Bluebirds, Goodbyes, and Clear skies

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today we banded 43 new birds and 20 recaps! Slower than predicted but still a pretty decent number of birds. Excitingly, we caught a pair of Eastern Bluebirds (1 new and 1 recap), so there is some good luck for everyone reading the blog today! 

Eastern Bluebird (After Hatch year, female) 

Today was my last day on Kiawah and the last day of my EBBA bird banding fellowship. As I look back on this journey, I feel overwhelming gratitude to have learned how to band at such amazing stations. Words can't do justice for what this opportunity has meant to me. I knew I loved birds at the start of this, but I found a passion for banding through this and gained valuable experience that not many people get so early in their career. I’ve learned so much and am hopeful for a future full of banding! I want to say a huge thank you to the Kiawah Crew for a wonderful last two weeks!! Bye blog, I'll miss you :(

Signing off,

Van 

LITTLE BEAR

Ahoy! Today on the shores o' Little Bear we captured 41 new birds and 14 recaps. Arrr, the mornin' were cool with clear skies, matey, but we be catchin' a bit o' wind! The crews nets blow like a sail hoist a mizzen on a ship set course fer some doubloons. Although they lay quiet early in the morn', the cursed winged bilge-suckers found the crew once more. I sent many straight to Davey-Jones locker meself, but I fear there be no end to those blisterin' barnacles, they won't avast till the seas run dry matey! Worry not hearties, fer the futures not yet lost, and much plunder lay ahead.

-Aiden

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	2	-
Eastern Phoebe	2	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
Northern House Wren	-	1	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	1
Gray Catbird	11	9	5	10
Eastern Bluebird	1	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	3	-	3	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	-	1
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	5	5	6	-
Northern Parula	-	-	1	-
Blackpoll Warbler	-	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	3	-	6	-
Myrtle Yellow-rumed Warbler	10	1	10	1
Painted Bunting	1	-	2	-
Brown Thrasher	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	43	41	84
# of Recaptures	20	14	34
# of Species	15	17	24
Effort (net-hours)	172.5	138.5	311.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.5	39.7	37.9
# of Nets	33	28	61

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4029	2378	6407
# of Recaptures	575	349	924
# of Species	80	72	93
Effort (net-hours)	9656.3	6675.65	16331.95
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.7	40.8	44.9
# of Days	64	57

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (CS)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (LB)

Van Truong (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.

Another brisk day

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We banded 46 birds and had 13 recaptures of 12 species today. Gray Catbirds and Common Yellowthroats are still moving through in decent numbers. 

We have banded 544 Gray Catbirds at Captain Sams so far this season. That seemed low to me so I looked back at the last 5 years and found that the average number banded up to October 19th was 803. Additionally, 87% of the catbirds had been banded by October 19th during the last 5 years. We have good migration conditions the next three days or so and it will be interesting to see if the catbirds will catch up or if it will truly be a down year for them.

Another thing I noticed was that it seemed like we have been banding more Yellow-rumped Warblers than normal for this date. So, I looked that up too, and it turns out that when compared to the average for the last 5 years (15), we have banded more (40). Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers have fluctuated wildly from year to year but when number have been "up" on October 19th, they ended up having a good year. When November 30th rolls around, I wonder what number will replace the "?" in the table below.

-Aaron

LITTLE BEAR

Today at Little Bear we banded 31 birds and had 17 recaps of 15 total species. 13 of our 17 recaps were catbirds, and most of them were banded a week to a week and a half ago, so it seems they are content to hang around for now. A few highlights from today were a very handsome Eastern Towhee, a Northern Mockingbird, our first Song Sparrow of the season, another Yellow Palm Warbler. That's two days in a row with a Yellow Palm, how lucky are we?! The wind should be dying down over the next few days so hopefully that will improve our capture rates.

Similar to Aaron, I'm wondering if the next few days of north winds will bring another push of catbirds, or if we will just catch less of them overall this season. Even though there is movement of some of the more "wintery" species like Yellow-rumped Warblers and sparrows, there are still bunches of neotropical migrants coming through so I'm curious to see what lingering warblers are coming on the tail end of this cold front. I hope that these higher numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers will mean a good year for them. We had a pretty low number last year (98), so it would be great if we could see more this fall. 

