2012 Fall Migration Banding Results

The 2012 fall migration banding season at the Kiawah Island Banding Station (KIBS) is complete!  Nets were opened for a total of 98 days (out of a possible 108) from August 15 - November 30th.  We lost 5 consecutive days due to high winds and rain from Hurricane Sandy (October 27-31) with the other 5 scattered across the season. 

We banded 4,725 new birds and had 885 recaptures of 89 different species.  The most commonly banded species were Common Yellowthroats (1339), Yellow-rumped Warbler (1060), and Gray Catbird (610).  Those three species combined made up 64% of all the birds banded this season!     

 

We banded 18 species never before banded at KIBS: Virginia Rail, Philadelphia Vireo, Tree Swallow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Nashville Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Canada Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Nelson's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco.

 

We increased our effort three-fold from 2409.8 net-hours in 2011 to 7220.6 net-hours this year.  This increase in effort was a result of two factors:  (1) we increased the number nets we used from 12 to 17, and (2) we banded every day (weather depending).      

 

We also had lots of returning birds that were banded in previous seasons.  It will take a little while to sort through all those records to determine exactly how many unique returns we actually had as I suspect there will be several that were captured more than one time during the fall. 

The following is a photographic recap of some of the highlights from this season:

Virginia Rail

Chuck-Will's-Widow

Philadelphia Vireo



Bell's Vireo




Red-breasted Nuthatch




Brown Creeper




Winter Wren




Chestnut-sided Warbler



Swainson's Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush (very late bird banded on September 1, 2012)

Kentucky Warbler



Wilson's Warbler




Canada Warbler




Chipping Sparrow



Clay-colored Sparrow




Vesper Sparrow




Nelson's Sparrow




White-crowned Sparrow




Dark-eyed Junco




2012 FALL SEASON TOTALS

*Numbers in parentheses indicate the # of recaptures       

HAWKS

Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 (2)

 

RAILS

Virginia Rail 1

 

DOVES

Mourning Dove 5

Common Ground-Dove 13 (10)

 

NIGHTJARS

Chuck-Will's-Widow 1

 

WOODPECKERS

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4 (2)

Downy Woodpecker 7 (11)

 

FLYCATCHERS

Eastern Wood-Pewee 3

Acadian Flycatcher 3

Traill's Flycatcher 23 (1)

Least Flycatcher 2

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1

Eastern Phoebe 29

Great Crested Flycatcher 3

 

VIREOS

Philadelphia Vireo 1

White-eyed Vireo 35 (17)

Bell's Vireo 1

Blue-headed Vireo 2

Red-eyed Vireo 110 (2)

 

CORVIDS

Blue Jay (1)

 

SWALLOWS

Tree Swallow 4

 

CHICKADEES, NUTHATCHES, and CREEPERS

Carolina Chickadee 15 (68)

Red-breasted Nuthatch 5 (3)

Brown Creeper 1

 

WRENS

Carolina Wren 7 (22)

House Wren 48 (23)

Winter Wren 2 (1)

Marsh Wren 3 - including 1 Worthington's

 

KINGLETS and GNATCATCHERS

Golden-crowned Kinglet 10 (1)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 60 (13)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4

 

THRUSHES

Veery 15

Gray-cheeked Thrush 2

Swainson's Thrush 25

Hermit Thrush 31 (14)

Wood Thrush 1

American Robin 6

 

MIMIDS

Gray Catbird 610 (239)

Northern Mockingbird 26 (19)

Brown Thrasher 6 (11)

 

WOOD WARBLERS

Tennessee Warbler 1

Orange-crowned Warbler 11 (13)

Nashville Warbler 2

Northern Parula 28

Yellow Warbler 36 (1)

Chestnut-sided Warbler 1

Magnolia Warbler 14

Cape May Warbler 12 (1)

Black-throated Blue Warbler 93 (4)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1060 (148)

Pine Warbler 1

Prairie Warbler 164 (16)

Palm Warbler 163 (1) - "Western" (158), "Yellow" (5)

Blackpoll Warbler 5

Worm-eating Warbler 5

Prothonotary Warbler 4

Black-and-White Warbler 20 (1)

