A Common Ground Dove at Little Bear!

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

We delayed opening our nets until 8:00am this morning due to below freezing temps (barely) and windy conditions causing a wind chill effect in the mid 20's. We did not see the migration of Yellow-rumped Warblers that we were hoping for following this cold front. Maybe they are still up north. However, we did band 24 new birds and had 16 recaptures of 12 species. The highlight of the day was a hatch-year female Wilson's Warbler. We don't band many Wilson's Warblers. In fact, in some years we haven't banded any. This is our 2nd one this season at Captain Sams and likely our last one. Little Bear has also banded two this fall. 

Wilson's Warbler (Hatch-year, female)

Northwest winds continue for the next several days and the wind should die down on Thursday which should help us catch more birds.

-Aaron

 

LITTLE BEAR

While we didn't see high numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers, we did have more birds overall than the last several days. We had 42 birds of 7 different species with 17 newly banded birds and 25 recaptures. The Gray Catbirds were certainly out and about today as they accounted for 19 of our 25 recaps. Our second-most prevalent bird today was Yellow-rumped Warblers, with 8 new and 2 recaps. 

Our most exciting bird from today was a Common Ground Dove. We thought that this species was extirpated from the island, so never imagined we would come across one in our nets. The last time one was captured at Little Bear was in 2019, and 3 were captured at Captain Sam's in 2022. Hopefully this means that this species can be found on the island once more, but time will tell. This was my first time seeing a Common Ground Dove, let alone having one in the hand. I immediately noticed its small size and the intricate details of the feathers. The little brown spots on the wing that appear brown are actually iridescent purple in the sunlight! We ultimately decided this bird was an after-hatch-year due to the quality of the primary coverts with dark rufous coloring and broad dark tips. The blue head and pink wash on the throat and breast point towards male. This dove is the 107th species banded between the two stations, breaking the record for most species banded in a season! 

-Liz

Common Ground Dove, after-hatch-year male

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Common Ground Dove	-	-	1	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Blue-headed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	4	4	4	19
Hermit Thrush	3	1	1	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	2	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	9	7	8	2
Wilson's Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	4
Painted Bunting	1	-	2	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	24	17	41
# of Recaptures	16	25	41
# of Species	12	7	15
Effort (net-hours)	153.0	140.0	293.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.1	30.0	28.0
# of Nets	32	28	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	5,030	3,452	8,482
# of Recaptures	1,088	988	2,076
# of Species	92	92	107
Effort (net-hours)	13,613	10,005.9	23,619.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	44.9	44.0	44.5
# of Days	85	74

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (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.

FOS Grasshopper Sparrow

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was another slow morning but with some interesting captures. It was also much cooler as a strong cold front came through shortly after midnight. We captured 18 new birds and 10 recaptures of 9 different species. The highlight came on the first net run when we captured a first-of-the-season Grasshopper Sparrow. They are an uncommon migrant and wintering resident along the South Carolina coast and this is only the 5th one we have captured at the Kiawah Island Banding Station.  

Between 1966 and 2015, Grasshopper Sparrows lost 72% of their population and they continue to decline today. This decline is specifically due to the loss of native prairie habitat to intensive agriculture across their entire range. 

Grasshopper Sparrow (hatch year, unknown sex)

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

The chilly morning gave us a much-needed respite from the mosquitoes, and we were even a little busier than yesterday. We banded 13 birds and processed 11 recaps for a total of 24 birds of 8 species. We caught a late Swainson's Thrush but it was very plump so it must be just enjoying a leisurely migration. One of our recaptured Gray Catbirds from today was originally banded in 2020 as a hatch-year, which means it turned 5 this summer. We love to see older birds thriving and surviving so many migrations! Another notable recap was an after-hatch-year Ruby-crowned Kinglet that was banded last fall as an older male. We have captured him 3 times since November 1st, and his fat level and weight has stayed consistent, so maybe he is here to stay for the winter.

-Liz 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	2	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1	1	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	1	2	3	8
Swainson's Thrush	-	-	1	-
Hermit Thrush	-	2	-	-
Grasshopper Sparrow	1	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	3	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	9	3	4	-
Painted Bunting	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	18	13	31
# of Recaptures	10	11	21
# of Species	9	8	14
Effort (net-hours)	170.5	155.7	326.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.4	14.8	15.9
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	5,006	3,435	8,441
# of Recaptures	1,072	963	2,035
# of Species	92	91	106
Effort (net-hours)	13,460.4	9,745.7	23,206.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	45.2	45.1	45.1
# of Days	84	73

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (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.

Another slow day

CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was a very slow day at both stations. At Captain Sams, we banded 6 new birds and had 7 recaptures, for a total of 13 birds from 6 species. We are hoping the slow streak ends soon, and the cold front arriving tonight brings a push of late-season migrants. We are still expecting many more Yellow-rumped Warblers, and the more than twenty degree drop in temperature tonight could be just what gets them moving! 

