FOS Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Summer Tanager

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We had another decent push of migrants last night and it was a little cooler, so we were able to get a full morning of banding in for the first time this season. We ended the morning with 98 new birds and 5 recaptures of 14 species. The highlight was two first-of-the-season Summer Tanagers, which were both hatch year males with bright yellow-orangish tinge to their feathers.

Summer Tanager (hatch year, male)

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

We banded some more new migrants at the station today. Among the migrants was a yellowish-greenish looking Empidonax flycatcher. Identification of this genus in the hand is tricky because we cannot rely on vocalization.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (hatch year, sex unknown)

The task at hand was determining whether this flycatcher was a Traill's or Yellow-bellied, as it looked yellow but quite dull. Our usual measurements ended up in the overlap zone. There was only a slight emargination on p6. Longest p - p6 turned out to be the very upper limit of a Traill's Flycatcher, but in the middle range of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.

We finally identified this species as a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher based on its appearance. The bird had a distinct eye ring and yellowish wing bars.

We also looked at the gap between the secondaries and the wing bars. The gap is typically wide for a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and narrow on a Traill's Flycatcher.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (left), Traill's Flycatcher (right) closed wing illustrating gap between wing bars and edging on secondaries

Jasmine

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Traill's Flycatcher	2	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	2	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Brown Thrasher	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	11	-	7	-
Prothonotary Warbler	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	63	1	6	-
American Redstart	6	-	6	-
Northern Yellow Warbler	1	-	3	-
Prairie Warbler	6	-	5	-
Summer Tanager	2	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	4	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	98	34	132
# of Recaptures	5	4	9
# of Species	14	10	17
Effort (net-hours)	178.7	106.3	285.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	57.6	35.7	49.5
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	443	260	703
# of Recaptures	123	84	207
# of Species	30	28	38
Effort (net-hours)	2883.7	1628.5	4512.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	19.6	21.1	20.7
# of Days	23	16	23

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (CS)

Aiden Gifford (CS)

Jasmine Fu (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.

First Big Push of Migrants

 CAPTAIN SAMS

The radar look pretty decent last night and we heard some migrants flying over as we opened nets but I wasn't quite sure how that would translate to "birds-on-the-ground" as the weather conditions were not in the traditional fashion of a true cold front. We were pleasantly surprised to find many birds in the nets during the first net run and it turned out to be our first big push of migrants of the season. We ended the day with 89 new birds and 6 recaptures of 17 different species. The highlights included our first Veery (2) and Hooded Warbler of the fall. In addition we had good numbers of Common Yellowthroats and Red-eyed Vireos. 

Aiden's parents visited the banding station the last two days and they were super helpful especially today when we have almost of 100 birds to extract and process. I'd like to thank them both for helping open and close nets, scribing data, and extract some birds. It made today go very smoothly. 

-Aaron

Hooded Warbler (After hatch year, male)

  

LITTLE BEAR

While not quite as busy as Captain Sams, Little Bear still had its fair share of new arrivals this morning. We ended the day with 48 newly banded birds and 5 recaptures of 14 species. Most of these birds were captured in the first two net runs and then the heat and sun caused a steep drop off in numbers and we closed the nets a little early, as we have been doing lately. Common Yellowthroats made up the bulk of our numbers and after the practice today, Jasmine and I are on our way to becoming COYE aging experts. We were also delighted by a handful of first-of-the-season birds this morning, including a hatch-year female Black-throated Blue Warbler, an after hatch-year male Prothonotary Warbler, three hatch-year Baltimore Orioles, a hatch-year White-eyed Vireo, and a hatch-year Veery. Pictured below is the Veery from today, which we can age as a hatch-year by the presence of buffy tips along the shafts of the greater coverts, which is visible even with the wing closed.

Veery (Hatch year, sex unknown

)

Tomorrow's forecast calls for rain, but we're hoping we can get a window in the morning to get some banding in and hopefully capture more migrants making their way down the coast.

