CAPTAIN SAMS
It was another busy morning for early September at Captain Sams. We captured our most birds so far of the season with 109 new birds and 9 recaptures. The highlight of the morning was a first-of-the-season Blackburnian Warbler. This could be the only Blackburnian Warbler we capture this season because they take a more inland migration route. This individual was a hatch year female, which do not have much black in the crown and have an overall yellow wash instead of a more orangish-yellow seen in young males.
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| Blackburnian Warbler (hatch year, female) |
We also captured an interesting White-eyed Vireo that had two A3s on the left wing (circled in picture below). This is the first time I have seen a bird that had multiple feathers in the same feather tract. This condition is called polyfolliculosis and causes a bird to have multiple feathers growing from a single follicle. This is thought to be caused by a genetic defect or a viral infection.
-Michael
LITTLE BEAR
Despite steady breezes with some strong gusts mixed in, we had a slight uptick in volume today! We ended up with a total of 51 birds of 12 species, with 43 new birds and 8 recaps. Unsurprisingly, more than half of birds processed today were Common Yellowthroats, with 31 captured (29 new and 2 recaps). After being abundant recently, Northern Waterthrush and Red-eyed Vireos were not prevalent today. We only captured 2 waterthrush and we didn't have any Red-eyed Vireos in the nets.
We did have a couple highlights from today...our first Hooded Warbler of the season, a very handsome hatch year male! We also caught an interesting Common Yellowthroat with a rare plumage pattern. It has a plumage variation called dilute plumage, in which a bird has the normal plumage pattern but it appears very light colored or faded. Our bird was very sandy/yellowish color, with a yellow tail, but you can still see the face and throat pattern of a yellowthroat. There have been a few birds with diluted plumage captured at the stations throughout the years, but we thought it was very cool to see up close and compare it to the Common Yellowthroats with normal plumage.
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| Top: comparing two plumages of Common Yellowthroat Bottom: Common Yellowthroat with dilute plumage, hatch year unknown sex |
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| Hooded Warbler, hatch year male |
-Liz
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
White-eyed Vireo | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | - | - | 1 | - |
Baltimore Oriole | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | 2 | 2 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 85 | 3 | 29 | 2 |
Hooded Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
American Redstart | 8 | - | 3 | - |
Blackburnian Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow Warbler | 4 | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | 1 | - | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| - | - | - | - | |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 109 | 43 | 152 |
| # of Recaptures | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| # of Species | 14 | 12 | 18 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 163.7 | 138.3 | 302 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 72.1 | 36.9 | 55.9 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | - |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 866 | 469 | 1,335 |
| # of Recaptures | 170 | 133 | 303 |
| # of Species | 41 | 35 | 48 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3,964.5 | 2,447.2 | 6,411.7 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 26.1 | 24.6 | 25.3 |
| # of Days | 28 | 21 |
Banding Staff
Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Camille Beckwith (LB)
Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)
Amy Nickerson (CS)
Keegan Foster (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.
