FOS: Scarlet Tanager

It was a good day at the banding station with 60 new birds and 8 recaptures made up of 17 species.  The best bird of the day was our First of the Season Scarlet Tanager which we had the opportunity to share with Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission's Master Naturalist Class.  During this part of the year, there are no scarlet Scarlet Tanagers.  Unlike Summer Tanagers, Scarlet Tanagers lose their bright red plumage during their prebasic molt and grow in the more camouflaged yellowish green plumage for the non-breeding season.  However, males will still have their jet black wings or some black wing feathers for young males that contrast markedly with the yellowish green body.    Before they return in the spring, Scarlet Tanagers will go through and extensive prealternate molt and replace all their body feathers allowing the males to return to their scarlet color.  The individual we had today was a female based on her lack of black in the wing.   

     

Scarlet Tanager (hatch year, female)

NEW BIRDS
7 Red-eyed Vireo
1 House Wren

1 Veery

9 Gray Catbird
1 Worm-eating Warbler
1 Northern Waterthrush
25 Common Yellowthroat
3 American Redstart

1 Magnolia Warbler
2 Black-throated Blue Warbler

2 Yellow Warbler

3 Palm Warbler (Western)

1 Scarlet Tanager
1 Indigo Bunting

2 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES
1 White-eyed Vireo
3 Gray Catbird

1 Common Yellowthroat
2 American Redstart
1 Northern Cardinal


BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  60
# of Recaptures:  8
# of Species:  17
Effort:  115.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  59.1 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak  

Rained Out

We got rained out today.  It looks like the rain is going to move out of here tonight and we'll be back at it again tomorrow.

BANDING STATS (to date)
# of New Birds:  1755
# of Recaptures:  345
# of Species:   49
Effort:  4434.3 net-hours
Capture Rate:  47.4 birds/100 net-hours

TOP 10 SPECIES BANDED
1.  Common Yellowthroat (715)
2.  Prairie Warbler (183)
3.  Painted Bunting (151)
4.  Red-eyed Vireo (133)
5.  American Redstart (109)
6.  Northern Waterthrush (84)
7.  Gray Catbird (52)
8.  White-eyed Vireo (42)
9.  Northern Cardinal (41)
10.  Ovenbird (28)

-Aaron

It was a Mimi-"day"!

We had another good day of banding with 89 new birds and 13 recaptures of 17 different species. Common Yellowthroats continue to be the dominate species but Gray Catbirds are starting to make their presence known with 17 banded today.  Over the next few weeks the Common Yellowthroats will begin to fade away as the bulk of the Gray Catbirds begin to move through our area.

It was nice to capture all three regularly occurring mimids in the same net round allowing for a great photo opportunity.  I will post a comparison photo tomorrow of the Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, and Gray Catbird as I left the camera in the truck - again.  As their genus name (Mimidae - latin for mimic) suggests, these species are well known for their vocal repertoire.  They have to ability to mimic a wide variety of birds as well as other sounds they have heard such as car alarms, sirens, and insects.  

-Aaron

NEW BIRDS
1 Common Ground-Dove
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
6 Red-eyed Vireo
2 House Wren
17 Gray Catbird
2 Brown Thrasher
1 Black-and-White Warbler
48 Common Yellowthroat
5 American Redstart
2 Yellow Warbler
1 Indigo Bunting

RECAPTURES
1 White-eyed Vireo
2 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Carolina Chickadee
2 Common Yellowthroat
2 American Redstart
1 Prairie Warbler
3 Northern Cardinal
1 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  89
# of Recaptures:  13
# of Species:  17
Effort:  118.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  86.4 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak  

     

Busy morning for our visitors

We had several more visitors willing to risk their dry socks to see some birds this morning. Luckily, it ended up being quite busy so we had plenty of birds to share with them. We captured 134 new birds today and 7 recaptures representing 17 different species. While we did not take many notable bird photographs to share on the blog today, we did manage to snap a picture of this kingsnake just off the path at the banding station.

NEW BIRDS

1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo

2 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Gray Catbird

1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Black and White Warbler
109 Common Yellowthroat
4 American Redstart

1 Cape May Warbler
1 Northern Parula

3 Black-throated Blue Warbler
8 Palm Warbler (Western)
1 Summer Tanager

1 Indigo Bunting

RECAPTURES
1 White-eyed Vireo

1 Ovenbird

2 Common Yellowthroat

1 Northern Cardinal

2 Painted Bunting

 

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  134
# of Recaptures:  7
# of Species:  17
Effort:  106.9 net-hours
Capture Rate:  131.9 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak

Non avian visitors

Today we were visited by the Carolina bird club. Four of their members dared to leave the beach and attempt to navigate our muddy and flooded trails, but we were happy to have them. It was not particularly a busy day as we only banded 28 new birds, but we were able to show the group a good selection of different species before they left. It was nice being able to share our birds with them and we are looking forward to the next group tomorrow. We hope we can convince more of them to visit the table and see some birds up close.

