The weather was great at Captain Sam's today, so we were able to stay open for a full six-hour day. We ended up with 40 new birds and 24 recaptured birds of 15 species total. As per usual, Catbirds were our most common bird captured during the day, but we did get some good species including an Eastern Wood-Pewee and two Orange-crowned Warblers. One of our Orange-crowned Warblers was a hatch-year male and had a fairly large orange crown, which was exciting for me since I had never seen a male of this species before.
Another great bird today was a Swamp Sparrow that was likely a member of the Coastal Plain subspecies of Swamp Sparrows (Also known as Melospiza georgiana nigrescens, in case you were curious). This subspecies breeds on the coast up North-- mostly in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay areas, and it is possible that some of them may winter on Kiawah Island. A study done in 2003 found that there were less than 28,000 breeding pairs of Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow, largely due to a lack of suitable breeding habitat (Check out this link for the full study, and another interesting article on the future of the subspecies here).
The characteristic that led us to suspect our bird was a member of the Coastal Plain subspecies was the relatively dark head, with the dark coloration extending down onto the back, as seen in the photos below.
 |
| Hatch-year Swamp Sparrow |
 |
| Hatch-year Swamp Sparrow |
- Danaé
Little Bear
It was a pretty slow morning at Little Bear with 29 new birds and 13 recaptures of 10 species. The wind was not as bad as predicted and we were able to keep most of our nets open all morning. We caught all our usual species for this time of year with Gray Catbirds leading the way. The highlight of the morning was a first-of-the-season White-throated Sparrow and a recaptured Swamp Sparrow that was banded on 10/24/2016. We will begin to get the remnants of Hurricane Willa tomorrow morning so we will most likely not be able to run Little Bear due to the high winds and rain.
-Michael
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Eastern Wood-Pewee
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Eastern Phoebe
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Carolina Chickadee
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
House Wren
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
Carolina Wren
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
|
3
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Gray Catbird
|
17
|
14
|
16
|
9
|
Northern Mockingbird
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Eastern Towhee
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Song Sparrow
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Swamp Sparrow
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
White-throated Sparrow
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Orange-crowned Warbler
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
Common Yellowthroat
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
-
|
Palm Warbler (Western)
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Yellow-rumped Warbler
|
5
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Northern Cardinal
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
Painted Bunting
|
2
|
-
|
1
|
2
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
40
|
29
|
69
|
| # of Recaptures |
24
|
13
|
37
|
| # of Species |
15
|
10
|
19
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
160.05
|
109.95
|
270.0
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
40.0
|
38.2
|
39.3
|
| # of Nets |
28
|
20
|
48
|
| 2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
2,991
|
2,283
|
5,274
|
| # of Recaptures |
776
|
339
|
1,115
|
| # of Species |
67
|
69
|
80
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
7457.2
|
3217.35
|
10674.55
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
50.5
|
81.5
|
59.9
|
| # of Days | 64 | 53 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)
