A couple more first of season captures!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

The push of migrants we had a few days ago has definitely slowed, though we still had a solid number of birds come through the station. It was also the third day in a row that the tide has been high enough to bring in a lot of water around close to half of the station! I'm amazed at how fast the tide comes in, and equally amazed at how fast it starts to retreat.

We banded 40 new birds and had 12 recaptures, from 12 different species. We had one First of Season today: a hatch year Swainson's Thrush! We also captured another Baltimore Oriole, which we do not capture many of during the fall. 

- Camille 

Baltimore Oriole, hatch year female

Swainson's Thrush, hatch year

LITTLE BEAR

We continue to enjoy these cooler temperatures out at Little Bear! We thought we might get a push of migrants today, but weather conditions were a little different than forecasted and the volume was nearly the same as yesterday. We captured a total of 43 birds of 15 species today with 38 new birds and 5 recaptures. Our top 3 birds today were Common Yellowthroats with 11 caught, Northern Waterthrush with 6 caught, and Painted Buntings with 5 caught. 

Highlights from today were another Baltimore Oriole (this one a really cute hatch year female), a second Palm Warbler, and our first two Black-throated Blue Warblers. The males and females of this species look so different that when first discovered, the female was thought to be an entirely different species named the Pine Swamp Warbler. These warblers prefer mixed conifer/hardwood forests with heavy undergrowth and its thought that they love to nest low to the ground in rhododendron bushes when available. They mostly winter in the West Indies, although some may linger in the southern tip of Florida and some may venture into northern South America. 

-Liz

Black-throated Blue Warbler, hatch year male

Black-throated Blue female

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	4	2	3	-
Red-eyed Vireo	6	1	4	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	2	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	1
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	-	-
Baltimore Oriole	1	-	1	-
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	1	5	1
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	14	3	10	1
Hooded Warbler	-	1	-	-
American Redstart	8	-	2	-
Yellow Warbler	1	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	2	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	2	1	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	2
Painted Bunting	3	1	5	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	40	38	78
# of Recaptures	12	5	17
# of Species	11	14	19
Effort (net-hours)	168	162.4	330.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	31.0	26.5	28.8
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	660	390	1,050
# of Recaptures	154	121	275
# of Species	39	34	47
Effort (net-hours)	3,798.1	2,157.7	5,955.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.4	23.7	22.2
# of Days	26	19

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Amy Nickerson (CS)

Keegan Foster (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.