Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Kiawahwarblers Pt. 3

 Captain Sam's:

Despite the large rain storm we had into the night that moved North of us, we had a very specious day with 133 birds. The Northwest winds must have still pushed a fair amount of last nights migration towards us. There surely were many Bobolinks still migrating predawn that were identified by their "pink" calls. Four first of the season species ended up in our nets including Eastern Wood-Pewee, Magnolia Warbler and a Tennessee Warbler. We ended up with twelve warbler species overall, which was quite the bouquet and that was topped off with KIBS' second ever after hatch year, male Summer Tanager! A real stunner. 


After Hatch Year Male Summer Tanager (Sarah S.)

After Hatch Year Tennessee Warbler (Dan E.)

The next few days look especially promising. We are all very excited to see what end up in the nets!

-- Daniel Errichetti

Little Bear:

Today was such a great day! We had a total of 126 birds captured today with only 10 of those birds being recaptures. We ended the day by added 5 FOS from Little bear! The birds were, Marsh Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, and the best for last Blackburnian Warbler! We were not expecting high numbers today as the rain came in last night and would have put a stop to migration, but it seems that didn't stop them at all! I am still hoping to see those high numbers continue for the next few days!

Here are some of the birds from today!

Blackburnian Warbler (Hatch-year female) 
Magnolia Warbler (Hatch-year unknown)
Orange-crowned Warbler (Hatch-year female) Photo by Sarah M.
Eastern Phoebe (Hatch-year unknown) Photo by Sarah M.
Marsh Wren (Hatch-year unknown) Photo by Sarah M.

We'll see how tomorrow turns outs! Stay tune!

-Kristin 


  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Eastern Wood-Pewee
2
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
Traill's Flycatcher
1
0
1
0
Eastern Phoebe
0
0
1
0
White-eyed Vireo
1
0
4
1
Red-eyed Vireo
6
1
19
1
Carolina Chickadee
0
0
0
1
House Wren
0
0
2
0
Marsh Wren
0
0
1
0
Carolina Wren
0
0
0
1
Veery
0
0
1
0
Swainson's Thrush
6
0
8
0
Gray Catbird
25
3
21
1
Eastern Towhee
0
1
0
0
Yellow-breasted Chat
3
0
0
0
Ovenbird
1
0
1
1
Northern Waterthrush
6
0
2
0
Tennessee Warbler
1
0
0
0
Orange-crowned Warbler
0
0
1
0
Common Yellowthroat
12
2
8
1
American Redstart
21
0
13
0
Cape May Warbler
1
0
1
0
Northern Parula
2
0
4
0
Magnolia Warbler
1
0
1
0
Blackburnian Warbler
0
0
1
0
Black-throated Blue Warbler
9
0
9
0
Western Palm Warbler
17
0
12
0
Prairie Warbler
4
0
3
0
Summer Tanager
1
0
0
0
Northern Cardinal
0
0
2
1
Indigo Bunting
0
0
1
0
Painted Bunting
0
0
1
2



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
126
116
242
# of Recaptures
7
10
17
# of Species
21
26
31
Effort (net-hours)
168
138
306
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
79.2
91.3
84.6
# of Nets
30
22
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1788
911
2,699
# of Recaptures
417
145
562
# of Species
49
51
60
Effort (net-hours)
5355.21
3,037.55
8,392.76
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
41.2
34.8
38.8
# of Days45
33-


Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (LB)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Blue Yellow Back Warbler


Captain Sam’s:

Today was another casual day of banding with a total of 43 captures representing 13 species. The wind was coming from the south the previous night, which pushed migrants away from our area. A cold front is moving through tonight, which will bring a massive storm system over us, but more importantly it will likely bring an influx of migrants. Hopefully, we will be busy all day tomorrow.

Hatch-year male Northern Parula (photo-VW)



One of the birds captured today was a hatch-year male Northern Parula. In the early 1800’s John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson named this species the Blue Yellow Back Warbler. The name was fitting for such a colorful species. This species is among the smallest birds in North America. The one we captured today weighed in at 6 grams (a nickel weighs 5 grams). Their breeding range extends north into Quebec, Canada, but they also breed with a wide distribution in the Southeastern US. Florida has them year-round. California has a small, but increasing breeding population that needs further study. They winter throughout the Caribbean, as well as the northern portion of Central America.

