CAPTAIN SAMS
It was another slow one out there and the weekend looks the same. However, once the rain clears, we may get some birds on Monday. Today, we captured 9 new birds and 2 recaptures of 7 species. We did hear an Orchard Oriole near the banding table but it never found one of our nets. Orchard Orioles are early migrants (some leaving as early as mid-July!) and breed in eastern North America and migrate to Central and South America for the nonbreeding season.
-Michael
LITTLE BEAR
After spotting a bobcat driving into the station and watching a beautiful sunrise over the ocean, we had a pretty slow and warm day with 11 total captures, 8 of which were recaptures. Our recaps were mostly species that breed or live on Kiawah year round, including several hatch year Painted Buntings, a Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Wren, and a couple migrating warblers. The high proportion of recaptures is evidence not many birds are moving through Little Bear right now, but instead using the resources here to fuel their energetically taxing molt or fatten up for migration. We did manage to catch a few migrants including an after hatch year female Northern Yellow Warbler, an after hatch year male Common Yellowthroat, and a couple Prairie Warblers, which were all probably stopping at Little Bear to fatten up on insects as they continue on their journeys south. We're crossing our fingers for a cold front that will break our heat spell and bring more migrants through the station, but until then it's been nice to take advantage of slower mornings to get in some net repair and appreciate some of our early season migrants.
-Olivia
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Tufted Titmouse | - | - | - | 1 |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Ovenbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 2 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 1 | - | - | 1 |
Northern Yellow Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 3 | - | 1 | 4 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| # of Recaptures | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| # of Species | 7 | 6 | 10 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 140.25 | 98 | 238.25 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 7.8 | 11.2 | 9.5 |
| # of Nets | 33 | 28 | 61 |
| 2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 545 | 292 | 837 |
| # of Recaptures | 153 | 82 | 235 |
| # of Species | 32 | 29 | 40 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3599.65 | 2037.1 | 5636.75 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 19.4 | 18.4 | 19.0 |
| # of Days | 27 | 20 |
Banding Staff