- Camille 

 

LITTLE BEAR

At Little Bear, we had 8 new birds and 7 recaptures for a total of 15 birds of 7 species. We could hear a few little groups of Yellow-rumped flitting around, but unfortunately only 2 of them ended up in our nets. Even though it was slow, we did have a couple of interesting captures: an Eastern White-crowned Sparrow and a Northern Parula. We should be on the very tail end of Northern Parulas migrating through, although it will be interesting to see if there were any more stragglers that will come through with this cold front. I am ready for a drop in temperature and I think we're all ready to see some more Yellow-Rumped Warblers and sparrows. 

-Liz

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	2	2	2	3
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	1
Eastern White-crowned Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	2	-
Northern Parula	-	-	1	-
Myrtle Warbler	3	2	2	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	3
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	6	8	14
# of Recaptures	7	7	14
# of Species	6	7	9
Effort (net-hours)	185.6	131	316.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	7.0	11.5	8.8
# of Nets	32	28	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,988	3,422	8,410
# of Recaptures	1,062	952	2,014
# of Species	91	91	105
Effort (net-hours)	13,289.9	9,590	22,879.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	45.5	45.6	45.6
# of Days	83	72

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (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.

White Ibis at Little Bear!

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Not much migration happening right now along the east coast due to the southwest winds. As a result, we only banded 18 new birds and had 9 recaptures today. A majority of the birds captured were Yellow-rumped Warblers. This will be a common theme for the remainder of the fall migration banding season. We are still waiting for the large numbers of Yellow-rumps to show. It looks like that might happen sometime next week. 

Southwest winds will continue over night and into tomorrow morning until big changes come our way Sunday night as a strong cold front pushes through our area. We we be looking at temperature in the mid 30's on Monday night with winds between 10-12 mph.

-Aaron  

LITTLE BEAR

It was another slow day at Little Bear with 14 newly banded birds and 14 recaps of 10 species. We had a mix of the usual late-fall species like Gray Catbirds, Swamp Sparrows, a White-throated Sparrow, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We also caught a Cape May Warbler today, which was a nice little surprise. She was in the net right next to a young female yellow-rumped so perhaps they were foraging together.

Our other notable capture today was a White Ibis! On a few occasions we have seen small flocks of Ibis foraging in the marshy clearing in the middle of the nets. I even flushed a few into a net a couple of days ago, but they were able to escape. Today, I watched three young White Ibis forage in the water right under one of the nets for about 10 minutes until they got spooked and took flight. One of them happened to get stuck in a pocket and since I was close by I was able to contain it before it could escape! 

Even though White Ibis are very common on the island, it was a really great experience to both watch them forage from only a few yards away and to get a closer look at their features in the hand. 

-Liz

 

(All images) White Ibis, Hatch-year male

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White Ibis	-	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	-	4	3	9
Hermit Thrush	-	2	1	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	2	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Myrtle Warbler	16	2	4	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	3
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	18	14	32
# of Recaptures	9	14	23
# of Species	6	10	13
Effort (net-hours)	173.2	154	327.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.6	17.5	16.8
# of Nets	32	28	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,982	3,414	8,396
# of Recaptures	1,055	945	2,000
# of Species	91	91	105
Effort (net-hours)	13,104.3	9,459.1	22,563.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.1	46.1	46.1
# of Days	82	71

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

 

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.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are still arriving

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It picked up a little today with the movement of more Yellow-rumped Warblers along the coast. When opening nets, we heard many flying over the station as they migrated down the coast. We ended the morning with 50 new birds and 16 recaptures of 12 species, 38 of which were Yellow-rumped Warblers. It looks like banding will be slow throughout the weekend before we receive another push of birds after a large cold front moves through the area early next week. 

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

We had a really slow day at Little Bear with 12 new birds and 9 recaptures of 6 different species. While we were opening, it sounded more birdy than the last few days so we were hoping we would be busier but unfortunately that did not happen. There were a few flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers and sparrows flitting around so perhaps they will find their way into our nets tomorrow. 

-Liz

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	5	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	4	5	7
Hermit Thrush	3	3	2	1
Song Sparrow	1	-	2	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	1
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	34	4	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	1	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	50	12	62
# of Recaptures	16	9	25
# of Species	12	6	12
Effort (net-hours)	185.6	140.0	325.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	35.6	15.0	26.7
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,964	3,400	8,364
# of Recaptures	1,046	932	1,978
# of Species	91	90	104
Effort (net-hours)	12,931.1	9,305.1	22,236.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.5	46.6	46.5
# of Days	81	70

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

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.

Waiting for the next cold front

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was a slightly more busy day at Captain Sams today with 23 new birds and 10 recaptures. We caught the usual variety of winter birds including Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, and Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as the first Sharp-shinned Hawk of the season for Captain Sams. The Sharp-shinned Hawk was a young male that weighed just over a hundred grams. Songbird banding stations typically catch more male hawks than females as their smaller size makes it easier for them to get caught in the net.