-Olivia

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	2	-	-
"Traill's" Flycatcher	2	-	-	-
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	4	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	18	-	2	-
Carolina Chickadee	1	-	-	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Veery	2	-	1	-
Baltimore Oriole	-	-	3	-
Ovenbird	1	-	1	-
Worm-eating Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	7	2	6	1
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	2	-
Prothonotary Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	37	-	26	-
Hooded Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	7	-	2	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	6	-	1	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	89	48	137
# of Recaptures	6	5	11
# of Species	17	14	22
Effort (net-hours)	155.1	91	246.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	61.3	58.2	59.75
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	399	226	625
# of Recaptures	123	80	203
# of Species	30	26	35
Effort (net-hours)	2883.7	1522.2	4405.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.1	20.1	19.1
# of Days	22	15

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (LB)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (CS)

Neil Gifford (CS)

Stephanie Gifford (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.

Two more First of the Season!

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

A high pressure ridge extending from the central US into the southeast continues to produce high temperatures for us. At the same time, moist air coming off the warm Atlantic Ocean and Gulf region is creating the humidity with dew points in the upper 70s. 

We had a little better day than yesterday (although it wouldn't be hard beat yesterday's numbers) with 9 new birds and 2 recaptures of 6 difference species. After hearing many Eastern Kingbirds around the the banding station earlier in the season, we finally caught one today. We don't get many of them and if we don't catch one in August or early September, we might miss them.  

-Aaron

Eastern Kingbird (Hatch year, sex unknown)

LITTLE BEAR

Another hot day out at Little Bear, but we captured a few more migrants compared to yesterday. We had a total of 22 birds of 10 species with 14 new and 8 recaptures. We were delighted to find a Swainson's Warbler in one of the nets today, a species we may only capture one or two of each season. As a northerner, this is a special bird for me. Their breeding range is restricted to the southeastern states, where they don't venture much farther north than West Virginia and Kentucky. According to Birds of the World, some researchers think Swainson's Warblers depend on remaining thickets of giant cane throughout the southeast Lowcountry. Giant cane was once a very widespread plant, but since colonial times it has been nearly all cleared for agriculture and development. These warblers will utilize any thick understory that provides little shady spots with thick leaf litter to forage in. You may notice that this bird sports a very hefty bill compared to other warbler species, which they use to dig through the leaves. The individual we captured today is a hatch year bird, determined by the presence of a molt limit between the carpal covert and alula feathers (see arrow pointing to the carpal covert below). The greater coverts and carpal covert are well edged and darker/richer in color than the alulas and primary coverts.

-Liz

Swainson's Warbler, Hatch year unknown sex

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Kingbird	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	2	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	4
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	4	1
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Swainson's Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	1
Painted Bunting	3	-	3	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	14	23
# of Recaptures	2	8	10
# of Species	6	10	12
Effort (net-hours)	123.75	95.2	219.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	8.9	23.1	15.1
# of Nets	33	28	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	310	178	488
# of Recaptures	117	75	192
# of Species	28	22	32
Effort (net-hours)	2,729.0	1,431.2	4,160.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.6	17.7	16.3
# of Days	21	14

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (LB)

Aiden Gifford (CS)

Neil Gifford (CS)

Stephanie Gifford (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.

KIBS After Dark

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Rain started at about 9 AM today, so we closed a bit early for bird safety. We processed 6 birds in total.

Yesterday, I deployed a bat detector at Captain Sam's, capable of recording audio in the ultrasonic frequencies. It seems like there was some Northern Yellow Bat activity, which peaked around 1am this morning.

Northern Yellow Bat sonogram

The above shows the sonogram of a Northern Yellow Bat (Lasiurus intermedius). It makes these sounds to search for prey. The call averages around 30kHz (low-intermediate frequency for a bat) and the minimum frequency undulates, which is characteristic of the genus Lasiurus. Northern Yellow Bats specialize in coastal areas of the southeastern US.

Northern Yellow Bat was the only bat species I was able to detect at Captain Sam's last night. A few nights ago, in addition to the Northern Yellow Bat, I recorded some other species at Little Bear:

Free-tailed Bat sonogram

Above is the call of a Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) searching for prey at Little Bear. They have flat calls and can echolocate at low frequencies of 20kHz.

