FOS Eastern Kingbird and Black-throated Blue Warbler

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We started the morning dodging a few rain showers but were able to open at our usual time - about a half hour before sunrise. There was movement on the radar last night and the morning showers likely caused some birds to stopover at the spit. We captured 41 new birds and 1 recapture of 10 different species. We had a good variety of warblers, but the highlights were first-of-season Eastern Kingbird and Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Eastern Kingbird was an after hatch year male - only adult kingbirds have the orange crest that stays hidden unless agitated. The Black-throated Blue Warbler was the Cairns subspecies, which is the subspecies that breeds in the Appalachian Mountains and migrates earlier than other populations. They have black spots on their back, whereas other populations of Black-throated Blue Warblers that breed in the Northeast and Eastern Canada lack the black on the back.  

Eastern Kingbird (after hatch year, male)

Eastern Kingbird crest

Black-throated Blue Warbler (after hatch year, male)

The black on the back of Black-throated Blue Warbler
(Cairns' Warbler)

 

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

It was a windy and rainy day at Little Bear today! Despite having to open late due to rain and keep many of the nets closed due to rain, the Little Bear crew managed to capture 18 birds including the first of the season Ovenbird. These large warblers can be identified by the 'racing stripes' on their head and spotted chests. Unlike many warblers, they spend a lot of time foraging on the ground and even nest on the ground. They build snug, round nests resembling an outdoor oven, hence their name!

Hatch Year Ovenbird

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
Eastern Kingbird	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	5	-
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	7	-	3	1
Black-and-white Warbler	5	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	13	-	-	-
American Redstart	8	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	1	1	1	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	41	15	56
# of Recaptures	1	2	3
# of Species	10	9	13
Effort (net-hours)	144.7	84.7	229.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.0	21.3	25.7
# of Nets	31	28	59

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	294	161	455
# of Recaptures	71	55	126
# of Species	29	23	34
Effort (net-hours)	2107.7	957.0	3064.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.3	22.6	19.0
# of Days	15	8

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)

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.

No Banding

The rain prevented us from banding today. We should be good to go tomorrow. 

-Michael

Another slow day

CAPTAIN SAMS

Today we banded just 4 new birds and had 5 recaptures, from 5 different species. We took advantage of the slow day to work on some net repairs. 

Three of our 9 birds today were White-eyed Vireos, which is a bird I was particularly excited to see in the hand! We have been getting mostly older birds of this species, but today we banded a hatch year White-eyed Vireo. It was really cool to get to see the eye color changes in the differently aged birds! These vireos start out with grayish-brown eyes as hatch year birds, which lighten towards a white color as they age (hence their name, White-eyed Vireo!). 

- Camille 

After hatch year White-eyed Vireo

LITTLE BEAR

It was a pretty slow day at Little Bear, and with less cloud cover the temperature was rising fast by 9:30am. We banded 9 birds and had 4 recaptures for a total of 13 birds. Northern Waterthrushes continue to be our most common migrant. 

One of the newly banded birds was our second Traill's Flycatcher of the season. A species name that is more commonly seen in banding vs birding, we use Traill's Flycatcher to refer to two flycatchers that are visually indistinguishable from each other: Willow and Alder Flycatchers. While birding, they can be distinguished by their unique songs, but in the hand they look identical. We take a few extra measurements that may help us go back and determine the exact species for some individuals. 

-Liz

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	2	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Northern Waterthrush	1	1	5	1
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	1	2	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4	9	13
# of Recaptures	5	4	9
# of Species	6	5	8
Effort (net-hours)	150.4	114.1	264.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	6	11.4	8.3
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	253	146	399
# of Recaptures	70	52	122
# of Species	27	21	32
Effort (net-hours)	1963	872.3	2835.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.5	22.7	18.4
# of Days	14	7	14

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.

Northern Waterthrush and Slow Times

CAPTAIN SAMS

Slow day out on Captain Sam's today with a total of 18 captures in all. With a total of 8 species captured and almost all of our species diversity coming from recaptures it seems like not too much is moving right now, but with any luck I am hopeful we will get hit by a fresh wave of migrants soon enough. 

Given the slow conditions this does give us an opportunity to focus on one of our more common migrants. Northern Waterthrushes are an under-appreciated bird of northern forests and bogs. Unlike their larger cousins, the Louisiana Waterthrushes, Northern Waterthrushes are known for scouring the edges of swamps, bogs, and other slow-moving bodies of water as opposed to the fast-moving streams their larger, more southernly-breeding cousins prefer to haunt.

