110 and Counting

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Despite another unproductive morning, we managed to catch two new species today - an Eastern Bluebird and a Sedge Wren. This puts us at 110 species for the season which is the most species we have ever banded during the fall. 

We have been hearing and seeing bluebirds for a while but they have been fairly uncooperative until today. A small flock was hanging around our "swallow net" and an adult male could not resist investigating our audio lure. 

Eastern Bluebird (after hatch-year, male)

Similarly, a Sedge Wren(s) has been hanging out near our high saltmarsh nets (#4 and 5) for a couple of weeks. We have been patiently waiting for it to make its way in but it has eluded us. Historically, Sedge Wrens are difficult to catch in our mist nets. They are so small, they can fit right through the mesh without getting caught. Today's bird was hanging out next to our banding trail that led to net #4 but it was just a little too far to try to push it into that net. Michael and I set up a net along the trail and tried to flush it into the net. In true Sedge Wren behavior, when we tried to push it into the net it just ran underneath it and into the thicker shrubs. Knowing that it didn't want to be in the shrubby area for too long, I was able to sneak in behind and flush it back into the net and Michael was waiting close by to get it as soon as it hopped in. 

Sedge Wren (after hatch-year, sex unknown)

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sedge Wren	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	4	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Eastern Bluebird	1	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	1	-	-
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	12	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	16	-	-
# of Recaptures	7	-	-
# of Species	9	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	166.8	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	13.8	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	5,513	3,495	9,008
# of Recaptures	1,269	1,048	2,317
# of Species	95	93	110
Effort (net-hours)	15,953.8	10,456.0	26,409.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	42.5	43.4	42.9
# of Days	98	77

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (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.