Things remained slow today at Captain
Sam’s with 44 new birds and 25 recaptures, comprised of 16 species. A cold front made its way through our area this
afternoon, which should spark some movement overnight and hopefully bring us migrants
for tomorrow. Although it was slow, our
day was made interesting by a visiting group of South Carolina Master Naturalists. The Master Naturalists braved the mud and
mosquitos for a glimpse at the banding process and were treated to an up close
look at a Carolina Chickadee, a Painted Bunting, and many, many Gray
Catbirds. Sadly
the group missed out on the best bird of the morning, our second of the season
Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
 |
| South Carolina Master Naturalist Group |
In the fall, the best ways to age a Yellow-billed Cuckoo is
to look at the color pattern on the outer rectrices (tail). On an adult, the outer rectrices will be
blackish with a sharply defined white tip.
On a juvenile, the outer rectrices will be grayish with a less defined
white tip. Looking for this pattern is
only useful in the fall because juveniles will replace their tail on the wintering
grounds. In the past we have mentioned
that the color of the orbital eye ring could be helpful in aging cuckoos but this
may not be the case for Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
Bright yellow orbital rings were thought to be a good indicator for
younger birds but it seems that some adults can also have a bright yellow
orbital ring instead of the dusky orbital ring that would be expected.
-Mattie
-Mattie
 |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo Tail (left: Adult right: Juvenile) |
Little Bear
Little Bear remained close due to the flooding at the Ocean Course.
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 | - | - | - |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
| Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
| House Wren | 2 | - | - | - |
| Veery | 1 | - | - | - |
| Gray Catbird | 26 | 18 | - | - |
| Northern Mockingbird | - | 1 | - | - |
| Tennessee Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Common Yellowthroat | 4 | - | - | - |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Palm Warbler (western) | 5 | - | - | - |
| American Redstart | - | 2 | - | - |
| Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | - |
| Painted Bunting | - | 1 | - | - |
| Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 44 | - | 44 |
| # of Recaptures | 24 | - | 24 |
| # of Species | 16 | - | 16 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 127.5 | - | 127.5 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 53.3 | - | 53.3 |
| Nets | 25 | - | 25 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (CS)
Chris Snook (CS)
Nancy Raginski (CS)
Sean McElaney (CS)
Casey Weissburg (CS)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Ryan Donnelly (CS)