Northern Waterthrush in Hand

Currently we are seeing a lot of variation in the Northern Waterthrushes that have been coming through Kiawah with some birds having already acquired heavy fat reserves and others only possessing more modest amounts. Hopefully the more deficient amongst them are able to put on some more weight as they still have a ways to go to make the West Indies, Central, and South America (Even as far as northern Brazil!). In particular the mangrove forests of both coasts of Panama provide particularly important wintering habitat for the Northern Waterthrushes, who are true snowbirds lingering in excess of six months in the Neotropics where they actively maintain a winter territory.

Jeremiah

LITTLE BEAR

A good amount of cloud cover kept the temperatures pleasant for most of our morning at Little Bear. We had a little burst of activity for our first net run and afterward it was slow and steady for the rest of the day. We had a total of 33 birds, with 15 newly banded birds and 18 recaps. Our top species today were Northern Waterthrush (9 captures), Northern Cardinal (9 captures), Painted Bunting (8 captures), and Carolina Wren (4 captures). We caught a few other warbler species and hopefully we'll start to see more trickle in the upcoming weeks. Another slow day gave us plenty of time to take fecal samples from our Painted Buntings and record which feathers they are molting. We also captured this a Ruby-throated Hummingbird today. While we don't band hummingbirds, it was a good opportunity to learn more about them and we brought it back to the station to determine the age, sex, and take measurements. 

-Liz

Hatch year female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	3
Northern Waterthrush	4	1	5	4
Common Yellowthroat	2	-	-	-
Hooded Warbler	-	1	-	-
American Redstart	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	3	6
Painted Bunting	3	2	3	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	15	24
# of Recaptures	9	18	27
# of Species	8	7	12
Effort (net-hours)	144.4	148.4	292.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	6.2	22.2	17.4
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	249	137	386
# of Recaptures	65	48	113
# of Species	26	21	32
Effort (net-hours)	1812.6	758.2	2570.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.3	24.4	19.4
# of Days	13	6	13

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Liz Held (LB)

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.

Still Slow Going

CAPTAIN SAMS

My bad. After doing a fantasy football draft, cooking dinner, and helping with my son's homework, I completely forgot to do my part of the blog last night. 

Despite cooler temperatures and north winds, it was a very slow morning out on the spit with 14 new birds and 4 recaptures of 9 different species. There is still some lingering water around some of the nets which is probably helping boost our waterthrush numbers. 

-Aaron 

LITTLE BEAR

We are still waiting for migration to pick up on the island but are still enjoying our frequent flyers such as resident Carolina Wrens and migrating Prairie Warblers. Today the crew captured 17 new birds and 6 recaptures including a slew of very young Northern Cardinals. While the slow days may be boring, they provide excellent opportunities to collect some poop! This year KIBS is assisting a PhD student from the University of Georgia by collecting fecal samples and molt data from Painted Buntings. Her project is focused on understanding how their diet and molt are related. Along with major events like migration and breeding, molt is considered an important part of a bird's annual cycle so understanding it helps ecologists better understand their conservation needs. 

-Arden

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	3
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	5	-	4	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	5	1	1	-
American Redstart	-	-	3	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	6	1
Painted Bunting	-	-	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	14	17	31
# of Recaptures	4	6	10
# of Species	9	7	12
Effort (net-hours)	152.2	122.6	274.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	11.8	18.8	14.9
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	240	122	362
# of Recaptures	40	30	70
# of Species	27	21	32
Effort (net-hours)	1668.2	609.8	2278
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.8	22.8	18.4
# of Days	12	5	12

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

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.

 

Waiting for Migration to Ramp Up

 CAPTAIN SAMS

After an exciting first net round with lots of birds, things got slow and quiet once the sun came out in force. We banded 25 birds and had 2 recaptures. Very surprisingly, we didn't catch a single Painted Bunting at Captain Sams today! We had some more migrants today, including an Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warblers, American Redstarts, Prairie Warblers, and a gorgeous hatch year male Hooded Warbler. He was definitely a highlight for the day!

- Camille 

Hatch year male Hooded Warbler

LITTLE BEAR

On our walk out to Little Bear, there were more chips overhead from migrating birds compared to the past few days. The radar showed an increase of activity as well. It is too early for large numbers of birds, but we still captured 34 new birds and 4 recaptures of 11 different species. Tonight should be another decent movement of birds for late August.

-Michael

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	-	-	1	-
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	3	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	2	2
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	7	-	8	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	4	-	4	-
Hooded Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	7	-	4	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	4	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	5	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	25	34	59
# of Recaptures	2	4	6
# of Species	10	11	14
Effort (net-hours)	156.8	120.4	277.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.2	31.6	23.4
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	226	105	331
# of Recaptures	53	24	77
# of Species	27	21	32
Effort (net-hours)	1,516.2	487.2	2,003.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.4	26.5	20.37
# of Days	11	4

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

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.

