We had a slightly slower but steady morning today at Captain Sam's. We banded 37 new individuals and recaptured 18 of 11 species. Gray Catbirds and Myrtle Warblers made up the majority of the catch with 27 and 14 of each species.
Our highlights of the day include 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, which is a little later than expected for them to be coming through, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. This was our second hawk of the season at Captain Sam's, the bird captured was a nice looking hatch year female.
We're expecting another front to move through in the next couple of days and hope to be slightly busier then.
-Nancy
Little Bear
Little Bear reached 2000, make that 2001, new birds banded
for the season today. This morning
seemed slow but we ended up having a total of 61 new birds and 17 recaptures,
comprised of only 10 species. We had
several net rounds with little to no birds but a few flocks of Yellow-rumped
Warblers and a small influx of Gray Catbirds allowed us to reach the 2000 mark.
During one of the slower rounds, we had the opportunity to
compare and photograph a pair of Swamp Sparrows that represented different age
classes. In the fall, there is a quick
trick to aging Swamp Sparrows and it involves simply looking at color of their
supercilium (eyebrow). Hatch year birds
will often have a yellow wash to their supercilium and will have a limited
amount of rufous in the crown. Adult
birds will have a crisp gray supercilium and will often have a moderate amount
of rufous in the crown. As with any
aging trick, it always a good idea to look for other indicators such as skull
ossification and molt limits to be sure the bird is aged correctly.
-Mattie
 | ||
| Swamp Sparrow (hatch year) |
 |
Swamp Sparrow (after hatch year) |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | - | - | - |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 2 | - | - | - |
| Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 | - | - | - |
| Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | 1 | - |
| Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| House Wren | - | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | - | 1 | - | - |
| Hermit Thrush | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| Gray Catbird | 16 | 11 | 24 | 7 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 12 | 2 | 27 | 2 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 | - | 1 | 2 |
| Eastern Towhee | - | - | - | 1 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 1 | 2 | 5 | - |
| Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 2 |
| Painted Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 37 | 61 | 98 |
| # of Recaptures | 18 | 17 | 35 |
| # of Species | 11 | 10 | 16 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 127.5 | 88.0 | 215.5 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 43.1 | 88.6 | 61.7 |
| Nets | 25 | 16 | 41 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (LB)
Chris Snook (LB)
Nancy Raginski (CS)
Sean McElaney (CS)
Casey Weissburg (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Ryan Donnelly (LB)
