CAPTAIN SAMS
The southeast is sitting in a high pressure system which mean the heat and humidity has returned and it will likely stick around for the next couple of days until the next cold front moves through sometime on Sunday.
It is still fairly wet out on the spit which has created optimal conditions for breeding mosquitos. Thousands, if not millions, of squirming mosquito larvae dive down towards the bottom our shallowly flooded banding paths as we walk through. I try to smush them into soft mud below to try to prevent at least some from emerging out. Lately, we have been seeing a very large mosquito, Psorophoro ciliata, or the gallinipper. The name gallinipper is inspired by the gallon of blood it is said to drink. This is the largest species of mosquito in the U.S. with a wing span as wide as a penny. It is very aggressive and can cause a painful bite. On the plus side, this species is not known to carry or transmit diseases.
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| Gallinipper (Sharpie cap for size reference) |
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| Gallinipper nipping a gallon of my blood |
I am not super confident in my mosquito identification skills but I had at least two other species land on me this morning. I believe the species in the two photos below is Aedes taeniorhynchus, black salt marsh mosquito.
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| Black Salt Marsh Mosquito |
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| Black Salt Marsh Mosquito |
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| Southern House Mosquito? |
We also had some birds today. It wasn't very busy which is obvious by my obsession with the mosquitos but we had 13 new birds and 4 recaptures of 9 species.
-Aaron
LITTLE BEAR
It was another slow and hot day over at Little Bear today. We had to close the nets by 10:15am because of the heat. We banded 11 new birds and had 5 recaptures, from 9 different species. Despite the low numbers, we enjoyed banding a second Worm-eating Warbler today, as well as getting to see our Wilson's Warbler from the past few days! We also had 4 Prairie Warblers, more than any other species today!
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| After hatch year female Prairie Warbler |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 2 | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Veery | 1 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
Worm-eating Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Common Yellowthroat | 1 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | 2 | - | - | - |
Yellow Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | - | 4 | - |
Wilson's Warbler | - | - | - | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 2 | - | 2 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 13 | 11 | 24 |
| # of Recaptures | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| # of Species | 9 | 9 | 14 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 152.6 | 105 | 257.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 11.1 | 15.2 | 12.8 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | - |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 368 | 204 | 572 |
| # of Recaptures | 88 | 82 | 170 |
| # of Species | 31 | 28 | 39 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 2,687.4 | 1,346.6 | 4,034.0 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 17.0 | 21.2 | 18.4 |
| # of Days | 19 | 12 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (CS)
Camille Beckwith (LB)
Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)
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.
