A Sweet September Day

 Captain Sam's:

Today was an average day. We had a total of 86 birds with 79 of those birds new! Our highlight was catching 2 Cape May Warblers, as shown below. Both of these birds are hatch year, male on the left and female on the right. You can see how close they look to each other but the male is showing some brighter colors around the face, grayer back and more defined streaking on the breast. Its a great comparison between sexes on a hatch year.

Cape May Warbler: Male on the left, female on the right
Age: Hatch year

During our busy days we had previously captured a Chestnut-sided Warbler but never had time getting a great photo of it. Today was our lucky day since we captured another one! This Chestnut-sided Warbler is an adult female. 

September is almost over and soon October will be here. Time sure flies by fast in the bird world.

-Kristin

Little Bear:

It was just Josh and I at Little Bear today, which meant that a normal day as far as bird totals helped it feel a little busier than normal. Our first few runs were abundant, and quickly the sun came out to ruin the fun. However, we were able to still continue capturing some birds throughout the day. W finished with 75 birds of 16 species on the day, not a bad September day at all!

After opening nets, we checked them right away to gauge how busy the day would be. I only found one bird, but it was a hatch-year male Hooded Warbler. This was the first male I've ever had in the hand, and it was stunning! 

Hatch-year Male Hooded Warbler

We caught quite a few birds that we had banded on previous days today. One bird that comes to mind is a hatch-year male American Redstart. This one bird was banded on the 24th of September, then recaptured on the 26th and 27th. Meaning it has stayed in the area for at least 4 days. I love seeing things like this, because it is so interesting to see this little bird hanging around and attempting to fatten up before it continues its migration.

We also saw a few species that hadn't been found at Little Bear in a while such as Ovenbird and Veery. These birds are likely from much further North than the those who already all came through.

-Ben

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	3	1	2	-
Red-eyed Vireo	13	-	2	-
House Wren	2	-	-	-
Veery	1	-	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	3	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	18	-	8	1
Northern Mockingbird	-	1	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	-	1	1
Ovenbird	3	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	4	-	6	1
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	18	2	19	3
Hooded Warbler	-	-	1	-
American Redstart	1	-	2	1
Cape May Warbler	2	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	1	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	4	-	14	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	1	4	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	79	66	145
# of Recaptures	7	9	16
# of Species	21	16	25
Effort (net-hours)	156.5	119.9	276.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	54.9	62.6	58.2
# of Nets	30	23	53

2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	1,749	969	2718
# of Recaptures	203	121	324
# of Species	56	49	63
Effort (net-hours)	5,584.2	3536.45	9120.65
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	34.9	30.8	33.3
# of Days	40	35	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (CS)

Kandace Glanville (CS)

Ben Stalheim (LB)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Josh Lefever (LB)