Evening Bat sonogram

Above is a sonogram of an Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis) searching for prey at Little Bear. Their calls have a flat and sweeping shape, with an average frequency of 37kHz.

I am not certain why the species difference exists between the two sites: perhaps sampling bias or maybe something ecological. It would be cool to continue to see what bats we're able to detect throughout this Fall.

🦇 Jasmine

LITTLE BEAR

Today was our second slowest day at Little Bear. We captured 13 birds of 5 species with 6 new birds and 7 recaptures. Painted Buntings accounted for nearly all of our new birds today with 5 banded. With some grasses growing tall after the recent rains and about to turn to seed, we'll see if that keeps drawing the buntings into the site. Another highlight from today was a returning Northern Waterthrush that we banded as a hatch year last fall.  

-Liz

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	1	-	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	4
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	1
Ovenbird	-	-	-	1
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	1
Painted Bunting	1	-	5	-
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	5	6	11
# of Recaptures	1	7	8
# of Species	6	5	8
Effort (net-hours)	95.7	86.8	182.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	6.3	14.9	10.4
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	299	162	461
# of Recaptures	115	67	182
# of Species	27	21	30
Effort (net-hours)	2,604.8	1,336	3,940.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.9	17.1	16.3
# of Days	20	13

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Jasmine Fu (CS)

Aiden Gifford (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.

FOS Green Heron

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It was another humid, slow morning out on the spit. We captured 9 new birds and 3 recaptures of 4 species. Migration has been slow going this fall and it does not seem like it will get any better soon. 

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Today was an exciting morning for us at little bear, with a first of season Green Heron! KIBS has caught these fellas in recent years but none were caught last year. This was Liz's first time banding a Green Heron, and mine and Olivia's first time holding any species of heron at all! After many slow days we were all pretty stoked for an exciting bird. Green Herons have been observed placing insects, twigs, bread crumbs, and other tools to lure fish. Hopefully we continue to catch more herons and wading birds once the station gets more flooding.

Green Heron, AHY, Sex unkown

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Green Heron	-	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	-
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	2	2	-	1
Painted Bunting	3	1	5	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	11	20
# of Recaptures	3	4	7
# of Species	4	8	9
Effort (net-hours)	132.0	98.0	230
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	9.0	15.3	11.7
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	294	156	450
# of Recaptures	113	60	173
# of Species	27	21	30
Effort (net-hours)	2509.1	1249.2	3758.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.2	17.3	15.8
# of Days	19	12

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (LB)

Jasmine Fu (CS)

Aiden Gifford (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.

First of Season Eastern Wood-Pewee at Little Bear

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It was painfully slow today with only 6 birds captured in 4 hours of work. The heat and humidity continues to plague us and is likely responsible for the lack of birds in our area right now. We are anxiously awaiting the first "cold" front of the fall to knock down he humidity and bring us some migrants. 

I was able to go around with the weed trimmer and clear the grasses and vines that has started to rebound after our initial clearing a few weeks ago.

-Aaron      

LITTLE BEAR

Our day was similar to yesterday, pretty slow but even more hot and humid. We had a total of 18 birds today with 11 new and 7 recaptures. The highlight from today was our first of the season Eastern Wood-Pewee! A bird that is often heard in the forests of the Eastern United States, but tends to stay high up in the canopy. The stations don't always catch many of these birds, so it was nice to appreciate it on a slower day. Wood-pewees are distinguished from Empidonax flycatchers by their dark face, weak eye ring, dusky vest, and a significantly longer wing. 

-Liz

Eastern Wood-Pewee, After hatch year, unknown sex

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	-	2	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	2	3
American Redstart	2	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	1
Painted Bunting	1	-	4	-
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	6	11	17
# of Recaptures	0	7	7
# of Species	5	8	9
Effort (net-hours)	129.1	106.4	235.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	4.6	16.9	10.2
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	285	145	429
# of Recaptures	112	56	168
# of Species	27	19	29
Effort (net-hours)	2,377.1	1,151.2	3,528.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.7	17.5	17.0
# of Days	18	11

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (CS)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (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.