-Vincent

Citation: Moldenhauer, R. R. and D. J. Regelski (2020). Northern Parula (Setophaga americana), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.norpar.01


Little Bear:

We had low expectations for catching much at Little Bear this morning, but the birds surprised us with a busy first couple hours of banding. We ended up catching 42 birds of 13 species, nearly tying Captain Sam's numbers. Pretty good for 8 fewer nets and only 2 of us working the station today. We also broke the species count tie between the sites when we caught KIBS third ever Warbling Vireo! The previous 2 were both banded at Little Bear in 2016. This drab vireo is a common breeding bird across North American forests, but is a rare migrant along the Southeast coast. 


Hatch-year Warbling Vireo (photo-JL)
It was exciting to catch such an unexpected bird, and hopefully a good sign of things to come as the winds switch to our favor for the next few days!

-Josh

  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Traill's Flycatcher
--3-
White-eyed Vireo
-221
Warbling Vireo
--1-
Red-eyed Vireo
9-6-
Carolina Chickadee
-1--
Carolina Wren
-1--
Gray Catbird
4361
Ovenbird
211-
Northern Waterthrush
--1-
Black-and-white Warbler
1---
Common Yellowthroat
3291
American Redstart
5-3-
Northern Parula
1---
Black-throated Blue Warbler
2-2-
Prairie Warbler
--1-
Northern Cardinal
1311
Painted Bunting
-2-2


Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
28
36
64
# of Recaptures
15
6
21
# of Species
13
13
17
Effort (net-hours)
132.5
95.0
227.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
32.5
44.2
37.4
# of Nets
30
22
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1662
795
2457
# of Recaptures
404
135
539
# of Species
45
46
54
Effort (net-hours)
5187.2
2899.55
8086.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
39.8
32.1
37.0
# of Days4432-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Sarah Mueller (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)



 

Monday, September 28, 2020

Rain Rain Go Away

Captain Sam's:

A stormy morning means less net hours for us, but we ended up catching a decent number of birds for the approximately 3 hours we were open (25 new birds, 15 recaptures). Some birds of note included a hatch-year Indigo Bunting and Yellow-billed Cuckoo! This is only the second Cuckoo this year that's ended up in the nets at Captain Sam's, despite their reliable presence both on the spit and in surrounding areas. We aged this bird as a hatch-year based on the characteristics of the large white spots under the tail. In after hatch-years, there is a hard edge between the black of the tail and the white of the spots; in hatch-years, this edge is soft and muddled. 

HY Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Photo: VW)

While not considered obligate brood parasites, Yellow-billed Cuckoos will occasionally lay their eggs in other birds' nests. Interestingly, this is most common in years with high prey abundance, where female egg production is not limited by food supply. 1 Cuckoos also have a very short nesting cycle for their body size: only 17 days between the start of incubation and fledging the nest! 1

While tomorrow is projected to be rainy as well, this cold front is projected to bring in a lot more birds later in the week. So stay tuned!

- Sarah S. 

1. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-billed_Cuckoo/overview

Little Bear:

Today was quite a slow day. We did have a little push during the second run but it slowed down very quickly. We ended up closing our nets early due to the huge storm coming up the coast. Unfortunately we didn't make it fast, we travelled in the rain and got super soaked. We had a total of 35 birds today, with 4 of those birds being recaptured. Hopefully tomorrows rain holds off and we can get another day of birds!

-Kristin


  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1


White-eyed Vireo
14

Red-eyed Vireo
6
2
Carolina Wren

211
Veery 
1


Swainson's Thrush

11
Gray Catbird
8
8
Brown Thrasher

1

Northern Mockingbird
1


Yellow-breasted Chat


1
Ovenbird

1

Northern Waterthrush

2

Common Yellowthroat
22131
American Redstart
3
2
Palm Warbler (western)


1
Northern Cardinal

111
Indigo Bunting
1


Painted Bunting
1111




Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
25
31
56
# of Recaptures
15
4
19
# of Species
16
10
18
Effort (net-hours)
83.4
79.25
162.65
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
48.0
44.2
46.1
# of Nets
30
23
-


