Captain Sam's:
Today was something special! We had the largest tide come in today! I thought it was going to top my hip waders that I was wearing. We had a total of 50 birds and out of those 50, 19 were recaptures. Our highlight of the day was seeing a young morning dove beginning its first molt. As we move into the fall weather, we are starting to capture more of our late fall migrants like Yellow-rump Warblers (Myrtle Warblers). I'm still holding out for some birds that we haven't captured yet, like Blue-headed Vireos, Nashville Warblers, and Wood Thrushes. The image below shows how much water has increased during these high tides!
The most fun I have yet to have at KIBS, other than birds obviously, is getting the great opportunity to help Aaron capture a bobcat that has been hanging around Captain Sam's. When we first spotted her about 2-3 weeks ago, we noticed that she had a GPS collar on. Knowing that it was an older collar that didn't work, Aaron set up traps to capture her. She had been avoiding our traps for a while now but today just got the best of her. We had a Veterinarian come out to take blood samples to test for second generation anticoagulant rodenticides, and Aaron and Jim (biologist for Kiawah Island) sedated the cat and took all the measurements and replaced her old collar with a new one. The GPS collar will allow us to track her movements by using radio telemetry. Her GPS collar will give off a frequency that will in return make a noise through our receiver, letting us know if she's near our station. On top of the excitement of being captured, we learned that she was originally first captured in April 2008 and recorded as a possible juvenile. This makes her at least 12 years old! The typical lifespan for a wild Bobcat is roughly 7 years. She has beaten the odds and is still kicking butt. Here is a little history on her- she was originally captured in 2008 on the east end of the island, then captured again in March 2009, March 2010 and February 2013, all at the east end of the island. She managed to make her way down to the west spit, which is roughly 8 miles, to be captured again for the first time here.
Check out the Kiawah Island page here to learn about the Bobcat studies on this island and to meet the cats! Explore the site and learn more about other wildlife and research that happens on Kiawah Island!
https://www.kiawahisland.org/wildlife/bobcat-research/
Below is a photo of Aaron holding this beautiful beast and I (Kristin) getting the chance to hold her as well!
-Kristin
Little Bear:
We had another windy start to our morning that restricted our ability to open all of our nets. It was still pretty cool, which is always welcomed before the late morning sun. Our capture rate was fairly low and we ended up with 23 new individuals and 8 recaptures.
Halfway through the morning, the tide rolled in higher than either Josh or I have seen out at Little Bear. Water was rushing in so quickly that every net run we were scooching up our nets a little more to avoid it. Eventually, we had to close a few more because it wasn't possible to move them up anymore. The water level was up to our thighs and almost brimming over our waders. The east point of Little Bear is separated from the ocean by a thin strip of beach and a tidal pool. Today the beach was submerged and waves starting rolling into the tidal pool. I feel if this trend continues in the years to come, that strip of beach will erode and waves we be crashing ever closer to our station.
-- Dan E.
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Mourning Dove | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 1 | 1 | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | - | 3 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Swainson's Thrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 9 | 13 | 7 | 3 |
Brown Thrasher | - | 1 | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | - | 1 |
Northern Waterthrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
American Redstart | 2 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | 2 | - | - | 1 |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Palm Warbler (western) | 2 | - | 3 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle) | 2 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | - | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 31 | 23 | 54 |
| # of Recaptures | 19 | 8 | 27 |
| # of Species | 19 | 10 | 21 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 121.05 | 91.9 | 212.95 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 41.3 | 33.7 | 38.0 |
| # of Nets | 29 | 20 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,521 | 2,022 | 5,218 |
| # of Recaptures | 685 | 297 | 856 |
| # of Species | 66 | 65 | 81 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 7,772.6 | 4,936.5 | 11,145.95 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 54.1 | 46.8 | 54.5 |
| # of Days | 63 | 52 | - |
Banding Staff
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)
