CAPTAIN SAMS
I was expecting more birds today given the favorable winds overnight however that did not happen as we only banded 28 new birds and had 13 recaptures. I suspect a lot of the birds that had been hanging around the last few days, took off last night as evident by the large drop off of recaptures compared to the last couple of weeks. Since October 13th, we have been averaging 39 recaptures per day.
We have a cold front coming through on Monday which will may bring us the coolest temperatures of the fall. I predict that with this next cold front that we will see our first big push of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Last year that occurred on October 24th.
-Aaron
LITTLE BEAR
Today was a little slower at Little Bear than the past few days, but we still had 54 birds today of 15 species. We banded 28 new birds and processed 26 recaptures. It ended up being a bit windy at the station, so maybe that kept some birds from hitting our nets. We still had plenty of recaptured catbirds, but the number of new individuals dropped into the single digits. Despite that, they were still our number one banded species today with 6 banded, followed by Western Palm Warbler with 5 banded, and Myrtle Warbler with 4 banded.
A couple of highlights from today were an Eastern Towhee and a Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored). We have been hearing quite a few Eastern Towhees around several of the nets so it was nice to finally catch one and it happened to be a very nice looking adult male! Adults of this species have a bright red iris, compared to a duller, more orange or yellow iris in young birds. Another thing to notice is the uniform black color throughout the wing. A young bird would show a difference between some fresh black feathers and brown or dusky flight feathers and primary coverts.
-Liz
 |
| Eastern Towhee, after-hatch-year male |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 1 | - | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | - | 2 | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 4 | 10 | 6 | 21 |
Hermit Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Slate-colored Junco | - | - | 1 | - |
Savannah Sparrow | 3 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | 4 | - | 2 | 1 |
Song Sparrow | 3 | - | - | - |
Eastern Towhee | - | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | - | 2 | - |
American Redstart | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | - | - | 2 | - |
Western Palm Warbler | 1 | - | 5 | - |
Myrtle Warbler | 1 | - | 4 | - |
| Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Northern Cardinal | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Painted Bunting | 2 | - | 2 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 28 | 28 | 56 |
| # of Recaptures | 13 | 26 | 39 |
| # of Species | 16 | 15 | 22 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 169.6 | 152.4 | 322 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 24.2 | 35.4 | 29.5 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 4,237 | 3,138 | 7,375 |
| # of Recaptures | 871 | 787 | 1,658 |
| # of Species | 85 | 82 | 98 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 10,804.3 | 8,020.2 | 18,824.5 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 47.2 | 48.9 | 48 |
| # of Days | 68 | 59 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (LB)
Camille Beckwith (CS)
Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)
Keegan Foster (CS)
Julia Hillary (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.