2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1609
790
2,399
# of Recaptures
391
133
524
# of Species
45
45
53
Effort (net-hours)
5054.71
2,804.55
7,859.26
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
31.8
32.9
37.2
# of Days4332-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)


Sunday, September 27, 2020

High Numbers, New Species

Captain Sam's:

What a lively morning it was for us out there today. As we entered the banding station and started opening our nets, I could hear the faint nocturnal flight calls of passerines that were coming in from a long night of migration. Northwest winds pushed a good deal of birds out to us on the coast and by first light I was seeing dozens of passerines falling out of the sky and landing in the first tree they saw where the foraging would ensue in preparation for tonight’s migration. Obviously, this excited me. I marveled. I ooh’d. I ahh’d. Then first net check came around and right away I had 14 birds in my first two nets including a beautiful male Hooded Warbler that flew in while I was extracting others. In this one net alone there were seven species. The next net yielded another young male Scarlet Tanager and when I finally made it to one of my last nets, I encountered our first of the season. A striking Chestnut-sided Warbler!

This particular individual was aged as a hatch year by the A1 molt limit and determined to be a male by the eye-catching, chestnut flank. Chestnut-sided Warblers are an annual capture overall at KIBS, but they aren't always a guarantee at both Captain Sam's and Little Bear.

Hatch Year Male Chestnut-sided Warbler

This species migrates to South and Central America to reach its wintering grounds. On the breeding grounds, you can find this bird among thickets in regenerating, young deciduous forests. This does mean that they are able to utilize regrowing areas after logging or other human disturbance, but it does not dismiss the fact that they are among the majority of other songbirds that are in an overall decline due to climate change and human disturbance.

By the end of the morning, we encountered 20 species in our nets, banded 183 new birds and processed 5 recaptures. Truly a substantial day. 

-- Dan E.

Little Bear:

We had a great morning at Little Bear, beginning with the sound of avian nocturnal flight calls passing overhead before sunrise, and culminating with our highest capture total so far this season. After 6 hours of banding, we came just 5 birds short of having our first 100 bird day. As excepted this time of year, nearly half of our captures were Common Yellowthroats but we had some great overall diversity, highlighted by our first Eastern Wood-Pewees of the season and second Summer Tanager. We also had a visit from our resident Brown Thrasher, who's been around since 2016. It was awesome to have such a productive session today, since south winds and scattered rainstorms are in the forecast for the next few days- far from ideal conditions for migrating birds. 

-Josh


  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Eastern Wood-Pewee
--2-
White-eyed Vireo
2111
Red-eyed Vireo
10-18-
House Wren
1-1-
Gray Catbird
2418-
Brown Thrasher
---1
Veery
1-1-
Swainson's Thrush
20-2-
Ovenbird
52--
Northern Waterthrush
211-
Black-and-white Warbler
1-1-
Common Yellowthroat
82-42-
Hooded Warbler
1---
American Redstart
18-3-
Cape May Warbler
2---
Northern Parula
--1-
Yellow Warbler
1---
Chestnut-sided Warbler
1---
Black-throated Blue Warbler
4-1-
'Western' Palm Warbler
4-4-
Prairie Warbler
2-3-
Summer Tanager
--1-
Scarlet Tanager
1---
Northern Cardinal
--1-
Indigo Bunting
1---
Painted Bunting
--11



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
183
92
275
# of Recaptures
5
3
8
# of Species
20
19
26
Effort (net-hours)
147.0
138.0
285
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
127.9
68.8
99.2
# of Nets
33
23
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1584
759
2343
# of Recaptures
376
129
505
# of Species
45
45
53
Effort (net-hours)
4971.31
2725.3
7696.61
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
39.4
32.6
37.0
# of Days4231-


Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Sarah Mueller (LB)
Vincent Weber (LB)

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Little Bear Ties Up the Species Count with Captain Sam's

Captain Sam's:

Hello everyone! While the muggy weather was the same, today was less slow than yesterday with 44 total captures (24 new birds, 20 recaptures). We did not have any FOS birds, but we caught another Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which was quite exciting. However, Little Bear tied Captain Sam's for total number of species today...so we're hoping to regain our lead and have some new migrants move through soon! 

