CAPTAIN SAMS
We started the morning hot and humid with not much activity around the nets. We only captured 5 new birds and 6 recaptures of 5 different species. We did capture a first-of-the-season Tufted Titmouse, which is a very common feeder bird that does not venture out to the spit very often to be captured. Like Little Bear, we are beginning to capture male Painted Buntings that have almost finished their molt. We are also beginning to capture some young, migrating Painted Buntings that will soon be joined by adults that finish molting all their feathers. However, some buntings will remain in the area throughout the winter and if you keep your feeders filled with millet, you may continue to have some bunting visitors.
 |
| Tufted Titmouse (hatch year, unknown sex) |
-Michael
LITTLE BEAR
Still slow and whiling away the hours and days as we wait for off-shore hurricanes to die down and allow for migration to continue apace. With eleven recaptures and only ten bands put out it is readily apparent we are having few new birds coming through the station.
One species we have been seeing a lot of is the Painted Bunting. We have been seeing this species regularly since the start of the season, but the older males (full adult plumage is not reached until their second year for males) sporting their distinctive feathering were in the process of molt and in a more awkward stage of dress.
Known in Spanish as mariposa (butterfly), this species is perhaps even more appreciated by French speakers as nonpareil, literally "without an equal." You may note that I have left these names uncapitalized, but in the Romance languages common names are not capitalized in the same way they are in English.
The Painted Buntings we have in South Carolina are part of the eastern population that breeds in Georgia, the Carolinas, and northeastern Florida and winters largely in Florida, including the Keys, as well as the Bahamas and Cuba in smaller numbers. The western population breeds from the western Georgia and the Florida Panhandle to deep into West Texas; the range bulging north to reach Kansas and dipping down into northeastern Mexico. This western population principally winters in Mexico and Central America.
Sprunt and Chamberlain in their exceptional book, South Carolina Bird Life, write beautifully of this beloved southern bird describing the first arrival of the spring as "a red-letter day" and how the fiercely territorial males engage in aggressive physical confrontation so heated that "The combatants can actually be picked up while fighting, so oblivious are they to everything but the encounter." Needless to say such territorial interactions should not be interfered with, but this level of engagement is noteworthy.
I hope to soon be writing of large pushes of migration, though suspect there may be an interlude due to rain in the next couple of days as we wait for this to happen. Until then we will be taking the time to appreciate those birds that still give us their time.
-Jeremiah
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
White-eyed Vireo | - | - | - | 1 |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 2 | - | 1 |
Tufted Titmouse | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 2 |
Common Yellowthroat | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Western Palm Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 4 |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| # of Recaptures | 6 | 11 | 17 |
| # of Species | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 118.4 | 114.8 | 233.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 9.3 | 18.29 | 13.7 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | 60 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 1,736 | 1,033 | 2,769 |
| # of Recaptures | 256 | 237 | 493 |
| # of Species | 53 | 49 | 63 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 6,142.2 | 4,117.6 | 10,259.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 32.4 | 30.8 | 31.8 |
| # of Days | 40 | 33 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (LB)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (CS)
Camille Beckwith (CS)
Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)
Amy Nickerson (CS)
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.
