Golden-crowned Cutelet

 Captain Sam’s

Welp. I guess it’s best practice in this field to make no assumptions. While there was a north wind blowing our way all last night, there were far fewer birds today than we anticipated. The temperature was much colder than any other morning though, which was a nice reprieve from the hot and humid weather we have been experiencing.

Golden-crowned Kinglet (Photo-VW)

Song Sparrow (Photo-KA)

The winds did, however, bring in a few first of season birds for the station. We caught our first Song Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, and one other — a Golden-crowned Cutelet... I mean Kinglet. They are just so darn tiny. Weighing in around 4 to 7 grams, they are one of the smallest birds in North America. Their vocalizations are also some of the highest pitched among birds across the globe, which is fitting for such a small critter. For some, unfortunately, such frequencies may be inaudible. Their appearance is quite dramatic though, a central golden stripe of feathers surrounded by bold black stripes on either side. These features pop out in contrast to their mostly gray body plumage. Historically this species bred exclusively in northern regions with spruce-fir forests, but have been expanding south utilizing spruce plantings in states such as Pennsylvania, as well as several others in the region. In terms of migration, species also has a relatively minuscule annual movement. In a large percentage of their range, they are actually found year round, even able to withstand temperatures as low as -40℉! To withstand such cold they apparently huddle together in small groups. The majority of the population doesn’t even go into Mexico, although there are a few mountain ranges around Mexico City where they are present year round. Along the coast here in South Carolina they will remain in low density for the duration of Winter.

-Vincent

Citation: Swanson, D. L., J. L. Ingold, and R. Galati (2020). Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa), 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.gockin.01

 

Little Bear

To echo the Captain Sam's crew, we certainly didn't catch as many birds today as we thought we would. Although it was much cooler than it's been the past week or so, we still had to close quite a few of our nets over the course of the morning due to strong winds blowing in from the north. Thus, we only captured 39 birds with no FOS (30 new, 9 recaptures), which is similar to our numbers over the past few days. Sometimes field work comes with disappointments, but we're all still geared up to finish up this season strong - here's hoping the weather cooperates with us next time.

Sarah S. 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	5	-
Red-eyed Vireo	-	-	1	-
House Wren	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	-	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	11	3	9	2
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	2	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	7	-	6	1
American Redstart	3	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	6	-	-	-
Palm Warbler	9	-	2	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Parula	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	2	2	-	2
Indigo Bunting	1	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	4	-	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	53	30	83
# of Recaptures	5	9	14
# of Species	17	15	23
Effort (net-hours)	94.10	78.9	173
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	61.6	49.4	55.5
# of Nets	29	22	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3490	1,988	5164
# of Recaptures	666	289	829
# of Species	66	65	81
Effort (net-hours)	7651.61	4,844.6	10933.06
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	54.3	47.0	50.7
# of Days	62	51	-

 

Banding Staff

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

Sarah Stewart (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)

Ryan Donnely (CS)

Ale Rios (CS)