CAPTAIN SAMS
Today was a typical slow and sunny August day at Captain Sam's. The crew enjoyed a trickle of migrating warblers like Northern Waterthrushes and a bright Yellow Warbler as well as the first Brown-headed Cowbird of the season. Capture rates remain slow with 18 new birds and 1 recapture. The crew took advantage of the downtime to admire some of the island's non-bird critters like marsh crabs, anoles, and a glass lizard! Though the weather may not indicate that fall is on its way, the condition of the birds we're catching sure does! To prepare for migration, birds will pack on the fat, supplying them with vital calories for their long journey. Some species can even double their body weight! Many of the birds we're catching, especially warblers, weigh much more then they typically do, a sure sign they will soon be on the move.
LITTLE BEAR
Things were a little slow at Little Bear today, but one of the highlights of today was a beautiful little Black and White Warbler!
Hatch year female Black and White Warbler
Black and White Warblers hold a special place in my heart as my very first warbler was one. He was likely an older male with strong, dark features and perched like a nuthatch on the side of a Paper Birch. This was on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine, as opposed to the Palmetto-laden shores of South Carolina like this lovely girl.
My sighting was very classical, as far as Black and White Warblers go, as they are well know for filling a unique niche in the warbler world, circling the trunks of trees and foraging nuthatch-like on the trunk and larger branches. This behavior led to an older name of the species being the Black and White Creeper, an entirely separate family of passerine birds. Surprisingly, these are actually ground nesters with the female (and as with other warblers it is always the female) building a nest often by some larger piece of substrate. While working in the Texas Hill Country I have found a nest directly against the trunk of a tree and a crew lead of mine once accidentally discovered a nest looking for a rock to weigh down a piece of equipment!
In addition to building the nest, the female warbler will do all of the incubation (the male, in fairness, generally does work hard to provide food). If disturbed she may do a broken-wing display, hopping low to the ground calling and fluttering her wings to lure a potential threat away from the nest. Speaking first hand this can be somewhat startling if you are not expecting it, especially if you are already struggling to balance yourself on a rocky hillside!
Black and White Warblers occupy a wide variety of habitats in the non breeding season and winter from as far north as North Carolina to as far south as Ecuador, so it is anyones guess where our girl is bound. Hopefully she continues her migration well and we catch her after a successful breeding season this time next year!
-Jeremiah
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear |
|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps |
|---|
Traill's Flycatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | 1 | 4 |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 3 | - | 5 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Prothonotary Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 2 | 1 |
Painted Bunting | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| | | |
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|
| # Birds Banded | 18 | 15 | 33 |
| # of Recaptures | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| # of Species | 10 | 9 | 13 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 134.4 | 114.8 | 249.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 14.1 | 19.2 | 16.4 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | 60 |
|
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|
| # Birds Banded | 252 | 71 | 323 |
| # of Recaptures | 51 | 20 | 71 |
| # of Species | 27 | 20 | 31 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 1359.4 | 366.8 | 1,726.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 14.8 | 24.8 | 22.8 |
| # of Days | 10 | 3 | 13 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (LB)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (CS)
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.
