Captain Sam's
Our hopes were not high this morning when we arrived at Captain Sam's, due to poor overnight conditions and morning fog. However, we had a fairly constant flow of birds today and with several exciting highlights, we ended with 43 new birds and 21 recaps of 11 species--two of which are new for the season: American Goldfinch and Tree Swallow!
We have had many occasions to witness the amazing migration and flocking behaviors of Tree Swallows out at Captain Sam's, as literally thousands of these agile little birds swarm across the skies. Today, seeking food to make up for the day they lost to rain yesterday, they swarmed a tree right next to one of our nets and 13 of them were captured as the flock rushed back into the air. We've been waiting for this for weeks now and were very happy to find them in the net.
The American Goldfinches were also a great catch today because these little birds often fly over the net array without coming low enough to be captured. Additionally, we captured yet another late Yellow-billed Cuckoo. What a morning!
-Casey
 |
| Tree Swallow (After-hatch-year male) |
 |
| Tree Swallow |
 |
| Tree Swallow (After-hatch-year female) |
 |
| American Goldfinch (After-hatch-year female) Photos by Casey Weissburg |
Little Bear
Early morning fog made for a slow start this morning but a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers gave the site a much needed boost in numbers. Our final tally for the morning was 26 new birds and 14 recaptures of 7 species. These low numbers and the fewer species signals that the fall migration is coming to an end.
We had a couple of surprises this morning the first being a late Yellow-billed Cuckoo and an after hatch year male Sharp-shinned Hawk!
- Chris
 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk (After hatch year male) |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | - | - | 1 | - |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 | - | - | - |
| Tree Swallow | 13 | - | - | - |
| House Wren Carolina Chickadee |
1 - |
- 1 |
- - |
- - |
| Hermit Thrush | 1 | - | - | - |
| Gray Catbird | 3 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 16 | 6 | 19 | - |
| Palm Warbler (Western) | - | - | 1 | - |
| Common Yellowthroat | - | - | 1 | - |
| Song Sparrow | - | - | - | 1 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| Northern Cardinal | - | 4 | - | - |
| House Finch | 1 | - | - | - |
| American Goldfinch | 4 | - | - | - |
| Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 44 | 26 | 70 |
| # of Recaptures | 21 | 12 | 33 |
| # of Species | 11 | 7 | 15 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 140.0 | 82.5 | 222.5 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 46.4 | 48.5 | 46.3 |
| Nets | 25 | 15 | 40 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (CS)
Chris Snook (LB)
Nancy Raginski (LB)
Sean McElaney (LB)
Casey Weissburg (CS)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Ryan Donnelly (CS)