Black and White Warbler at Little Bear

CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was a typical slow and sunny August day at Captain Sam's. The crew enjoyed a trickle of migrating warblers like Northern Waterthrushes and a bright Yellow Warbler as well as the first Brown-headed Cowbird of the season. Capture rates remain slow with 18 new birds and 1 recapture. The crew took advantage of the downtime to admire some of the island's non-bird critters like marsh crabs, anoles, and a glass lizard! Though the weather may not indicate that fall is on its way, the condition of the birds we're catching sure does! To prepare for migration, birds will pack on the fat, supplying them with vital calories for their long journey. Some species can even double their body weight! Many of the birds we're catching, especially warblers, weigh much more then they typically do, a sure sign they will soon be on the move. 

LITTLE BEAR

Things were a little slow at Little Bear today, but one of the highlights of today was a beautiful little Black and White Warbler! 

Hatch year female Black and White Warbler

Black and White Warblers hold a special place in my heart as my very first warbler was one. He was likely an older male with strong, dark features and perched like a nuthatch on the side of a Paper Birch. This was on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine, as opposed to the Palmetto-laden shores of South Carolina like this lovely girl. 

My sighting was very classical, as far as Black and White Warblers go, as they are well know for filling a unique niche in the warbler world, circling the trunks of trees and foraging nuthatch-like on the trunk and larger branches. This behavior led to an older name of the species being the Black and White Creeper, an entirely separate family of passerine birds. Surprisingly, these are actually ground nesters with the female (and as with other warblers it is always the female) building a nest often by some larger piece of substrate. While working in the Texas Hill Country I have found a nest directly against the trunk of a tree and a crew lead of mine once accidentally discovered a nest looking for a rock to weigh down a piece of equipment!

In addition to building the nest, the female warbler will do all of the incubation (the male, in fairness, generally does work hard to provide food). If disturbed she may do a broken-wing display, hopping low to the ground calling and fluttering her wings to lure a potential threat away from the nest. Speaking first hand this can be somewhat startling if you are not expecting it, especially if you are already struggling to balance yourself on a rocky hillside!

Black and White Warblers occupy a wide variety of habitats in the non breeding season and winter from as far north as North Carolina to as far south as Ecuador, so it is anyones guess where our girl is bound. Hopefully she continues her migration well and we catch her after a successful breeding season this time next year!

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	4
Brown-headed Cowbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	5	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	1	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	1	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	2	1
Painted Bunting	6	1	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	18	15	33
# of Recaptures	1	7	8
# of Species	10	9	13
Effort (net-hours)	134.4	114.8	249.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	14.1	19.2	16.4
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	252	71	323
# of Recaptures	51	20	71
# of Species	27	20	31
Effort (net-hours)	1359.4	366.8	1,726.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	14.8	24.8	22.8
# of Days	10	3	13

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.

Water, Water Everywhere

CAPTAIN SAMS

It was nice to get back out to the station after a full day of rain and flooding. Due to the weather, not much migrated to our area last night. We only captured 11 new birds and 6 recaptures of 11 different species. We did have an early first-of-the season Veery along with our first House Finch. 

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

The Little Bear station was full of water after 10 inches of rain we had yesterday and high tides coming in more than one foot higher than projected! We were also met with rain as we walked to the banding table, though it luckily didn't last for too long. The birds didn't seem too deterred by the water, and we had another slow but steady early season day, with 21 birds banded and had 10 recaptures for a total of 31 birds from 14 species. We had a very exciting second net run when Aaron walked up to a Tricolored Heron flying into one of the nets! That was the first time seeing one in the hand for all three of us! We're excited to see what other unusual catches the water brings us (more herons hopefully)!

- Camille 

Aaron holding a hatch year Tricolored Heron!

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	1	-	-	-
Tricolored Heron	-	-	1	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	-	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	2	2
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	1	-
Veery	1	-	-	-
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	1
Northern Waterthrush	2	-	4	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	-	1	-
American Redstart	2	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	3	2	1
Painted Bunting	-	2	2	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	21	32
# of Recaptures	6	10	16
# of Species	11	14	17
Effort (net-hours)	179.2	140.0	319.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	9.5	22.1	15.0
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	183	57	240
# of Recaptures	50	13	63
# of Species	26	18	30
Effort (net-hours)	1225.0	252.0	1477.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	19.0	27.8	20.5
# of Days	9	2

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.