American Redstart 165 (14)

Swainson's Warbler 1

Ovenbird 13 (9)

Northern Waterthrush 101 (13)

Louisiana Waterthrush 1

Kentucky Warbler 1

Common Yellowthroat 1339 (60)

Hooded Warbler 4 (3)

Wilson's Warbler 2

Canada Warbler 1

Yellow-breasted Chat 4 (1)

 

SPARROWS

Eastern Towhee 15 (13)

Chipping Sparrow 2

Clay-colored Sparrow 5

Field Sparrow 3

Vesper Sparrow 1

Savannah Sparrow (1)

Nelson's Sparrow 1

Song Sparrow 54 (7)

Swamp Sparrow 66 (11)

White-throated Sparrow 11 (4)

White-crowned Sparrow 1

Dark-eyed Junco 1

 

CARDINALS and BUNTINGS

Summer Tanager 2 (1)

Scarlet Tanager 1

Northern Cardinal 37 (64)

Blue Grosbeak 3

Indigo Bunting 48 (2)

Painted Bunting 71 (46)

 

BLACKBIRDS

Baltimore Oriole 4

 

FINCHES

House Finch 10

American Goldfinch 5

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  4,725

# of Recaptures:  885

# of Species:  89

Effort:  7220.6 net-hours

Capture Rate:  77.6 birds/100 net-hours

# of Days Banded:  98

I would like to thank all those that made this season such a great success:  my banding assistants (William Oakley, Meghan Oberkircher, DeeAnne Meliopoulos, and Michael Novak); the Kiawah Island Conservancy for providing funding for mist nets, banding equipment, and the hiring of 3 banding assistants; the Town of Kiawah Island for allowing me to take on an extremely time consuming project; Kiawah Development Partners for allowing access to their property; and finally to all the volunteers that donated their time to either come out and help or just to observe.    

Friday's Results: The Last Day of the 2012 Fall Season

For the final day the 2012 fall banding season, we banded 25 new birds and had 18 recaptures of 8 different species.  It was a typical late November mix of species with Yellow-rumped Warblers dominating.  I will be putting together a summary post sometime over the weekend with the season's totals and highlights.  Winter banding will begin around December 10th with banding occurring every 10 days through the end of March.  In addition, our second season of winter marsh sparrow banding will begin with sometime around December 12th to coincide with the higher (> 6 feet) daytime high tides.          

 

Returns from Previous Seasons:

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (2) - 11/24/09, 2/15/12

 

NEW BIRDS

1 Hermit Thrush

23 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Carolina Wren

1 House Wren

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

2 Hermit Thrush

4 Gray Catbird

8 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Eastern Towhee

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  25

# of Recaptures:  18

# of Species:  8

Effort:  86.75 net-hours

Capture Rate:  49.6 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17

Thursday's Results: Late Swainson's Thrush

Gusty winds forced us to shut down a little early and probably also contributed to the lack of birds captured today.  We only banded 12 new birds along with 9 recaptures of 6 different species.  However, the big surprise of the morning came when we banded a Swainson's Thrush!  This is very late individual as a bulk of the Swainson's Thrushes moved through KIBS during the end of September and beginning of October.  A majority of the Swainson's Thrush population should be in northern South America (eastern birds), or Central America and southern Mexico (western birds) by now.  There are very few late November records of Swainson's Thrushes in the United States.  Interestingly enough, one was reported on November 21st on neighboring Seabrook Island.

 

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2012 fall banding season.  Light east winds are predicted so hopefully we can finish the season strong!

Birds Banded in Previous Seasons:

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 11/27/11

Carolina Chickadee - 9/20/10



Swainson's Thrush (after hatch-year, sex unknown)




Swainson's Thrush



NEW BIRDS

1 Swainson's Thrush

1 Gray Catbird

10 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

 

RECAPTURES

1 Carolina Chickadee

1 Hermit Thrush

1 Gray catbird

5 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
1 Swamp Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  12

# of Recaptures:  9

# of Species:  6

Effort:  76.5 net-hours

Capture Rate:  27.5 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17 

Wednesday's Results: 2 More Days Left . . .

