The Beginning of the End

Captain Sam’s

Today marks the first day of the beginning of the end of this year’s fall migration. There is still plenty of weeks more to go though. We had our first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season today, specifically the expected Myrtle Warbler subspecies. This species is one of the last migrants to make their way south from their northern breeding grounds. We only caught one, there will likely be days that this is one of our most common captures. A cold front appears in the forecast for this coming weekend. The winds should be coming from the northwest, and the temperature may drop by 20 degrees or more. It should be pretty busy.

Yellow-throated Warbler (Photo-VW)

The Myrtle Warbler wasn’t in the mood to pose for photos. Instead, a species I’ve decided to highlight is the Yellow-throated Warbler we caught today. It was a first of season for Captain Sam’s (Little Bear already had one). When compared to other warblers this species is kind of an oddball. They certainly have the bold coloration typical of warblers, but their shape, migration, and behavior differ from most others. It winter’s farther north, reaching into the Lesser Antilles, and some as far as Costa Rica. However, these warblers are also found year round along the coast of most of South Carolina, northern Florida, and along the Gulf Coast to Mississippi. They breed throughout the southeast, but also west into Oklahoma and Texas. Their habitat is pine, or mixed pine-deciduous. I mentioned their shape being different than most. The most striking feature, aside from color, is their long narrow bill. While foraging they use this to pick out insects from deep crevasses. Their movement while doing so seems precise and deliberate, whereas many other warblers flit about seemingly at random. This is only the second one I’ve had the pleasure of holding, so I’d say I had a great day.

-Vincent

Citation: McKay, B. and G. A. Hall (2020). Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica), 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.yetwar.01

Little Bear

In suite with what Vincent stated, we are beginning to see our late fall and over-wintering species appear. We had the pleasure of having our first Ruby-crowned Kinglets today, which is one of North America's smallest passerines comparable in size to a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Teensy! Luckily, we had both an after hatch year and a hatch year bird at the same time. They can take a little bit to get a hang of properly aging them so the comparison made things clearer. Kinglets are in the family Regulidae, which are actually related to Old World warblers. That's something I always enjoy thinking about, especially when thinking of the Regulidae species in Europe and Asia like the Common Firecrest and Goldcrest.

After Hatch Year Male Ruby-crowned Kinglet (SS)

We also caught Little Bear's first of the season Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. This striking bird is quite the treat. Sapsuckers are unique birds in their feeding behaviorism. They actually drill holes in order to bleed the tree or create sap weeps because, as their name suggests, they feed off of the sap of trees! Particularly ones with high sugar content! Yum!

After Second Year Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (SS)

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	0	0	1	0
Eastern Wood-pewee	1	0	0	0
Eastern Phoebe	2	0	5	0
White-eyed Vireo	1	0	0	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1	0	1	0
House Wren	1	1	3	1
Carolina Wren	0	1	0	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	0	0	2	0
Veery	1	0	0	0
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1	0	1	0
Swainson's Thrush	7	0	3	0
Gray Catbird	27	9	24	4
Ovenbird	1	0	0	0
Northern Waterthrush	1	0	0	0
Black-and-white Warbler	2	0	0	0
Common Yellowthroat	50	0	44	1
American Redstart	7	0	2	0
Black-throated Blue Warbler	4	0	1	0
Northern Parula	0	0	1	0
Pine Warbler	1	0	0	0
Myrtle Warbler	1	0	0	0
Yellow-throated Warbler	1	0	0	0
Western Palm Warbler	0	0	1	0
Indigo Bunting	5	0	1	0
Painted Bunting	1	0	0	0

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	116	90	206
# of Recaptures	11	8	19
# of Species	21	16	25
Effort (net-hours)	125.8	108.1	233.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	101	90.7	96.2
# of Nets	30	23	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,205	1,793	4,998
# of Recaptures	630	261	891
# of Species	61	64	77
Effort (net-hours)	7,227.76	4,458.3	11,686.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.1	46.1	50.4
# of Days	58	47	-

 

Banding Staff

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