Multiple First-of-Seasons, and a Lingering Wanderer

 Captain Sam's:

Today was my first day banding here, and I’m still adjusting to the mugginess after spending the summer in arid Montana. We captured 11 new birds and 6 recaptures of 6 species (17 total). I was excited to see a Northern Waterthrush, which is the first time I’d ever seen that species (a “lifer”)! Another exciting capture was an adult male Mourning Dove; we determined it was a male by its pink breast feathers and bluish crown.  Mourning Doves are large enough that they aren’t often captured in our nets.

It was a lovely first day, and I'm excited to see what new birds tomorrow has in store!

- Sarah M

Little Bear:

This morning started out a little slow, but we were eventually treated to some great birds, including 5 new species for the site this season. Before going out on our first net check, we agreed that it felt like a good day to catch our first American Redstart, a common species throughout most of the fall. A few net checks later, I was able to bring one back to the table, a dashing hatch-year male. We also banded the first of season Downy Woodpecker and Yellow Warbler, both fairly common birds. Things got more exciting when yesterday's vagrant, the Black-whiskered Vireo, made a return appearance. We suspect that we may be treated to a few visits from this bird as it works to regain the fat and muscle it lost during its windswept journey from a land further south. Our other two first of season birds were especially notable, as they are less than annual captures here despite being year-round residents on Kiawah Island. First was a young Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, one of the smallest birds that we are able to band, and the first for Little Bear since 2017. Later in the morning, I found one of my favorite warblers in a net, a Yellow-throated Warbler. This site catches exactly zero to one per season, and this hatch-year male was the fourth in our six year history. 

Yellow-throated Warbler, hatch-year male
Photo by Kristin Attinger

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, hatch-year
Photo by Kristin Attinger

--Josh

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
Black-whiskered Vireo	-	-	-	1
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	1	-	1	2
Northern Waterthrush	4	-	4	-
American Redstart	2	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow-throated Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	-	5	1	1
Painted Bunting	3	1	4	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	17	38
# of Recaptures	6	5	11
# of Species	6	12	13
Effort (net-hours)	121.54	83.35	204.89
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	14.0	26.4	23.9
# of Nets	30	20

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	225	49	274
# of Recaptures	88	12	100
# of Species	28	13	31
Effort (net-hours)	1207.49	287.65	1495.14
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	25.9	21.2	25.0
# of Days	11	3	-

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