This season, we've had a decent number of hatch-year Northern Cardinals find their way into our nets - 18 since 8/15, to be exact. Hatch-year Cardinals have dull, brown body feathers and a dark wash on their bill in their first few months out of the nest. Things get tricky for us later in the season, however, because hatch years start to look indistinguishable from adults. Why is this? Southern populations of Cardinals actually go through a complete pre-formative molt during their first fall 1, meaning they replace all body and flight feathers, as opposed to retaining some of their flight feathers through the winter. Thus, if a Cardinal is not exhibiting flight feather molt (meaning it is replacing juvenile feathers), brown body feathers, or darkness on the bill, we cannot confidently age it. We've already captured a few individuals that we've had to age as "Unknown", and this will only occur more often as the season goes on. 

HY Male Northern Cardinal. We call this guy "Alfalfa".
We were able to age this bird due to flight feather molt
and brown body feathers (Photo: SS).

HY unknown Northern Cardinal in full juvenile plumage.
This bird was young and had not yet begun replacing its
body or flight feathers (Photo: JL). 

1. Pyle, Peter, 1957-. Identification Guide to North American Birds : a Compendium of Information on Identifying, Ageing, and Sexing "near-Passerines" and Passerines in the Hand. Bolinas, Calif. :Slate Creek Press, 1997.

Little Bear:

We were met with another day of calm winds and warm weather. Unfortunately there wasn’t too much in the forecast that indicated many birds would be at the site. We ended our day with 23 new captures and 9 recaptures. Banding birds is always an exciting time, but we were met with the usual suspects save one first of season—a very fat after-hatch-year Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus). The amount of fat on this bird made it feel like a Mourning Dove in the hand!


A chunky after-hatch-year Swainson's Thrush (photo: Vincent)
Distribution of Swainson's Thrush




This species is a long distance migrant traveling all the way from northern Alaska south to northern Argentina. Like many paserines, they fly by night, but land for the day to refuel and regain fat reserves. A telemetry study discovered that they can travel up to 233 miles (375km) in a single night and maintain their flight for over 8 hours. During Spring migration they tend to head through the Central US and along the West Coast, but in Fall they are most concentrated in the East. The majority of the population funnels through Florida before making a nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico on their way to South America. We should be seeing a lot more soon. 

Oh yeah! We tied Captain Sam's for total species. They are determined to show Little Bear up. Place your bets now.

-Vincent

Citation: Mack, D. E. and W. Yong (2020). Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.swathr.01

  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
White-eyed Vireo
-6-1
Red-eyed Vireo
212-
Carolina Wren
-1-2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1---
Swainson's Thrush
111-
Gray Catbird
21-1
Northern Mockingbird
1---
Brown Thrasher
-1--
Yellow-breasted Chat
--1-
Ovenbird
211-
Northern Waterthrush
-112
Black-and-white Warbler
1---
Common Yellowthroat
8351
American Redstart
4---
Yellow Warbler
--1-
Black-throated Blue Warbler
--1-
Palm Warbler
--5-
Prairie Warbler
1-4-
Northern Cardinal
-2-1
Painted Bunting
1211



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
24
23
47
# of Recaptures
20
9
29
# of Species
16
15

Effort (net-hours)
138
87.4
225.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
31.9
26.3
29.1
# of Nets
30
23
-


2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1401
666
2067
# of Recaptures
371
126
497
# of Species
44
44
52
Effort (net-hours)
4824.31
2587.3
7411.61
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
36.7
30.6
33.7
# of Days4130
-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Vincent Weber (LB)
Kristin Attinger (LB)





Friday, September 25, 2020

It was a slow day for KIBS

CAPTAIN SAMS

Strong south winds coupled with rain across Tennessee and North Carolina grounded any birds that might have moved into South Carolina last night.  As a result, it was slow at the banding station with only 4 new birds and 7 recaptures.  Thankfully, rain forced us to shut down around 8:30am otherwise it would have been in for a long and uneventful morning as we didn't catch any birds in our 3rd and final net run.  Looking ahead it appears that we may be stuck in this weather pattern until Wednesday when the next cold front is predicted to arrive.    

