CAPTAIN SAMS
It was another busy morning with 185 new birds and 34 recaptures of 28 species. The highlight of the morning was first-of-the season Lincoln's Sparrow and Bay-breasted Warbler captured on the first net run. We also captured 3 more Bay-breasted Warblers at the end of the banding day. We only catch a few Bay-breasted Warblers during the fall as they take a more inland migratory route. All 4 Bay-breasted Warblers were young (hatch year) males, which can vary from a small to extensive amount of chestnut on the flanks. However, there are some young males that may lack chestnut and are better left unsexed.
-Michael
LITTLE BEAR
Had a decently busy start to the morning that slowed down quickly. In total we had 103 birds banded and another 28 birds recaptured of a total of 20 species.
We had a couple genuine highlights of particular note today in the form of a Swainson's Warbler and a Bay-breasted Warbler. The latter species we got at the very end of the day and was a delightful ending to an exciting day in the field!
Hatch-year Swainson's Warbler
Bay-breasted Warblers are a close relative of Blackpoll Warblers and the female and young birds can be extremely similar in appearance, but are easily differentiated by the Bay-breasted Warbler's dark feet instead of their close cousin's yellow feet. While both summer denizens of the boreal forests, Bay-breasted Warblers take a more inland route with most birds passing through the
Mississippi drainage on their way to their core wintering areas of Panama, Columbia, and Venezuela; whereas the Blackpoll's are famous for their oversea flights from the northeast and mid-Atlantic coasts to the northern portion of South America.
Hatch-year male Bay-breasted Warbler
Bay breasted Warblers are closely tied to the Spruce Budworm and their populations go through booms and busts that closely follow this forestry pest. In good times, or bad outbreaks depending on your perspective, many birds can be found at high densities with larger clutch sizes (up to 7 eggs in good seasons as opposed to the 4 more common in most warbler species), but when the budworm is scarce the species declines and it is found at lower densities in the Northwoods.
On a less exhilarating not we had a Gray Squirrel that managed to entangle itself in the net. Fortunately it was able to free itself, but only at the cost of a couple of the trammel lines of the net sadly resulting in the net's destruction.
It looks like things are starting to wind down, but this push of birds has been good to us and I am cautiously hopeful we may get some other especially exciting birds.
-Jeremiah
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 | - | 4 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 5 | - | 2 | - |
House Wren | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 2 |
Gray Catbird | 50 | 25 | 44 | 16 |
Brown Thrasher | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray-cheeked Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 5 | - | 2 | - |
White-crowned Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
White-throated Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Lincoln's Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | 4 | - | 2 | 1 |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | 1 | 3 | - |
Swainson's Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 38 | 3 | 16 | 7 |
Hooded Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| American Redstart | 5 | - | 6 | 1 |
| Northern Parula | 6 | - | 2 | - |
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Bay-breasted Warbler | 4 | - | 1 | - |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 19 | - | 5 | - |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 5 | - | 6 | - |
| Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| Northern Cardinal | 2 | 1 | 1 | - |
| Indigo Bunting | 10 | - | - | - |
| Painted Bunting | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Palm Warbler (Western) | 9 | - | - | - |
| Palm Warbler (Yellow) | 3 | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | - | |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 185 | 103 | 288 |
| # of Recaptures | 34 | 28 | 62 |
| # of Species | 28 | 20 | 31 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 201.6 | 170.8 | 372.4 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 108.6 | 76.7 | 94.0 |
| # of Nets | 33 | 28 | 61 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,853 | 2,733 | 6,586 |
| # of Recaptures | 570 | 484 | 1,054 |
| # of Species | 77 | 73 | 90 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,442.3 | 6421.7 | 15,864.0 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 46.8 | 50.1 | 48.1 |
| # of Days | 59 | 50 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (LB)
Camille Beckwith (LB)
Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)
Keegan Foster (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
David McLean (CS)
Ann McLean (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.
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