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