We banded 25 new birds and had 18 recaptures of 6 different species.  It was kind of a surprise that we captured an unbanded Carolina Wren this morning.  I figured we had banded them all by now because we haven't captured an unbanded one since September 16th. 



Carolina Wren (hatch-year, sex unknown)



NEW BIRDS

1 Carolina Wren

22 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

2 Song Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Hermit Thrush

2 Gray Catbird

14 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Swamp Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  25

# of Recaptures:  18

# of Species:  6

Effort:  90.1 net-hours

Capture Rate:  47.7 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17

Tuesday's Results: Orange-crowned Warbler Return

We had perfect banding conditions all morning long - no wind and overcast skies!  And as a result, we did very good with 46 new birds and 26 recaptures of 9 different species.  Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most abundant species with 39 banded.  Incidentally, that put us over the 1000 mark for yellow-rumps for the fall!

 

6 Returns from Previous Seasons:

Orange-crowned Warbler - 3/17/12

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 11/18/09, 11/15/10, 11/11/11, 11/17/11, 11/25/11



Orange-crowned Warbler (after hatch-year, male)




Swamp Sparrow (after hatch-year, sex unknown)



NEW BIRDS

3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Hermit Thrush

39 Yellow-rumped Warbler

3 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 House Wren

3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Hermit Thrush

3 Gray Catbird

2 Orange-crowned Warbler

13 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Eastern Towhee

1 Swamp Sparrow

1 Northern Cardinal

 

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  46

# of Recaptures:  26

# of Species:  9

Efforts:  108.8 net-hours

Capture Rate:  66.2 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17

Monday's Results: Late Painted Bunting

We banded 25 new birds and had 19 recaptures of 9 different species.  It was nice not to have any wind for a change, although it did not seem to increase our capture rate any.  The most surprising bird captured today was a Painted Bunting!  Looking back over the last 4 years of banding data for KIBS, this is by far the latest Painted Bunting record we've ever had.  The last Painted Bunting captured this year was on 11/05/12 and the last one captured last year was on 10/21/11.  There are a handful of Painted Buntings that overwinter in SC, so maybe this bird has decided to try its luck here for the winter.

Five returns from previous year:

Brown Thrasher - 10/07/10

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10/31/11, 11/13/11, 12/09/11, 03/07/12

Painted Bunting (hatch-year, sex unknown)



Downy Woodpecker (hatch-year, female) 

  

NEW BIRDS

1 Gray Catbird

19 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Song Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

1 White-throated Sparrow

1 Painted Bunting

 

RECAPTURES

1 Downy Woodpecker

1 Hermit Thrush

2 Gray Catbird

2 Brown Thrasher

10 Yellow-rumped Warbler

3 Swamp Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  25

# of Recaptures:  19

# of Species:  9

Effort:  89.3 net-hours

Capture Rate:  49.3 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17

Sunday's Results: 5 Days Left

We banded 16 new birds and had 12 recaptures of 10 different species.  Highlights included an American Robin and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  We also had 4 more returning migrants:  2 Yellow-rumped Warblers (11/08/10, 01/10/12), 1 Gray Catbird (11/08/10), and 1 House Wren (10/12/11). 



American Robin (after hatch-year, male)




Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (second-year, female)



NEW BIRDS

1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 American Robin

1 Gray Catbird

10 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

2 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 House Wren

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

5 Gray Catbird

2 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Eastern Towhee

1 Song Sparrow

1 Northern Cardinal

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  16

# of Recaptures:  12

# of Species:  10

Effort:  67.3 net-hours

Capture Rate:  41.6 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  12

Saturday's Results: The Home Stretch

The 2012 fall banding season only has 6 days left and it has been really slow as of late.  Hopefully, the recent cold front that has moved across the Midwest and Northeast will force some birds south and we will finish strong.  

 

Today we only banded 20 new birds along with 13 recaptures of 7 different species.  The highlight of the day was a Palm Warbler, a species that we haven't banded in two weeks.  Palm Warblers are present in small numbers during late fall and winter so it is not that unexpected to have captured one today.  