-Liz

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Northern House Wren	-	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	12	11	12	13
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	1	-
House Finch	2	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	6	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	1
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	12	-	2	-
American Redstart	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	1	-
Blackpoll Warbler	-	1	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	5	-
Yellow Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler	5	-	4	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	1
Indigo Bunting	2	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	1	-	2
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	46	31	77
# of Recaptures	13	17	30
# of Species	12	15	-
Effort (net-hours)	163.6	134.5	298.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.1	35.7	35.9
# of Nets	33	26	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,986	2,337	6,323
# of Recaptures	555	335	890
# of Species	79	71	92
Effort (net-hours)	9,483.8	6,537.2	16,021
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.9	40.9	45
# of Days	63	56

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (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.

Fall is here!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today at the Captain's we had 110 new birds and 11 good ol recaps, with a total of 22 species. Opening temps were in the high 40s which was really nice. I had to bring out my trusty gloves and jacket to stay warm. The wind was pretty bad again today but the birds kept on coming anyway. Catbirds and Yellowthroats were still our most numerous customers, but we also got a nice little push of 19 Yellow-rumped Warblers. These fellas are one of the last big pushes we get before winter so it's a sign that migration might be in its home stretch. The temps for the rest of the week look pretty nice, and bird activity will likely keep improving!

-Aiden

LITTLE BEAR

Another day battling the wind out at Little Bear. The gusts were a bit worse today and we had to leave some nets closed. Despite the conditions, it turned out to be a fairly busy day. We had 87 new birds and 20 recaps of 21 species. The Black-throated Blue and Cape May Warblers that were so prevalent yesterday cleared out and were replaced by Palms, Myrtles, and a handful of Blackpolls. A highlight of the day for me was the Yellow Palm Warbler. We mostly catch the Western subspecies (despite being about as far east as you can go) so it was really nice to see this extra bright yellow palm warbler for a change! See below for a little comparison of the two subspecies. We also caught our first Orange-crowned Warbler and Brown Creeper of the season, and another Savannah Sparrow! 

-Liz

Yellow Palm Warbler (hatch year, unknown sex)

Western Palm Warbler (After hatch year, unknown sex)

Brown Creeper (hatch year, unknown sex)

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	2	-	-	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	4	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	2	-
Brown Creeper	-	-	1	-
Northern House Wren	1	-	2	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	27	5	18	11
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	-	-
Field Sparrow	1	-	-	-
White-crowned Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Savannah Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	8	1	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	19	3	10	4
American Redstart	2	-	3	2
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	4	-	3	-
Blackpoll Warbler	3	-	7	1
Black-throated Blue Warbler	3	1	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	9	-	21	-
Yellow Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Myrtle (yellow-rumped) Warbler	19	-	10	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	2	-
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	110	87	197
# of Recaptures	11	20	31
# of Species	22	21	29
Effort (net-hours)	169.95	115.7	285.65
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	71.2	92.5	79.8
# of Nets	33	28	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,940	2,306	6,246
# of Recaptures	531	320	851
# of Species	78	70	92
Effort (net-hours)	9,320.15	6,402.65	15,722.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.2	41	45.1
# of Days	62	55

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (LB)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (CS)

Van Truong (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

Tree Swallows Galore and a Cuckoo Comparison

 CAPTAIN SAMS

A welcome windy chill (chill is being used loosely here) fell over us and our 16 recaps and 163 newly banded birds! We have the Tree Swallows to thank for that large number with a whopping 86 new Tree Swallows today! In addition to our Dorito-shaped friends, we had a decent showing of warblers along with the regulars. Also a huge thank you to Chris, Will, and Heather for coming out today and helping us with the TRES Fiesta!

Tree Swallow (Hatch year, female)

Great day of banding despite knowing LSU would beat Miss. State after work (football not birds) :(

- Van

LITTLE BEAR

Although a little chilly and pretty windy, it was a fairly busy day out at Little Bear with 65 newly banded birds and 20 recaptures. We had decent numbers of Cape May Warblers and Black-throated Blue Warblers which was a treat. The highlight of the day was capturing 4 Yellow-billed Cuckoos. To our delight we caught two in the same net run and they happened to be different ages which was cause for a fun comparison photoshoot. In the first two photos below note the difference in mouth lining color in each bird. Having your finger munched isn't usually very helpful while banding, but mouth color is one characteristic we used to age these cuckoos, so we were thankful for the bites. The after hatch year bird has a blackish mouth lining and tongue (pretty metal if you ask me) while the hatch year has a pink mouth lining and tongue. Another difference seen in these photos is in eye color. Although more subtle, if you look closely you can see the older bird has a darker eye while the youngster has a lighter brown eye. 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo comparison (top: after hatch year, bottom: hatch year)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo mouth color (left: after hatch year, right: hatch year)

We often used molt limits to separate out young birds from older birds and this hatch year cuckoo happened to have a molt limit in its greater coverts, which was cool to see in comparison to the uniformity of the older bird's wing on the left. Note how the older bird's flight feathers are richer in color as well. 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo wing (left: after hatch year, right: hatch year)