-Aaron    


LITTLE BEAR

Today was a very slow day. The weather was very unpredictable, as the rain started to come up from the south. We shut down early hoping to stay away from being soaked. We had a total of 13 birds today with only 4 of them being recaptures. I'm hoping the next few days are not super slow, but I can only hope.

-Kristin


  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
White-eyed Vireo
-3

Gray Catbird
2222
Yellow-breasted Chat

1

Northern Waterthrush



1
Black-and-white Warbler


1
Common Yellowthroat
11

American Redstart
1


Black-throated Blue Warbler


1
Prairie Warbler


1
Northern Cardinal



1
Painted Bunting


1


Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
4
9
13
# of Recaptures
7
4
11
# of Species
5
8
11
Effort (net-hours)
60.0
78.45
138.45
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
18.3
16.6
17.3
# of Nets
30
21
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1377
643
2,020
# of Recaptures
350
116
466
# of Species
44
43
51
Effort (net-hours)
4,686.31
2,499.9
7,186.21
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
36.9
30.4
34.6
# of Days4029-


Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Gnatcatchers and Tanagers and Grosbeaks, Oh My!

 Captain Sam's:

Although we were less busy than yesterday, we had a good day at Captain Sam's with 64 total birds (47 new and 17 recaps) of 18 species. We also got another first of season: a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher! These tiny blue birds very active, constantly flitting through foliage and fanning their long tails while foraging for small insects (despite the name, though, they don't actually catch many gnats). We've been hearing their wheezy calls around the station since the beginning of the season, but today was the first day one found its way into our nets.

Hatch-year Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Photo: SS)

We were able to age our gnatcatcher as hatch-year based on molt limits in its alula feathers and greater coverts. This species can only be sexed in summer when birds are in their alternate plumage - then, males will have a black angry eyebrow aka supercilium. 

We had a furry visitor today too: a bobcat! Kiawah has a population of about 30-35 bobcats. This one has been fitted with a radio collar as part of Kiawah's bobcat GPS tracking study, which you can learn more about here. He stayed safely away from our nets and we admired him from a respectful distance. 

Bobcat with a radio collar (Photo: AG)


-Sarah M.

Little Bear:

Today was quite a slow day. With only 38 birds captured today, 29 of those were newly banded birds. We had two new first for the site though! A Summer Tanager and a Blue Grosbeak! These two species were not captured at LB last year so it was a treat to see!  These next few days seem like they will be slow, but I am hoping to at least another new species added to KIBS.

Hatch year male Summer Tanager
Hatch year Blue Grosbeak, unknown sex
This is the wing of the Blue Grosbeak. Check out the molt on this one! I have shown the molt limit in the alulas. As you can see, A1 is a lot darker and fresh looking compared to A2-3. 
You can also see, which is not highlighted, the median coverts and greater covers are also have a fresh look to them and seem to have a nice darker look to them. Being that this bird is a hatch year, it is hard to sex them since most of them will not complete their molt until they have reached their wintering grounds.

-Kristin 


  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Downy Woodpecker
-1--
White-eyed Vireo
33--
Red-eyed Vireo
613-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1---
Carolina Wren
---2
Veery
2---
Swainson's Thrush
2---
Gray Catbird
225-
Brown Thrasher
1---
Yellow-breasted Chat
2---
Ovenbird
31--
Northern Waterthrush
332-
Black-and-white Warbler
1---
Common Yellowthroat
8473
American Redstart
6-2-
Northern Parula
2---
Yellow Warbler
--1-
Palm Warbler
--3-
Prairie Warbler
3-2-
Summer Tanager
--1-
Northern Cardinal
1111
Blue Grosbeak
--1-
Painted Bunting
1113



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
47
29
76
# of Recaptures
17
9
26
# of Species
18
13
23
Effort (net-hours)
138
119.6
257.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
46.4
30.9
39.6
# of Nets
30
21
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1373
634
2,007
# of Recaptures
343
112
456
# of Species
44
43
51
Effort (net-hours)
4,626.31
2,421.45
7,047.76
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
37.1
30.8
34.9
# of Days3928-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Vincent Weber (LB)

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Good Mourning World!