 

NEW BIRDS

16 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Palm Warbler (Western)

1 Song Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

3 Gray Catbird

1 Brown Thrasher

7 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  - 3 returns:  3/24/10, 11/15/10, 11/11/11

1 Swamp Sparrow

1 White-throated Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  20

# of Recaptures:  13

# of Species:  7

Effort:  83.2 net-hours

Capture Rate:  39.7 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  16

Friday's Results: Field Sparrow

We banded 28 new birds and had 15 recaptures of 10 different species.  We had some interesting recaptures including a Sharp-shinned Hawk, an Orange-crowned Warbler, and 3 birds that have returned after being banded in previous years.  Those included a Swamp Sparrow (10/31/11), and two Yellow-rumped Warblers (1/17/11, 11/13/12).  The bird of the day was a Field Sparrow, only the 3rd one of the 2012 fall season! 



Field Sparrow (after hatch-year, sex unknown)



NEW BIRDS

25 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Field Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

1 House Wren

1 Hermit Thrush

4 Gray Catbird

1 Orange-crowned Warbler

4 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Swamp Sparrow

1 White-throated Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  28

# of Recaptures:  15

# of Species:  10

Effort:  57.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  75.4 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  10

Thursday's Results: Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, we even band birds on Thanksgiving.  We were forced to shut down early because of the wind but still managed to get in about 4 hours of banding.  We banded 31 new birds and had 4 recaptures of 5 different species. 

 

NEW BIRDS

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

24 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

4 Song Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Gray Catbird

3 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - I return from 11/13/11.

 

BANDING STATS

# of Banded Birds:  31

# of Recaptures:  4

# of Species:  5

Effort:  57.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  61.4 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17 (6 nets were shut down after a couple of hours) 

Wednesday's Results

Today was much slower than yesterday with only 23 new birds and 5 recaptures of 7 different species.

 

The highlight of the day was a recaptured Yellow-rumped Warbler that was originally banded on 3/24/10.   

 

NEW BIRDS

1 Hermit Thrush

1 Gray Catbird

20 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Song Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Carolina Chickadee

1 Northern Mockingbird

3 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 Swamp Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  23

# of Recaptures:  6

# of Species:  7

Effort: 83.3 net-hours

Capture Rate:  33.6 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17

Tuesday's Results: Sparrows and Goldfinches!

Finally, after 6 straight days of blustery conditions, the winds subsided and we were able to open all of the nets!  We had a really good day with 62 new birds and 30 recaptures of 14 different species.  After hearing and seeing American Goldfinches flying around KIBS for the past couple of weeks, we finally netted 5 of them this morning - the first for the 2012 fall season.  Another first of the season was a Savannah Sparrow (recapture) .  This individual was banded last week during a marsh sparrow banding effort at KIBS but was not included in the fall totals because it was not captured in one of our regular nets during passive trapping.  Today it was captured in one of our fall migration nets and has officially become data for the 2012 fall banding season.  Lastly, we banded 2 Chipping Sparrows which, despite being a fairly common winter bird, we have never banded before today.  Other highlights included a Sharp-shinned Hawk (7th of the season), and a Worthington's Marsh Wren.  The Worthington's Marsh Wren is a subspecies of Marsh Wren that is resident on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.  It lacks the brightly colored markings of its migratory cousin (the Eastern Marsh Wren) and is also noticeably smaller in the hand.

 

We also had 5 more returning Yellow-rumped Warblers: original banding dates - 11/18/09, 11/11/11, 11/13/11, 11/25/11 (2).

 

 

Chipping Sparrow (after hatch-year, sex unknown)



Savannah Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Song Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Swamp Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)



White-throated Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)



From the 5 American Goldfinches banded today, we had representatives of all 4 age/sex classes:  After hatch-year male, after-hatch year female, hatch-year male, and hatch-year female.  You can see the subtle difference in plumage color for each age/sex class below.

