Monday, September 16, 2019

A Bird in the Palm is Worth Two in the Bush

Captain Sam's:

Today was an excellent day for birds at Captain Sam's! We had a total of 105 new birds, which is a record day so far this year.

We also caught multiple first-of-the-year species today: a Blue Grosbeak, Acadian Flycatcher, Magnolia Warbler, and Gray Catbird were all caught for the first time at Captain Sam's this season. This Catbird indicates the beginning of their arrival to the area, and we will catch hundreds more before the end of the year. Gray Catbirds were the most commonly caught species at both Captain Sam's and Little Bear in 2018!

Hatch-year Blue Grosbeak

Acadian Flycatcher

Magnolia Warbler

This female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was an exciting catch today! Bird banders need specific permits to band hummingbirds, so while we were unable to band her we still took measurements and weighed her before release. Did you know that some hummingbirds can be weighed simply by lying them on their back on the scale? Check out the picture below!

Hatch-year female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Hummingbird being weighed - only 2.8 grams!

-Arcata


Little Bear:

Uffda (a Norwegian term expressing astonishment) - we finally had a good day! After a few painfully slow days at the station, there was at long last a breakthrough in the weather. Dan and Josh both agreed that the influx of birds was due to some sort of luck that I brought to Little Bear, but obviously that's not true. In any case, we got a couple of new species in our nets today including Gray Catbirds and a Palm Warbler - fitting for the Palmetto State!


Dave telling the Palm Warbler that if it doesn't settle down, he'll turn this car around!

Palm Warbler (Photos by: Josh Lefever)

- Dave



  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Acadian Flycatcher
2
-
-
-
White-eyed Vireo
4
-
-
-
Red-eyed Vireo
10
-
1
-
Carolina Chickadee
-
-
-
1
Carolina Wren
-
2
-
-
Veery
-
-
1
-
Gray Catbird
1
-
2
-
Northern Mockingbird
-
-
-
1
Northern Waterthrush
-
2
-
2
Common Yellowthroat
68
2
22
-
American Redstart
5
1
1
-
Northern Parula
1
-
-
-
Magnolia Warbler
1
-
-
-
Yellow Warbler
2
-
1
-
Black-throated Blue Warbler
1
-
-
-
Western Palm Warbler
-
-
1
-
Prairie Warbler
6
-
2
-
Northern Cardinal
-
2
-
1
Blue Grosbeak
1
-
-
-
Painted Bunting3312




Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
105
32
137
# of Recaptures
12
7
19
# of Species
15
5
19
Effort (net-hours)
141.4
55.3
201.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
82.7
70.5
77.6
# of Nets
28
17
45



2019 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
672
347
1,019
# of Recaptures
240
106
346
# of Species
39
31
46
Effort (net-hours)
3,206.95
995.0
4,201.95
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
28.4
45.5
32.5
# of Days2618-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Bill Kee (CS)
Bethany Darby (CS)
Arcata Leavitt (CS)
Dave Sandahl (LB) 
Josh Lefever (LB)
Dan Errichetti (LB)

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