Captain Sam's:

The good week continues. Fun times, happy banders and well-producing nets. We had another 100+ bird day with 102 new captures and 15 recaptures, which was excellent. On top of that, there was an impressive diversity with what showed face, giving us 23 species for the day! Notably, we had our first decent thrush push with 14 Swainson's Thrush and a Veery. On top of that, we banded two new Scarlet Tanagers, which were a first of the season species. Lastly, we encountered 11 warbler species, which brings me to the real topic of discussion... 

A real stunner of a bird. A less than annual capture at KIBS. A first of the season. That's right. We were graced with the presence of a Mourning Warbler! This is actually a species that will have to be submitted to the Carolina Bird Club Records Committee.

 

Hatch Year Male Mourning Warbler (Sarah Stewart)

Hatch Year Male Mourning Warbler (Sarah Stewart)

Hatch Year Male Mourning Warbler Under-tail Coverts (Sarah Stewart)
 

This individual was a hatch-year male that was aged by its A1 molt limit. We were able to sex this bird by the somewhat concealed black centers on the upper breast feathers, which you can see in the first photo. As an adult male, this bird would have a well defined gray hood and an impressive little black bib. This species is quite similar to its western counterpart, the MacGillivary's Warbler, which has been captured at KIBS in the past. In order to differentiate young birds of the two species, we have to look at the under-tail coverts, which is shown in the third picture. The coverts of Mourning warblers extend past half the length of the tail feathers where the coverts of the MacGillivary's Warbler only extend to about half the length of the tail feathers. The Mourning Warbler is actually a species that uses disturbed or regrowing habitats, so they are one of the few species that benefit from human disturbance. Check out more about their life history here!

- Dan E.


Little Bear:

Today was the first day in what feels like a very long time that there wasn't a strong wind at Little Bear. It was great to finally have all of our nets open again, including the third of the three new nets that we've been working towards adding to the station this year. We caught 64 birds of 17 species, including three first-of-seasons for the site- House Wren, Indigo Bunting, and Scarlet Tanager. The biggest highlight of the day for me though was catching a few more Cape May Warblers (my second favorite warbler). Mid-way through our morning session, I extracted an adult male and immature male that were in one of the nets together; we preceded to have a fun time photographing these two and checking out some of the age-related differences between the two. 

After-hatch-year male Cape May Warbler-
sporting an impressive reddish ear patch
Hatch-year male Cape May Warbler-
colorful, but not as dashing as his older counterpart

 

After-hatch-year male Cape May Warbler-
note the uniformly jet-black coverts and alulas,
as well the truncate shape of the primary coverts
Hatch-year male Cape May Warbler- note the dull black primary coverts
contrasting with the alulas and other coverts, as well as their narrow, 
more rounded shape compared to the adult


 

After-hatch-year male (top) with more white in the tail,
and hatch-year male (bottom) with less white in the tail
Cape May Warblers, adult male (left) and immature male (right)

--Josh

  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
White-eyed Vireo
625-
Red-eyed Vireo
7-6-
Carolina Chickadee
-1--
House Wren
--2-
Gray Catbird
513-
Brown Thrasher
-1--
Veery
1---
Swainson's Thrush
14---
Yellow-breasted Chat
1-1-
Baltimore Oriole
---1
Ovenbird
211-
Northern Waterthrush
422-
Black-and-white Warbler
2-2-
Mourning Warbler
1---
Common Yellowthroat
224171
American Redstart
12-4-
Cape May Warbler
1-4-
Yellow Warbler
1-2-
Black-throated Blue Warbler
11-6-
Western Palm Warbler
4---
Prairie Warbler
2---
Scarlet Tanager
2-1-
Northern Cardinal
11--
Indigo Bunting
--1-
Painted Bunting
2223



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
102
59
161
# of Recaptures
15
5
20
# of Species
22
17
25
Effort (net-hours)
174.0
135.7
309.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
67.2
47.2
58.4
# of Nets
30
23
-




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
1326
605
1931
# of Recaptures
326
104
430
# of Species
44
41
51
Effort (net-hours)
4488.31
2301.85
6790.16
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
36.8
30.8
34.8
# of Days38
27-


Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Vincent Weber (LB)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)