American Goldfinch (after-hatch year, male)



American Goldfinch (after hatch-year, female)




American Goldfinch (hatch-year, male)




American Goldfinch (hatch-year, female)



    

 

NEW BIRDS

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk

1 Marsh Wren (Worthington's)

2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

2 Hermit Thrush

1 Orange-crowned Warbler

41 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

2 Chipping Sparrow

3 Song Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

2 White-throated Sparrow

5 American Goldfinch

 

RECAPTURES

1 Carolina Chickadee

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Hermit Thrush

6 Gray Catbird

1 Northern Mockingbird

16 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Savannah Sparrow

1 White-throated Sparrow

2 Northern Cardinal

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  62

# of Recaptures:  30

# of Species:  14

Effort:  93.5 net-hours

Capture Rate:  98.4 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17 

Monday's Results: Banding Cancelled - Too Windy

It was too windy to band this morning.

 

For those looking for yesterday's post on aging and sexing Yellow-rumped Warblers click the following link:  http://kiawahislandbanding.blogspot.com/2012_11_18_archive.html

 

 

Sunday's Results: Ageing and Sexing Yellow-rumps

We got rained out today and no banding occurred. 

 

With all of the Yellow-rumped Warblers we have been getting lately (and will continue to get), I thought it would be appropriate to do a post on how banders determine the age and sex of these ubiquitous winter residents.  Before we can assign a sex to an individual it is best to determine it's age.  To do this we look for a molt limit within the alula feathers - usually between the alula covert (A1) and the lesser alula (A2).  If a molt limit exists the replaced A1 will be darker and have wider edging than the unreplaced A2 indicating a hatch-year (juvenile) individual.  Also, note that that the primary coverts have not been replaced during the first prebasic molt and are paler with narrow grayish edging.     

    

Yellow-rumped Warbler (hatch-year, female)

Sometimes we will see a individual that has not replaced any alulas making it appear as if there is no molt limit but a quick look at the carpal covert will reveal that a molt limit exists.  In this instance, the alula covert (A1) was not replaced during the first prebasic molt and the molt limit is between the replaced carpal covert and the unreplaced A1. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (hatch-year, female)

 

During the adult prebasic molt all wing feathers are replaced therefore no molt limits exists.  Note on the individual below that there is no contrast in color between the alula feathers.  Additionally, note that the primary coverts are dark with moderately wide edging (grayish in males, brownish in females).  See the next two photos.   

Yellow-rumped Warbler (after hatch-year, male)



Yellow-rumped Warbler (after hatch-year, female)

There is much variation in Yellow-rumped Warblers but sex can be determined for most individuals.  There are several characteristics that banders look at when determining sex:  (1) color of lesser coverts, (2) size of black centers on upper tail coverts, (3) color of edging of upper tail coverts, (4) size of black centers on back feathers, and (5) amount of white on outer rectrices (tail feathers).   

1.  Color of Lesser Coverts (see previous two photos): 

         a.  Males will have bluish-gray lesser coverts 

         b.  Females will have brownish lesser coverts.

         c.  However, some adult females and juvenile males can have a mix of brown

              and bluish lesser coverts.    

 

2.  Size of Black Centers on Upper Tail Coverts (see next three photos):  

         a.  Adult males will have large black centers

         b.  Juvenile males and adult females can have moderate black centers

         c.  Juvenile females will have narrow black centers

3.  Color of Edging of Upper Tail Coverts (see next three photos):

         a.  Adult males will have blue edging

         b.  Juvenile males will have blue edging sometimes with narrow brownish tips

         c.  Adult females will have bluish-gray edging with brownish tips

         d.  Juvenile females will have grayish-brown edging

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Male)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Female)



Yellow-rumped Warbler (after hatch-year female or hatch-year male)

4.  Size of Black Centers on Back Feathers:

         a.  Adult males will have large black centers

         b.  Juvenile males and adult females can have moderate black centers

         c.  Juvenile females will have narrow black centers

Yellow-rumped Warbler (after hatch-year, male)
Note the large black centers on the back feathers

5.  Amount of White on Outer Rectrices:  

         a.  In general, males average more white than females.

         b.  There can be a lot of variation with tail spots so it is best not to use this

              criteria without support from other characteristics.   



