8	-	-
Field Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	42	21	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	50	-	50
# of Recaptures	40	-	40
# of Species	12	-	12
Effort (net-hours)	173.6	-	173.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	51.8	-	51.8
# of Nets	28	-	28

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,909	2,710	6,619
# of Recaptures	1,201	541	1,742
# of Species	78	76	94
Effort (net-hours)	11,645.8	4,978.25	16,624.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.9	65.3	50.3
# of Days	95	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Chris Snook (CS)

An Even More MEGA High Tide

CAPTAIN SAM'S

Rain delayed opening until about 9:00 am and I was greeted with another extreme high tide.  Today's high tide was even bigger than yesterday's peaking at a whopping 8.8 feet!  This is probably one of the biggest high tides I have seen while banding out on the spit.  The banding trails were under 2.5 - 3 feet of water and many nets lanes were flooded to point of not being able to open the nets.  It was slow going but I was better prepared today because I wore my wading pants that I usually reserve for marsh sparrow banding.  

Despite the late start, I banded 27 new birds and had 6 recaptures of 4 different species.  Most of the bird activity seem to occur in a small portion of the banding station.  Sixteen of the 33 birds captured today were caught in net #14 which is conveniently located about 25 yards from the banding table.  Net #14 has been relatively cold this season so I guess it was due for some action.  

The wind will be out of the northwest all night long so I am hoping for a busier day tomorrow.

-Aaron    

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Gray Catbird	1	2	-	-
House Finch	4	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	22	3	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	27	-	27
# of Recaptures	6	-	6
# of Species	4	-	4
Effort (net-hours)	65.1	-	65.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.7	-	50.7
# of Nets	22	-	22

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,859	2,710	6,569
# of Recaptures	1,161	541	1,702
# of Species	78	76	94
Effort (net-hours)	11,472.2	4,978.25	16,450.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.8	65.3	50.3
# of Days	94	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

MEGA High Tide

CAPTAIN SAM'S

Due to strong wind gusts, I was only able to open about half the nets this morning and had to close them all down early.  In about 3.5 hours I had 11 new birds along with 10 recaptures of 4 different species.  

High tide this morning was huge!  It was predicted to be 6.5 feet but because of a full moon and strong NE winds it actually crested at 8.1 feet.  An 8-foot high tide floods most of the banding station with about 2 feet of water which makes getting around very slow and very difficult.  Good thing I parked the truck a little higher up the dune or it may have been in the ocean when I got done.  

The banding table is normally high and dry but not today.  Another six inches of water and I would have been sitting in water while processing birds.  

The Banding Table

  
Net # 2 will get a little wet during larger high tides but rarely is there two feet of water underneath.  

Net # 2 During High Tide

The rain is supposed to start around 7:00 pm tonight and continue until 7:00 am tomorrow morning.  I might be able to band tomorrow but may end up getting a little bit of a later start.  

-Aaron       

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
American Robin	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	5	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	10	4	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	-	11
# of Recaptures	10	-	10
# of Species	4	-	4
Effort (net-hours)	50.5	-	50.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	41.6	-	41.6
# of Nets	15	-	15

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,832	2,710	6,542
# of Recaptures	1,155	541	1,696
# of Species	78	76	94
Effort (net-hours)	11,407.1	4,978.25	16,385.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.7	65.3	50.3
# of Days	93	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

Happy Thankgiving!

CAPTAIN SAM'S

I decided to cut today's banding a little short so I could get home and start preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was much windier than expected but we still banded 19 new birds and had 13 recaptures of 8 different species in about 4.5 hours.  

The highlight of today was a late Black-and-White Warbler.  She didn't have much fat on her so it is possible that she might decide to stay for the winter.  Most Black-and-White Warblers spend the winter further south in Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean but some also winter in the inland coastal plain and coastal areas of South Carolina.  

The weather forecast for the next two days is not looking good for banding.  Wind speeds between 20-25 mph are predicted for tomorrow morning and wet weather is supposed to be here by tomorrow night and into Saturday morning.

-Aaron         

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	2	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Black-and-White Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	14	8	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	19	-	19
# of Recaptures	13	-	13
# of Species	8	-	8
Effort (net-hours)	108.6	-	108.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.5	-	29.5
# of Nets	27	-	27

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,821	2,710	6,531
# of Recaptures	1,145	541	1,686
# of Species	78	76	94
Effort (net-hours)	11,356.6	4,978.25	16,334.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.7	65.3	50.3
# of Days	92	74	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
William Oakley (CS)