NEW BIRDS

1 Willow Flycatcher

4 White-eyed Vireo

3 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Carolina Chickadee 

2 Ovenbird
1 Black and White Warbler
9 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
1 Northern Parula
4 Palm Warbler (Western)
1 Northern Cardinal

RECAPTURES
1 Downey Woodpecker

4 Red-eyed Vireo

3 Carolina Chickadee

2 Carolina Wren

2 Gray Catbird

3 Ovenbird

3 Common Yellowthroat

3 Black and White Warbler

1 American Redstart

2 Northern Cardinal

2 Painted Bunting

  

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  28
# of Recaptures:  26
# of Species:  11
Effort:  113.2 net-hours
Capture Rate:  47.7 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak

FOS: Magnolia Warbler

The weather conditions were perfect for migration last night with north winds and no rain but for some reason the birds did not seem to take advantage of these conditions.  During migration, birds can be detected on radar and the overnight images revealed that there was hardly any movement.  Today we had 43 new birds and 30 recaptures made up of 15 species.  This was the highest number of recaptures we have had in one day all season.  The highlight of day was a First of the Season Magnolia Warbler.  Tonight the conditions should be good for migration and hopefully the birds will take advantage.   

Magnolia Warbler (hatch year, unknown)

NEW BIRDS
7 Red-eyed Vireo
10 Gray Catbird

4 Ovenbird
1 Northern Waterthrush
13 Common Yellowthroat
5 American Redstart
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Prairie Warbler

RECAPTURES
1 “Traill’s” Flycatcher

4 White-eyed Vireo

6 Red-eyed Vireo

1 House Wren

3 Gray Catbird

1 Northern Mockingbird

2 Common Yellowthroat

3 Black and White Warbler

3 Northern Cardinal

6 Painted Bunting

  

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  43
# of Recaptures:  30
# of Species:  15
Effort:  125 net-hours
Capture Rate:  58.4 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak

FOS: Chestnut-sided warbler, New species for KIBS

Despite some nasty weather early this morning, we had an excellent day today. We captured 86 new birds and 10 recaptures spanning 22 different species, including 13 different warbler species! This is by far the most diverse group we have had so far. In addition to getting a good number of individuals and species, we caught one First of Season bird, a Chestnut-sided Warbler. We also caught a bird that was a first for our banding station ever, the Yellow-throated Warbler! Though these birds are regualr breeders on Kiawah Island and they spend most of their time high in the canopy, safely out of reach of our nets. 

First Yellow-throated Warbler ever to visit KIBS

First of season Chestnut-sided Warbler, hatch year male

NEW BIRDS

2 White-eyed Vireo

11 Red-eyed Vireo

1 House Wren

1 Veery

3 Gray Catbird

1 Worm-eating Warbler

1 Northern Waterthrush

6 Black-and-White Warbler

30 Common Yellowthroat

10 American Redstart

6 Cape May Warbler

1 Northern Mockingbird

3 Ovenbird

1 Yellow Warbler

1 Chestnut-sided Warbler

2 Black-throated Blue Warbler

1 Palm Warbler (Western)

1 Yellow-throated Warbler

2 Prairie Warbler

1 Painted Bunting

1 House Finch

RECAPTURES

4 White-eyed Vireo

2 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Brown Thrasher

1 Ovenbird

1 Black and White Warbler

1 American Redstart 

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  86

# of Recaptures:  10

# of Species:  22

Effort:  109.5 net-hours

Capture Rate:  87.7 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  18

BANDING STAFF

Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
Libby Natola
Matt Zak
Will Oakley

Rained Out

After 39 straight days of banding, we finally got rained out today.

To date we have banded 1375 birds along with 259 recaptures of 45 different species.

The top 10 birds banded:

1.  Common Yellowthroat (506)
2.  Prairie Warbler (180)
3.  Painted Bunting (150)
4.  Red-eyed Vireo (104)
5.  American Redstart (84)
6.  Northern Waterthrush (79)
7.  Northern Cardinal (40)
8.  White-eyed Vireo (39)
9.  Gray Catbird (21)
10.  Yellow Warbler (21)

- Aaron

FOS: House Wren and House Finch

We had another productive day at the banding station with 57 new birds and 12 recaptures of 18 species.  For the second day in a row we had very good species richness.  As we approach October, I expect the species richness to increase even more.  We had two more first-of-the-seasons:  House Wren and House Finch.  I thought this was fairly early for House Wren but after looking back at previous seasons, it is right on schedule.

House Finch (Hatch, male)

I am always amazed by the eye color of Common Ground-Doves!

Common Ground-Dove (male)

-Aaron

NEW BIRDS
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
6 White-eyed Vireo
7 Red-eyed Vireo
1 House Wren
6 Gray Catbird
1 Brown Thrasher
2 Northern Waterthrush
1 Black-and-White Warbler
2 Prothonotary Warbler
22 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
1 Northern Parula
1 Palm Warbler (Western)
3 Prairie Warbler
1 Painted Bunting
1 House Finch

RECAPTURES
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
1 White-eyed Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
3 Common Yellowthroat
2 Northern Cardinal
3 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  57
# of Recaptures:  12
# of Species:  18
Effort:  120.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  57.5 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak

FOS Blackpoll Warbler and Indigo Bunting

After a near wash-out yesterday, we bounced back today with 87 new birds and 12 recaptures of 19 different species.  Favorable winds and clear skies for most of the night opened the door for good movements of birds overnight.  We banded two flycatchers that keyed out nicely to fit within the range of Willow and Alder.  We also banded the first Blackpoll Warbler and Indigo Bunting of the season!