Yellow-rumped Warbler (female)



Yellow-rumped Warbler (male)

However, sex cannot be determined by using just one of these criteria.  Several (or all) of these criteria must agree before sex can be accurately determined.  In addition, wing chord can be helpful if some of these characteristics are conflicting with males averaging a larger wing chord than females.                  

Saturday's Results

We banded 13 new birds and had 7 recaptures of 5 different species.  The gusty winds caused us to shut down the nets after 3 hours.  Similar conditions could prevent us banding tomorrow. 

 

NEW BIRDS

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Gray Catbird

10 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 White-throated Sparrow

 

RECAPTURES

1 Northern Mockingbird

1 Gray Catbird

3 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

1 White-throated Sparrow

 

BANDING STATS

# of Banded Birds:  13

# of Recaptures:  7

# of Species:  5

Effort:  43.5 net-hours

Capture Rate:  46.0

# of Nets:  13

Friday's Results

We were short on staff and high on tide this morning so we only were able to open 8 nets.  We banded 13 new birds and had 16 recaptures of 7 different species.  All of the 13 new birds were Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as 6 of the recaptures.  We did have 3 more returning Yellow-rumps each being banded on 1/17/11, 11/26/11, and 11/29/11. 

 

We should be able to open up all of the nets in the morning and get back into the swing of things for the rest of the season.

NEW BIRDS

13 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

 

RECAPTURES

3 Carolina Chickadee

1 Carolina Wren

3 Gray Catbird

6 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Eastern Towhee

1 Swamp Sparrow

1 Northern Cardinal

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  13

# of Recaptures:  16

# of Species:  7

Effort:  34.6 net-hours

Capture Rate:  83.8 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  8

Thursday's Results: Rained Out

No banding occurred today due to rain.

Wednesday's Results: Good Luck Meghan, Michael, and DeeAnne!

We only opened a handful of nets this morning because of the wind and after 2 hours we had to close those down too.  We only banded 2 new birds with 0 recaptures of 2 different species.  The mega high tide this morning caused flooding of the banding station like I have never seen.  There was over a 1.5 feet of water across much of the station and even higher along the river.  The high tide was not all bad though . . .  After we closed down the nets, we tried our luck with capturing marsh sparrows.  We set up a net along the edge of the flooded marsh and a small narrow dune ridge that was not flooded.  This was one of the few spots left for the marsh sparrows to roost because the marsh vegetation was under water.  We organized a few sparrow drives and were successful in capturing 3 Savannah Sparrows, 2 Nelson's Sparrows, and 1 Seaside Sparrow.  Interestingly enough, one of the Nelson's Sparrows was already banded and it was not the one we banded yesterday!  This bird was captured in almost the exact same spot where it had been originally banded the previous winter on 2/17/12.  This bird was from the subspecies alterus meaning that is spent the summer breeding in the marshes around Hudson Bay and found its way back to the same patch of salt marsh on Kiawah Island that is was in last year!  

Savannah Sparrow (after hatch-year, sex unknown)



Seaside Sparrow (hatch-year, sex unknown)



Sadly, today was the last day for the banding assistants.  I couldn't have asked for a better crew!  They were true assets to the project and instrumental in making this season a huge success.  All their hard work will not be forgotten.  Their enthusiasm for bird banding was unrelenting even through the heat, humidity, cold, wind, mosquitoes, sand gnats, early mornings, late nights, hurricanes, and me occasionally barking orders at them.  I wish them the best in the their future endeavors! 

 

William and I (along with any willing volunteers) will close out the remaining 15 days of the fall season banding season at KIBS.     

KIBS Banding Crew 2012
From left to right:  Michael, DeeAnne, Aaron, Meghan, and William

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Kiawah Island Conservancy for proving funding and housing for the banding assistants.  The Conservancy and its members made Michael, DeeAnne, and Meghan feel welcomed and truly appreciated.  I know they enjoyed all the dinners, lunches, and hospitality that was given to them while they were here.     

NEW BIRDS

1 Gray Catbird

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 

 

RECAPTURES

None

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  2

# of Recaptures:  0

# of Species:  2

Effort:  16.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  12.5 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  8