CAPTAIN SAMS
The warm temperatures and humidity have returned and it looks like we will be stuck in this pattern for the next few days until the next cold front arrives. Despite this, we banded 44 new birds and had 6 recaptures of 13 species which was better than I would have expected considering the conditions.
The most exciting capture of the day was a Blue Jay. Despite being a fairly common bird, they don't often get captured. Known for their intelligence, Blue Jays may be smart enough to avoid capture. It has been 10 years since Captain Sams has captured a Blue Jay so it was nice to see one today.
-Aaron
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| Blue Jay (hatch-year, sex unknown) |
LITTLE BEAR
It was another hot and muggy day at Little Bear. We did get a little respite from the heat with a little breeze and small amount of cloud cover. We experienced a drop in volume today and ended up with 44 birds: 33 new and 17 recaps. Common Yellowthroats were the most abundant with 17 individuals banded. We got a fair amount of Western Palm Warblers as well as a lovely Northern Parula. While I was processing the Parula, it snatched a mosquito right out of midair! It was very fat so it's no surprise that it's good at foraging.
We also caught our first Indigo Bunting of the season, which was a nice surprise on this slower day. I think Indigo Buntings are such a beautiful brown color and I love the blue edging they get to their feathers. You can see some blue in the shoulders of the one we caught today. While it's slow we're gearing up to work on some net repair and hoping for some cooler temperatures soon.
-Liz
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| Indigo Bunting (Hatch-year, male) |
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| Hatch year Northern Parula with a mosquito it snatched! |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
Blue Jay | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 3 | - | - | 1 |
Brown Thrasher | - | 1 | - | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 | - | - | - |
Worm-eating Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 35 | - | 17 | - |
American Redstart | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Northern Parula | - | - | 1 | - |
Western Palm Warbler | - | - | 6 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | 1 | 2 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | 4 |
Indigo Bunting | - | - | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | - | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| - | - | - | - | |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 44 | 33 | 77 |
| # of Recaptures | 6 | 11 | 17 |
| # of Species | 13 | 13 | 19 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 151.6 | 134.4 | 286 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 33.0 | 32.7 | 32.9 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | 60 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 1,709 | 989 | 2,698 |
| # of Recaptures | 245 | 221 | 466 |
| # of Species | 52 | 31 | 63 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 5,881.8 | 3,871.2 | 9,752.9 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 33.2 | 31.3 | 32.4 |
| # of Days | 38 | 31 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (LB)
Camille Beckwith (CS)
Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)
Amy Nickerson (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.
