CAPTAIN SAMS
Millions of birds migrated through and to South Carolina last night. Unfortunately for us the weather did not cooperate. The radar was very unpredictable and just when we thought that we were clear, something new would pop up and it would start raining again. We opened and closed the nets on three separate occasions throughout the morning. Despite this, we still managed to catch a decent number of birds with 69 new and 9 recaptures. Neotropical warblers were on the move last night as we had 11 species including a Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a Pine Warbler. The next couple of days may produce more unsettling weather conditions as a Nor'easter is producing strong winds and rain off the coast of SC. On top of all that, the king tides are flooding the banding station making it a slow slog through 12-18" of water in order to check the nets. On the plus side though, today's tide was the largest so each day will get a little less water.
-Aaron
LITTLE BEAR
We tried to band as much as we could this morning in pretty poor weather conditions. After a late start due to lingering rain, we had to leave a few nets closed due to high winds. We were able to band for about one and a half hours before it started raining again and we had to close the nets. We caught quite a few birds for only being open for a short time and had a high amount of diversity. We even caught a couple first of season Eastern Phoebes. We caught 8 species of warblers including a few gorgeous adult males, which are always fun to appreciate. Another highlight from the day was a very blue hatch year Indigo Bunting. The young male Indigo Buntings can have a variable amount of blue feathers at this time of year and seeing a large amount of blue on a youngster was a real treat!
The king tide today flooded both sides of the station today, and as we were closing up we saw a few herons and egrets hanging out near the nets. Our fingers are crossed that all of this water brings a few more wading birds into the nets.
-Liz
Northen Parula, After hatch year male
American Redstart, After hatch year male
Black-throated Blue Warbler, after hatch year male
Indigo Bunting, hatch year male
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Eastern Wood-pewee | - | - | 1 | - |
Acadian Flycatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | - | - | 2 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Swainson's Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 9 | 1 | 2 | - |
American Redstart | 8 | 1 | 2 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | 6 | - | 3 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Chestnut-sided Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 7 | - | 1 | - |
Western Palm Warbler | 14 | - | 10 | - |
| Pine Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Northern Cardinal | 1 | 3 | - | - |
| Indigo Bunting | - | - | 2 | - |
| Painted Bunting | 4 | - | 1 | - |
| - | - | - | - | |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 69 | 33 | 102 |
| # of Recaptures | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| # of Species | 18 | 15 | 23 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 114.7 | 36.9 | 151.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 68.0 | 94.9 | 74.5 |
| # of Nets | 31 | 23 | 54 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2,878 | 2,016 | 4,894 |
| # of Recaptures | 391 | 361 | 752 |
| # of Species | 63 | 62 | 75 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 8,410.9 | 5,840.3 | 14,251.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 38.9 | 40.7 | 39.6 |
| # of Days | 54 | 46 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (LB)
Camille Beckwith (LB)
Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)
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.
