Do you hear water running?

Captain Sam's: 

We had a productive morning at Captain Sam's today, which was a fun way to kick off my time here at KIBS. We caught 30 birds total (26 new, 4 recaptures) and 15 of those were Northern Waterthrushes. Because they're common in our nets this time of the season, we have a quick way to age based on their plumage. As you can see below, hatch-years will have buffy-tipped tertial feathers while after hatch-years will have solid, dark tertials. We can also age them by looking to see if there is a molt limit in the alular feathers. If there is a limit, it's a hatch-year - simple as that. 

Hatch-year Northern Waterthrush. Note buffy tips on tertials.
Photo by Aaron Given

After hatch-year Northern Waterthrush. Note solid-colored tertials.
Photo by Aaron Given

We also caught our FOS Black-Throated Blue Warbler - a hatch-year female - and another Worm-eating Warbler! There was only one that was caught last year, so it was an unexpected capture and brought our WEWA total up to 2 for the year. 

Black-throated Blue Warbler, hatch-year female
Photo by Sarah Stewart

Worm-eating Warbler, after hatch-year
Photo by Sarah Stewart

- Sarah S


Little Bear:

Today was a great day. We ended up getting 4 first of the season (FOS) for LB. With a total of 26 newly banded birds and 1 recaptured. We started our morning out guessing what bird we might catch today. My guesses were wrong, as I was hoping to capture a Yellow-billed Cuckoo or an Ovenbird. Our FOS were a Prothonotary Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Northern Mockingbird, and the best for last.... Louisiana Waterthrush!. Josh has been want to see this bird and mark it off for his South Carolina birding list. 

So, lets continue to talk about waterthrush!

Check out the photo below were we have both waterthrush in one photo! They are basically twins right?! On the left, the Louisiana Waterthrush and on the right, Northern Waterthrush. Even though they practically look identical, there are key differences that can separate them both. The first key is under the chin. When looking at these birds below you can see the Louisiana Waterthrush (left) has a cleaner patch that has no black speckling, while the Northern Waterthrush (right) has no clear patch but speckling is much more abundant. As we continue down from the chin to the breast you can see how the black speckling is still thick and abundant on the Northern Waterthrush. Another key factor is checking out how the white looks. You can see how the Northern Waterthrush has an overall yellow wash were as the Louisiana Waterthrush has an overall white wash. 

Check out both birds calls here:

Louisiana Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

Note: check out some of the videos. You can see how the waterthrush wiggle their butts, its absolutely adorable!

 

We are starting out this season great! I hope this keeps continuing for us! What do you think tomorrows new birds will be?

--Kristin

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Wren	-	2	1	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	1	-
Worm-eating Warbler	1	-	1	-
Louisiana Waterthrush	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	15	1	11	-
Protonotary Warbler	2	-	1	-
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	1	3	-
Painted Bunting	4	-	6	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	26	26	52
# of Recaptures	4	1	5
# of Species	9	9	12
Effort (net-hours)	121.74	88	209.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.6	30.7	27.2
# of Nets	30	20	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	251	74	325
# of Recaptures	92	13	105
# of Species	30	18	34
Effort (net-hours)	1,329.2	375.65	1,704.85
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	25.8	23.2	25.2
# of Days	12	4	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)