There's Just Something About Little Bear

 Captain Sam’s

It was literally freezing this morning. Just kidding, that’s a wild exaggeration, but it did feel pretty cold out there. When I checked my weather app it suggested that it felt like 46℉, by far the coldest it has been yet. A north wind blew across the island all last evening bringing both lower temperatures and some new species for the year. While we were setting up our table in preparation for the day, Aaron pulled out the size 3 bands saying, “I have a feeling we’ll need these today.”

Today may have been our most diverse day of the variable band sizes yet. We used seven. And while we didn’t actually end up using a size 3, we did use a 3B (slightly larger) that was put onto a Mourning Dove. Our species diversity was not too shabby with 19 species with two first of season birds as highlights. The first was the most widely distributed species in North America—American Robin. The second one hasn’t been captured at Captain Sam’s for two years, a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

American Robin (Photo - VW)

Male Sharp-shinned Hawk (Photo - DE)

So, while of course we were all excited by the new birds, Little Bear just had to show us up with their teaser photo showing only a bird's rufous tail and a slightly yellow belly… I’ll let them spoil that one in their post. At least Captain Sam's is still beating them with the overall species total.

-Vincent

 

Little Bear:

We were expecting cold and windy conditions this mornings, and that was certainly the case! Fortunately the birds didn't seem to care much, and we were treated to a busy and exciting morning. Along with the usual suspects, we caught our first American Robin of the season, second Blue-head Vireo and White-throated Sparrow, and couple late Blackpoll Warblers, and 4 Orange-crowned Warblers. But the 2 most surprising birds were both captured on our second net run. First up was this quite late, but quite endearing, Scarlet Tanager

But our biggest thrill came from one of the most expected vagrants to the east coast. Among the group of large flycatchers in the Myiarchus genus, there is only 1 who breeds in the eastern forests, the Great Crested Flycatcher, which is an annual capture down at Captains Sams early on every season. There are a few more Myiarchus species out west, but by far the most common is the Ash-throated Flycatcher. Ash-throateds primarily spend their winters in Mexico, but they can also be consistently found wintering at several sites around the state of Florida, and there are always scattered reports of them up and down the east coast every year, usually starting in early November. In fact, 2 have been banded at Captain Sam's spit before (in 2013 and 2019), but none had been caught at Little Bear- until today!

Ash-throated Flycatcher- A station first for Little Bear!

Characteristic Ash-throated Flycatcher tail-  extensive rufous inner web, with brown tips

Ash-throated Flycatcher wing with multiple molt limits- this hatch-year has retained its juvenile outermost great covert, outer primary coverts, and inner secondaries

--Josh

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	1	-	-	-
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	2	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	2	-	5	-
Ash-throated Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Blue-headed Vireo	-	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	1	-
Brown Creeper	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	9	11	12	7
Brown Thrasher	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	5	2	-	-
American Robin	1	-	1	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	-	1	1
Song Sparrow	1	-	3	-
Swamp Sparrow	5	-	3	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	4	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	1	3	2
Blackpoll Warbler	-	-	2	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	1
'Western' Palm Warbler	4	-	-	-
'Myrtle' Yellow-rumped Warbler	13	2	4	-
Scarlet Tanager	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	44	48	92
# of Recaptures	22	14	36
# of Species	19	19	28
Effort (net-hours)	132.90	110.35	243.25
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	49.7	56.2	52.6
# of Nets	30	23	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3943	2433	6376
# of Recaptures	836	416	1252
# of Species	77	71	89
Effort (net-hours)	9541.71	6364.02	15905.73
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.1	44.8	48.0
# of Days	78	65	-

 

Banding Staff

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