Winter Banding Part 3

Captain Sam's

The 3rd banding session of the winter occurred on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.  Only 25 new birds were banded that day but we continued to had very good numbers of recaptures with 53 captured.  

There are still some Yellow-rumped Warblers around the site but not in the numbers like we had earlier in the winter.  The large numbers of American Robins that we experienced on the site over the last month have pretty much moved on leaving very little Smilax and palmetto berries in their wake.  

Orange-crowned Warbler (after second-year, male)
His orange crown patch is concealed in this photo.

Swamp-Sparrow (after second-year, sex unknown)

White-throated Sparrow (second-year, sex unknown)

This past fall and winter have been an irruptive year for a couple species of northern finches in South Carolina (Purple Finch and Pine Siskin).  Pine Siskins were heard frequently during the fall but usually only flying over the banding site.  Pine Siskins did not stick around the coastal areas of SC and now seem to be concentrated more inland.  Purple Finches on the other hand, seem to be everywhere.  Purple Finches were also seen and heard at the banding site during fall.  Despite having both species present, neither was captured during fall migration banding.  And it looks likes neither species will be captured this winter either.  Luckily, I started getting Purple Finches at my bird feeder at my house in December.  On Saturday, I decided that before they leave for the winter, I better try my luck at capturing some.  It may be awhile before there is another irruptive year.  I set out a drop-door trap on the platform feeder that the usually feed on and was able to capture two of them relatively quickly.  The first on was a second-year, and because males and females look similar during their first year, I was unable to sex it.  The second one was an adult female.

Purple Finch (second-year, sex unknown)

 

  There are only two banding sessions left for the winter.  The next one will be next week and the last one will be during the week of the March 22nd.

-Aaron    

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	4	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	5	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	19	-	-
Brown Thrasher	1	1	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	1	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	3	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	2	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	21	14	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	25	-	-
# of Recaptures	53	-	-
# of Species	13	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	145.6	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.6	-	-
# of Nets	28	-	-

2021 Winter Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	183	-	-
# of Recaptures	163	-	-
# of Species	20	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	477.15	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	72.5	-	-
# of Days	3	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ryan Donnelly (CS)