Kiawah Island Banding Station

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was another slow day with more recaptures than new birds. We captured 15 new birds and 43 recaptures of 13 species. Most of the recaptures (28) were Gray Catbirds, which is typical for this time of year as many catbirds spend the winter here. Currently, many catbirds are stopping over to build up fat so they can continue on their migration to other nonbreeding grounds along the Gulf Coast, in the Caribbean, or in Central America. We expect more bird movement as a small cold front moves through overnight.

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

With a total of 50 birds in all, 22 new and 28 recaptures, today was a rather slow day over at Little Bear. Given that we had only two people to manage the station, however, this number made for a very manageable day overall. 

Highlight of the day was definitely a hatch-year Bay-breasted Warbler. This species is often not very common in our nets so it is really lovely that we have been graced with so many at both our stations this season.

Hatch-year Bay-breasted Warbler

Another warbler we had, and have been having for a while, is this Western Palm Warbler.

Hatch-year Western Palm Warbler from today.

Palm Warblers are a single species of warbler that are divided into two separate subspecies that in the breeding season split the northern forests and bogs of the continent in the vicinity of Ottawa, Canada. To the west the aptly named Western subspecies breeds, in the east the Yellow Palm Warbler. In the winter both subspecies leave their summer homes and make for their wintering grounds in the south, but in a manner that is not particularly intuitive.

The eastern-breeding Yellow Palms winter along the gulf coast (a small, but regular handful make a more dramatic leap to the Pacific coast), but the Western Palm Warblers winter to their east along the south Atlantic coast, into the Caribbean, and in Florida where I have seen them winter in terrific abundance. If you were able to follow both migrations from space you would see them make an "X" over the eastern half of the continent. While on their wintering grounds both populations favor more open habitats with the birds on Kiawah frequently enjoying the island golf courses. 

Yellow Palm Warbler from earlier this season for comparison.

It looks like things may pick up a good bit as the week goes. With any luck we will catch our share of them and have some exciting new species to share with you then.

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	2	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	1	-	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	1	1	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	10	28	10	15
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	2	1
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	2
Common Yellowthroat	1	5	4	4
American Redstart	-	-	-	1
Bay-breasted Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	1
Painted Bunting	-	2	1	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	15	22	37
# of Recaptures	43	28	71
# of Species	13	12	17
Effort (net-hours)	156.8	147.0	303.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	37.0	34.0	35.5
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,989	2,855	6,844
# of Recaptures	699	609	1,308
# of Species	78	76	91
Effort (net-hours)	9,941.5	7,075.4	17,016.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.2	49.0	47.9
# of Days	62	53

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

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.