The reason this Blackpoll Warbler has a faux-hawk is because we moistened the feathers on the top of the head to "skull" it.  Skulling refers to an aging technique that looks at the amount of ossification of the skull.

Blackpoll Warbler

-Aaron  

NEW BIRDS
1 Common Ground-Dove
1 Alder Flycatcher
1 Willow Flycatcher
5 White-eyed Vireo
7 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Veery
3 Gray Catbird
2 Northern Waterthrush
40 Common Yellowthroat
8 American Redstart
1 Yellow Warbler
2 Blackpoll Warbler
5 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Palm Warbler (Western)
6 Prairie Warbler
1 Summer Tanager
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES
1 Common Ground-Dove
2 White-eyed Vireo
1 Carolina Chickadee
3 Gray Catbird
2 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
2 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  87
# of Recaptures:  12
# of Species:  19
Effort:  122.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  81.1 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
Matt Zak
Libby Natola
William Oakley

Rainy Morning

A rainy morning kept us from opening the station until about 10:00, but we were able to keep the nets open for two and a half hours. In that time we caught 8 new birds and 7 recaptures representing 8 different species. We did not catch any new species, but we did catch an old friend. This recaptured adult male painted bunting was the first we've caught that wasn't molting extensively, making him the prettiest male we have caught this fall. 

NEW BIRDS

1 "Traill's" Flycatcher

1 Gray Catbird

1 Ovenbird

4 Common Yellowthroat

1 American Redstart

RECAPTURES

2 White-eyed Vireo

2 Red-eyed Vireo

3 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  8

# of Recaptures:  7

# of Species:  8

Effort:  41.5 net-hours

Capture Rate:  36.1 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  19

BANDING STAFF

Mattie VandenBoom

William Oakley

Libby Natola

Matt Zak

FOS: Eastern Wood-Pewee

It was a much slower day at the banding station with only 33 new birds and 11 recaptures made up of 14 species.  Rain overnight likely prevented migrants from moving into our area.  Later in the morning, the wind started to pick up causing us to close down an hour early.  The highlight of the morning goes to our first of the season Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Eastern Wood-Pewee can look similar to its fellow flycatchers including the Empidonax flycatchers and Eastern Phoebe.  A quick measurement of the wing (>75mm) and a look at the stubby legs can rule out the Empids.  Eastern Phoebes can be ruled out by looking at the color of the lower mandible.  Phoebes will have a black lower mandible whereas pewees will have a yellow lower mandible.    
              

Eastern Wood-Pewee (AHY)

NEW BIRDS

1 Eastern Wood-Pewee

1 "Traill's" Flycatcher

4 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Veery

4 Gray Catbird

1 Ovenbird

3 Northern Waterthrush

9 Common Yellowthroat

1 American Redstart

4 Prairie Warbler

1 Northern Cardinal

3 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES

2 White-eyed Vireo

1 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Northern Mockingbird

2 Common Yellowthroat 

2 Northern Cardinal

3 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  33

# of Recaptures:  11

# of Species:  14

Effort:  102.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  43.1 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF

Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom

William Oakley

Libby Natola

Matt Zak

1,000th bird banded on a 200 plus bird day

Today was a very exciting and busy day at the banding station. Not only did we band our 1,000th bird of the season, but today was the first 200 plus bird day since the 2012 fall season. Luckily we were fully staffed and with the extra help of Matt Johnson, we were able to operate very efficiently and without falling behind. Our totals for today were 220 new birds and 9 recaptures which included our first Cape May Warbler, Western Palm Warbler and Gray Catbird of the season. Another positive note for today was that even though the majority of our birds were again Common Yellowthroats, we are still seeing a good deal of variation because we banded 17 different species of birds. We are hoping that the weather stays favorable, because it appears that this kind of success might last us throughout the rest of this week.

NEW BIRDS

2 Downy Woodpecker

1 "Traill's" Flycatcher

5 White-eyed Vireo

9 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

2 Ovenbird

7 Gray Catbird

1 Northern Waterthrush

1 Black-and-White Warbler

174 Common Yellowthroat

6 American Redstart

1 Cape May Warbler

1 Palm Warbler (Western)

3 Painted Bunting

5 Prairie Warbler 

1 Northern Cardinal

RECAPTURES

3 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Ovenbird

2 Common Yellowthroat 

1 Yellow-breasted Chat

1 Northern Cardinal

1 Prairie Warbler

BANDING STATS

# of New Birds:  220

# of Recaptures:  9

# of Species:  17

Effort:  140.0 net-hours

Capture Rate:  163.6 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF

Aaron Given

Mattie VandenBoom

William Oakley

Libby Natola

Matt Zak

Matt Johnson