Excitement after rain days

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

After a long weekend of not banding we were able to get back in the field today, and what a day it was! With a total of 221 new bands put out, and another 38 recaptures, we were absolutely slammed with a capture rate of 119 birds per 100 net-hours! While a bit over half of these were Gray Catbirds (which we anticipate to be seeing many of more of in the coming week) we had a total of 23 species so it was a great day!

Now that the catbirds are arriving en masse and the torch is passed to them from the yellowthroats, I thought I would post about the bird that has been our bread and butter up until now. 

Male Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroats are a widespread warbler of wetlands and overgrown field that are found during the breeding season across the bulk of the continent and winter further north than many other warblers along the Southeast and Gulf coasts, though also through Mexico, Central America, and the Greater Antilles. Interestingly, Yellowthroats breeding at more northerly latitudes generally winter further south than more southernly-breeding populations. This essentially leads to populations with small, or even nonexistent migrations being "leapfrogged" by the far-traveling northern breeders. 

This should be a very busy week and I am extremely excited to see it unfold!

-Jeremiah

 

LITTLE BEAR

Like Captain Sams, we also had a busy day over at Little Bear! We banded 226 new birds and caught 28 recaptures, for a total of 254 birds from 19 different species. That's our biggest day at Little Bear so far this season, and the next several days look like they may bring a similar volume of birds! We banded 9 species of warblers, and had three first of season species: a Swamp Sparrow, a Clay-Colored Sparrow, and two Belted Kingfishers!! 

We were hoping all of the water at the station would bring us in some cool birds, and we were really lucky to get not one, but two Belted Kingfishers during the first net run! One being an after hatch year male, and one being a hatch year female, we got to see a very cool comparison of their ages and sexes. We've heard kingfishers flying over the station all season, though they were never low enough to fly into a net, and it seems the water did the trick! They were really amazing birds with really powerful serrated bills and short fleshy legs.

 

Belted Kingfisher (after hatch year male)

Belted Kingfisher (hatch year female)

Belted Kingfisher tail comparison (Top: central tail feathers indicate hatch year bird; Bottom: central tail feathers indicate after hatch year bird)

Belted Kingfisher chest/belly comparison (Top: bold rusty band across belly indicates female; Bottom: sparse rusty feathers do not go all the way across, indicating male)

Though not as big and striking, the Clay-colored Sparrow was a really cool catch as well! It was the first time Arden or I had seen one in the hand or in the wild, so it was really special getting to see this tiny sparrow up close! 

Clay-colored Sparrow (hatch year, unknown sex)

Here's hoping the flooded net lanes bring us some more water-loving birds! 

- Camille 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	1	-
Belted Kingfisher	-	-	2	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Yellow-shafted-Flicker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	2	3	4	-
Red-eyed Vireo	-	-	3	1
House Wren	3	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	3
Gray Catbird	138	11	125	12
Clay-colored Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Eastern Towhee	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	7	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	2	1	1	-
Black-and-White Warbler	1	1	2	-
Swainson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	41	7	37	-
American Redstart	4	3	12	-
Cape May Warbler	1	-	4	-
Northern Parula	1	-	2	-
Blackpoll Warbler	4	-	3	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	7	-	23	-
Prairie Warbler	1	1	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	3	7	4	10
Brown Thrasher	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	221	227	448
# of Recaptures	38	28	66
# of Species	23	19	29
Effort (net-hours)	217.6	215.6	433.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	119.0	117.8	118.7
# of Nets	33	28	61

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,201	2,243	5,444
# of Recaptures	435	389	824
# of Species	64	65	78
Effort (net-hours)	8,834.3	6,055.9	14,890.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	41.2	43.5	42.1
# of Days	58	49

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Kristin Attinger (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.