High Tides and Few Birds

CAPTAIN SAMS 

We had a soggy and slow day today, as we started off with some light right and high tides. The tides were predicted to be up to 6.5ft, but ended up reaching 7.5 feet, which brought in a lot of water to the station and left us with flooded boots and wet feet first first thing in the morning! In the next few days, we are expected to experience King Tides, which are especially high tides, as we approach a full moon and the point this month that the moon is closest to the earth; NOAA is predicting tides as high as 7.55ft, so we will be experiencing a lot more water soon! 

Today, we banded 29 new birds and had 17 recaptures, for a total of 46 birds from 12 species. We had more of the same species we have been getting, though it seems Common Yellowthroats may be starting to head out and Gray Catbirds may be starting to arrive in higher numbers. 

- Camille 

Red-eyed Vireo (hatch year, unknown sex)

We found these fun mushrooms near one of our nets today! We believe they are a type of Earthstar mushroom, from the genus Geastrum! 

 

LITTLE BEAR

Little Bear also did not escape the tide! It appears there is a breach in the direction of our rightward nets as we started the day with deep water there that gradually spread to the center and presumably, after we departed, our lefthand side. The day was also rather quiet with a 17 new bands put out and 9 recaptures for a total of 26 birds in all. 

One of the birds we had was this brave little hatch-year male Downy Woodpecker. These are our smallest woodpeckers, and I should be grateful for that as he drew blood on me a few times with precise, well-directed hammer blows of his sharp little bill on my fingers and thumb. 

Hatch-year male Downy Woodpecker

In addition to being our smallest North American woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers are the quintessential backyard woodpecker common in yards, woodlots and suburbs throughout the continent. This species shares much of its range with the very similar, but larger and longer billed, Hairy Woodpecker. Interesting these two species are not considered closely related, but according to Eliot Miller, who has studied these two species closely, believes this is an adaptation that allows the smaller Downy Woodpeckers to appear like their larger cousins making potential predators reconsider their choice in prey and give them a leg up when dealing with competitors, like chickadees and nuthatches, who might be more willing to yield and relinquish food items to a larger, more aggressive bird.

When sharing a territory as a mated pair Downy Woodpeckers typically partition the foraging habitat between each other with the females feeding in the middle canopy and the males feeding higher up on the tree. This kind of niche-partitioning  is a great way for birds to maximize their utilization of a given territory while minimizing competition between the resident pair.

Anticipating a fairly quiet next few days, but with the potential for a cold front late in the week we may have another push coming through imminently. Until then all we can do is sit tight and try to keep our feet dry.

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	4	1	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Northern House Wren	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	5	7	9	5
Wood Thrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	6	2	1	2
American Redstart	7	1	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	1	2	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	2	3	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	29	17	46
# of Recaptures	17	9	26
# of Species	12	8	20
Effort (net-hours)	176.0	139.8	315.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.1	18.6	22.8
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,718	1,896	4,614
# of Recaptures	358	333	691
# of Species	61	58	71
Effort (net-hours)	7,852.8	5,516.6	13,369.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.2	40.4	39.7
# of Days	50	43

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)

Amy Nickerson (CS)

Keegan Foster (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.