-Arden

 

LITTLE BEAR

It was a slow day back after our net repair day, with 16 birds banded and 10 recaptured, from 13 species. We had an Eastern Wood-Pewee that we were surprised to see this late in the season, as well as an American Redstart that should be on her way south any day now! Another highlight from the day was recapturing a hatch year female Sharp-shinned Hawk that Liz and Arden banded a few days ago! She was gorgeous. 

- Camille 

Sharp-shinned Hawk (hatch year, female)

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1	1	-
House Wren	1	1	1	-
Gray Catbird	3	3	3	7
Hermit Thrush	3	2	1	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	2	-
American Redstart	-	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	11	1	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	2
Painted Bunting	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	23	16	39
# of Recaptures	10	10	20
# of Species	11	13	14
Effort (net-hours)	192.0	137.2	329.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.2	18.9	17.9
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,914	3,388	8,302
# of Recaptures	1,030	923	1,953
# of Species	91	90	104
Effort (net-hours)	12,745.5	9,165.1	21,910.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.6	47.0	46.8
# of Days	80	69

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

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.

Busy Day, Slow Day Seesaw

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was back to being slow this morning but we enjoyed the full moon setting over the Kiawah River as we finished opening nets. We captured 17 new birds and 15 recaptures of 12 species. We had a couple of returning individuals from previous years. A Song Sparrow that was banded as a hatch year on 10/19/2024 and a Yellow-rumped warbler banded as a second year male on 3/13/2024. 

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

We spent the day fixing the Little Bear nets that the deer ran through so we did not band today. 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Phoebe	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	2	6	-	-
Hermit Thrush	2	2	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	8	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	17	-	17
# of Recaptures	15	-	15
# of Species	12	-	12
Effort (net-hours)	147.2	-	147.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.7	-	21.7
# of Nets	32	-	32

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,891	3,372	8,263
# of Recaptures	1,020	913	1,933
# of Species	90	90	104
Effort (net-hours)	12,553.5	9,027.9	21,581.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.1	47.5	47.2
# of Days	79	68

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Matt Johnson (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.

A Push of Winter Sparrows

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Today might have been the "sparrow-iest" day we have ever had at KIBS with 36 individuals at Captain Sams and 27 at Little Bear. I cannot remember another day having banded more sparrows than we did today. 

It was a very productive early November day at Captain Sams with 107 new birds and 17 recaptures of 18 species. There was good movements of kinglets, sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers last night, all of which made it into our nets in relatively large numbers. 

Included in our sparrow line-up was two more Field Sparrows and a White-crowned Sparrow. Both of these species are infrequent at KIBS and as I mentioned a few days ago it had been a couple of years since we captured a Field Sparrow. Since 2012, we've averaged 1.8 Field Sparrows/year and 1.5 White-crowned Sparrows/year. Although, it seems that we are catching fewer Field Sparrows than we use to but more White-crowned Sparrows than in the past. 

These two species look quite similar sporting matching colors of tan, brown, and rufous. Both display an orange/pinking bill but the White-crowned Sparrow is about double the size of a Field Sparrow. The two Field Sparrows today average about 12 grams while White-crowned Sparrow weighed 25 grams.  

-Aaron

 

Comparison of Field Sparrow (left) and juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (right)

       

LITTLE BEAR

It was a pleasantly busy day at Little Bear with 63 new birds and 11 recaptures, many of which were sparrows! The shrubbery around the station was crawling with small flocks of sparrows including Song, White-throated, and Swamp. We were surprised to catch ten White-throated Sparrows as the previous record at Little Bear was six in a season. With today's captures, our total for the season is now 14! We had some other interesting captures including a Sharp-shinned Hawk, Brown Creeper, and Dark-eyed Junco. The Sharp-shinned Hawk has been hanging around the station for the last few days so I figured it was only a matter of time before we caught her. In fact, yesterday we heard a tussle behind the banding table and got to watch a tough little catbird escape the sharpie's grasp. 

-Arden

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	-	-	1	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	7	-	8	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	4	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	13	-	4	1
Brown Creeper	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
House Wren	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	9	10	2	8
Hermit Thrush	6	1	3	-
Dark-eyed Junco	-	-	1	-
Field Sparrow	2	-	-	-
White-crowned Sparrow	1	-	1	-
White-throated Sparrow	3	-	10	-
Song Sparrow	17	-	10	-
Swamp Sparrow	13	1	5	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	21	2	7	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	1	-
Northern Parula	-	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	7	1	5	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	107	63	170
# of Recaptures	17	11	28
# of Species	17	18	23
Effort (net-hours)	198.4	155.4	353.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	62.5	47.6	56.0
# of Nets	32	26	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,874	3,372	8,246
# of Recaptures	1,005	913	1,918
# of Species	90	90	104
Effort (net-hours)	12,406.3	9,027.86	21,434.16
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.6	47.5	47.4
# of Days	78	68

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (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.