Strong Winds, Slower Day

Captain Sam's:

After a massive influx of migrants from a few days ago, banding over 100 birds feels like nothing. Diversity has plummeted. Half of our captures were Gray Catbirds with 55 new captures. Common Yellowthroats are a runner up at 12 new captures. One of the most interesting aspects of these “slow” days is the recaptures. The winds weren’t favorable for migration in the previous evening, and when that happens we tend to catch a lot of the same birds from the day before. While many do in fact move on, several stay. We recaptured 13 Gray Catbirds that we had banded from the previous few days. The birds that stay for longer periods have often exhausted all of their fat reserves on the flight from the previous night. They must replenish their energy before they move onward. We always wish them the best of luck.

-Vincent

Little Bear:

It was a pretty slow morning on the east end of the island today. Due to winds that got stronger throughout the morning, we had to close a decent number of nets, reducing our capture rate. We ended up banding 37 new birds and processed 8 recaptures, with half of the banded birds being Gray Catbirds. However, we captured a couple species of note: a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (a FOS for Little Bear!) and a Brown Thrasher. The Thrasher wasn't a FOS, but it was the first of this species that we actually got to band - the rest have been recaptures. 

The rest of the week is projected to stay slow, but time will tell. There's still a lot of time left in October, and with it more busy banding days! 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	2	-	1
Red-eyed Vireo	5	-	1	-
House Wren	2	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Gray Catbird	55	13	18	3
Brown Thrasher	1	-	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	-	-
Ovenbird	1	-	1	2
Northern Waterthrush	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	12	1	5	1
American Redstart	2	1	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	1	-
Yellow Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Worm-eating Warbler	-	1	-	-
Prairie Warbler	-	1	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	1	-	1	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	86	37	123
# of Recaptures	22	8	30
# of Species	16	13	20
Effort (net-hours)	139.2	91.55	230.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	77.6	49.2	66.3
# of Nets	29	20	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2855	1468	4323
# of Recaptures	540	206	746
# of Species	55	57	68
Effort (net-hours)	6325.56	3281.45	9607.01
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.7	45.0	52.8
# of Days	50	40	-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Vince Weber (CS)
Kristen Attinger (CS)
Dan Errichetti (LB)
Sarah Stewart (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)