High Tides and High Numbers at Kiawah

CAPTAIN SAMS

Another great day of birds migration at Captain Sam's! Early morning began with a chorus of chips in the area a sign that did not disappoint as our first run left us swamped with dozens of birds. While nothing compared to the first rush, numbers held steady through much of the morning giving us a fantastic total of 101 birds banded and a further nine recaptures.

Given the numbers of birds we enjoyed a few particular highlights. One of these was a hatch-year Marsh Wren. Marsh Wrens are vocal wetland birds often associated with cattail marshes, the bigger the better, where their loud trills often peel out from the marsh incessantly by both day and by night during the breeding season. 

Hatch-year Marsh Wren

Hatch-year Marsh Wren

While often heard Marsh Wrens are less often seen. Like the rest of their kin these wrens are skulky by nature and often hop about within the cover of dense vegetation, though observant birdwatchers can often spot the songsters singing from an exposed cattail head if they are quick enough to catch sight of wetland sprite! 

Marsh Wren males engage in intense competition to secure the most favorable marshland habitat composed in true wren fashion of those areas where the vegetation grows thickest. Wetlands are amongst the most productive ecosystems on earth, and Marsh Wrens will often have two broods of as many as six young per brood. Since males controlling the highest-quality habitats can take multiple females as mates this means that the procreative success of a single breeding season has the potential to be exceptionally impressive. The cost for this success runs high however, as much is expected of a territory-holding male with an individual males singing as much as ten songs a minute at times, constructing five or six (and in at least one exceptional case 27) for a prospective female to choose from, as well as defending his territory from other males and doing his share of the provisioning. As with the most successful bull elk in the West, I truly would not be surprised to find that the most successful Marsh Wrens often expire after an intense season or two of life.

Marsh Wrens are also unique in that they will often sabotage the nests of other Marsh Wrens as well as other birds, particularly blackbirds, who themselves will predate Marsh Wren nests. Marsh Wrens will even strike out at other wren nests well beyond their own home ranges. In the face of intense competition and pressure in their chosen habitat, Marsh Wrens are the poster-birds of ruthless competition and cutthroat practices in the bird world.

Aside from the wren we also enjoyed a beautiful little Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a young Eastern Kingbird, a pair of Chuck-will's-widows, and an onslaught of of yellowthroats. The tide rose high and fast today, coming consistently above boots in several places on the trails and in the net lanes, and was likely the causer of us catching the second "widow" as these birds roost almost imperceptibly upon the leaf litter.

My first Chuck-will's Widow. Lovely hatch-year female. Note the stiff rictal bristles along the sides of the bill that protect the eyes while gulping down moths, beetles and even sometimes migratory birds!

Forecast looks great for the next couple of days. I am very excited for what else we may catch in the nets this week.

-Jeremiah

LITTLE BEAR

Though it wasn’t as busy as Captain Sam’s, Little Bear got its own small push of migrants with a total of 56 birds captured today. Common Yellowthroats were our most captured species with 19 individuals followed by Northern Waterthrushes with 9, and American Redstarts with 7.

The crew enjoyed watching a handful of redstarts foraging just a few meters above the banding table in the pre-dawn light. Passerines will migrate overnight to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and cover from predators that are active during the day. Because of this, they often arrive at stopover points, like Kiawah Island, in the morning absolutely famished and will waste no time devouring any seed, berry, and insect in sight. Our capture rates were hindered today by gusts of wind so the crew is looking forward to the reduced wind and favorable weather in the coming days. 

-Arden

Hatch Year Male Common Yellowthroat

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	-	-	-	1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Chuck-wills Widow	2	-	-	-
Acadian Flycatcher	-	1	-	-
Trail's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Kingbird	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Marsh Wren	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	3
Northern Waterthrush	7	2	8	1
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prothonotary Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	66	2	19	-
American Redstart	11	-	7	-
Northern Parula	2	-	-	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	2	1	4	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Painted Bunting	3	3	2	2
Ovenbird	-	-	2	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	101	46	147
# of Recaptures	9	10	19
# of Species	14	14	20
Effort (net-hours)	198.4	114.8	313.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	55.4	38.7	46.9
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	576	313	889
# of Recaptures	124	111	135
# of Species	37	30	37
Effort (net-hours)	3,450.9	1,836.2	5,142.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.3	23.1	20.9
# of Days	23	17

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.