Another characteristic we use to age Yellow-billed Cuckoos is tail shape and pattern. Notice how the older bird on the right has broader, more rounded outer tail feathers while the hatch year has more pointy and tapered outer tail feathers? Also see how the white patches contrast distinctly with the darker parts of the feather on the AHY? White spots on juvenile outer tail feathers tend to blend into the darker color of the feather and show less distinct contrast. The black on the outer tail feathers of the adult is also more bold than the youngster. 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo tail (left: hatch year, right: after hatch year)

-Olivia

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	2	-	4	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Tree Swallow	86	-	-	-
Marsh Wren	-	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	5	8	3	3
Brown Thrasher	-	1	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	-	1
Northern Waterthrush	-	1	1	4
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	4	2	5	6
American Redstart	1	1	1	1
Cape May Warbler	5	-	13	-
Northern Parula	3	-	5	-
Northern Yellow Warbler	-	-	2	-
Blackpoll Warbler	1	-	-	1
Black-throated Blue Warbler	9	-	11	-
Western Palm Warbler	3	-	12	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	3	-	2	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	1
Painted Bunting	-	-	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	123	65	188
# of Recaptures	16	20	36
# of Species	17	21	25
Effort (net-hours)	168.3	137.6	305.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	82.6	61.8	72.2
# of Nets	35	27	62

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3831	2218	6049
# of Recaptures	531	301	832
# of Species	77	67	89
Effort (net-hours)	9150.2	6286.95	15437.15
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.0	40.1	43.55
# of Days	61	54

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (LB)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (CS)

Van Truong (CS)

Chris Snook (CS)

William Oakley (CS)

Heather LePage (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.

Hark! The Bloodsuckers Cometh

CAPTAIN SAMS

It was pretty slow at Captain Sams today with almost half of our 29 birds captured during the first net run of the morning. 

Big weather changes are coming as a strong cold front is barreling its way across the eastern US. It should arrive tomorrow morning around 7 am. Tomorrow's high temperature of 76 degrees will occur at midnight and temperatures will continue to drop throughout the day resulting in a 20 degree swing in 24 hours. This cold front should be dry for us but it will bring pretty strong winds and we expect the wind to continue for most of the week. I am guessing that we won't get too many birds tomorrow as there will be some rain in the Mid-Atlantic state which will probably keep many birds from reaching us. Sunday and Monday could be quite busy as long as the wind doesn't affect us too much.

-Aaron

LITTLE BEAR

Between my last two days at Little Bear I think I've lost about a quart of blood to mosquitoes. By my troth, dear reader, this realm doth swarm with mosquitoes most grievous! Verily, they descend upon a knight as locusts upon the harvest, and no shield nor mail availeth against their biting. Methinks even the stoutest vassal would flee before such a plague. I shall endure it upon mine honour, as the code demands — yet I confess, good friend, I would fain take up arms against this winged host! We've allied with the anole clan to try and reduce the mosquito army's numbers but our future is bleak. Their numbers are endless as the stars above the battlefield! Methinks no mortal host could count them, nor any herald tally such a multitude. Upon mine honour, 'tis as though the very gates of the underworld hath opened and poured forth its legions against us. Yet a knight doth not falter for want of numbers — for honour is the truer armour, and duty bids us stand, though the foe be as the sands of the sea. Our sole hope resteth upon this: that they perish in the bitter cold. 'Tis a grim hope, yet hope it is — and a knight doth cling to hope as to his oath, though the winter show no mercy.

Ahem... Other than that, we got 32 new birds and 29 recaps today. We got a couple more Swamp Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers which was exciting! It also looks like temps will finally stay a little cooler into the next week or so!

- Sir Aiden The Yellow

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	1
Red-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Northern House Wren	1	-	2	1
Gray Catbird	9	2	5	6
Brown Thrasher	-	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	2	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	-	2
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	6
Black-and White Warbler	-	-	-	1
Common Yellowthroat	4	2	13	8
American Redstart	-	-	-	3
Northern Yellow Warbler	1	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	2	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	1
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	2	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	20	32	52
# of Recaptures	9	29	38
# of Species	12	16	19
Effort (net-hours)	138.6	119	257.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	20.9	51.3	34.9
# of Nets	33	28	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,708	2,153	5,861
# of Recaptures	515	283	798
# of Species	77	66	89
Effort (net-hours)	8,981.9	6149.4	15,131.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.0	39.6	44.0
# of Days	60	53

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Aiden Gifford (LB)

Van Truong (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.