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.