The Expected Slowdown Arrived

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It was much slower out on the spit today with only 12 new birds and 6 recaptures of 10 species. 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, White-eyed Vireo, and Ovenbird were all new species for the season. We will continue to catch all three of those species fairly regularly through mid-October.  

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	3	-	-	-
Hooded Warbler	-	1	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	3	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	2	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	12	-	-
# of Recaptures	6	-	-
# of Species	10	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	142.8	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	12.6	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	113	-	-
# of Recaptures	21	-	-
# of Species	22	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	543.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.7	-	-
# of Days	4	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (CS)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab.

Meet the 2025 KIBS Banding Crew

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was the first day that the 2025 banding crew was all together. I'd like to welcome Liz, Arden, Camille, and Jeremiah to the team. I am looking forward to working with them this fall! Click here to meet the 2025 KIBS banding crew. 

Bird activity slowed down a little bit today with 21 new birds and 5 recaptures of 11 species. Prairie Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes made up a majority of the catch. We got our first-of-the-season Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Black-and-White Warbler today as well as recapturing the Kentucky Warbler from Friday. 

We also caught the second Hooded Warbler in as many days. Both have been juvenile females which lack the black throat and black hood that the males display.  

Hooded Warbler (hatch year, female)

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	5	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
Kentucky Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Hooded Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	8	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	4	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	21	-	-
# of Recaptures	5	-	-
# of Species	11	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	128.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	20.3	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	101	-	-
# of Recaptures	15	-	-
# of Species	19	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	400.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.0	-	-
# of Days	3	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (CS)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab.

No Second Day Slump

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was a little less humid, making it more comfortable while walking around the nets. Typically, we see a steep decline in captures on the second day of the season but that was not the case today. We captured 36 new birds and 6 recaptures of 15 different species. The highlights of the morning was an adult female and male Prothonotary Warbler (pictured below), and an Acadian Flycatcher. Our most abundant species was Prairie Warbler, with 10 captured, which is typical for this time of year as they are an early season migrant. 

Prothonotary Warbler (after hatch year, female)

Prothonotary Warbler (after hatch year, male)

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	1	-	-	-
Acadian Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
Great-crested Flycatcher	-	2	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	6	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	-	-	-
Hooded Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	4	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	10	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	2	2	-	-
Painted Bunting	3	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	36	-	-
# of Recaptures	6	-	-
# of Species	15	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	128.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	32.8	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	80	-	-
# of Recaptures	10	-	-
# of Species	17	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	272.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	33.1	-	-
# of Days	2	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (CS)

And So It Begins (The First Day of the Fall Migration Season)

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was the first the day of the 2025 fall migration banding season at Kiawah Island. Despite the warm and muggy conditions, we did pretty well with 44 new birds and 4 recaptures of 12 different species. It was a fairly typical mid August day and the expected species for this time of year were captured. One highlight of the day was a Kentucky Warbler! This is only the 7th one in the 17-year history of KIBS. Little Bear banded one last year and in 2017 but the last one banded at Captain Sams came back in 2015 when we banded two of the them. 

Kentucky Warbler (Hatch year, female)

Two of the recaptured female Painted Buntings were originally banded in 2021 - one on August 15 and one on August 16. At the time, one of the birds was an adult (after second-year) while the other was a juvenile (hatch-year). After looking up their banding history, it appears that both birds are local breeders as they have been captured every year since and multiple times throughout the fall season. 

LITTLE BEAR

Little Bear is not ready to open up yet.  Michael and I have cleared all of the nets lanes but we still need

to put up the nets. We will start putting nets up starting next week. 

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Great Crested Flycatcher	3	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	2	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	2	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	8	-	-	-
Kentucky Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	5	-	-	-
Yellow-throated Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	6	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	4	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	8	3	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	44	-	-
# of Recaptures	4	-	-
# of Species	12	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	144.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	33.3	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	44	-	-
# of Recaptures	4	-	-
# of Species	12	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	144.0	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	33.3	-	-
# of Days	1	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (CS)

Nancy Raginski (CS)

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab.