August 17, 2016

We had a better morning out at Captain Sam's today with 10 new birds and 4 recaptures of 8 species. We ended up closing at 11am again due to the heat and humidity and another day of low bird numbers. The highlight of the day was a Cooper's Hawk, caught soon after opening nets!

Unlike yesterday, we caught a few migrant birds today as well. We had another Great-crested Flycatcher, an American Redstart, and a first-of-the season Prothonotary Warbler. Prothonotary Warblers are usually found in swamps and bottomland forests where they nest in tree cavities created by other cavity nesting species, such as Downy Woodpeckers. They are at risk of becoming threatened or endangered if their breeding habitat is not conserved and are already endangered in Canada. A great place to see this beautiful bird during the breeding season is in the Francis Beidler Forest. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to see some early migrants most likely dominated by resident species.

-Michael

Cooper's Hawk (second year, female)

We knew this was a second year because of the molt limits in
the flight feathers and body plumage (note the brown, retained,
juvenile flight and body feathers compared to the dark black, replaced, adult
feathers). Also, second years have a more yellowish-orange eye while after second
years have a dark orange to reddish eye (it goes from yellow to red as they get older).  

Prothonotary Warbler (hatch year, male)

Pictures by Mattie VandenBoom

New Birds
1 Cooper's Hawk 

1 Great-crested Flycatcher

2 Carolina Wren 

1 Prothonotary Warbler

1 American Redstart 

1 Prairie Warbler 

2 Northern Cardinal 

1 Painted Bunting

Recaptures

1 Carolina Wren 

3 Painted Bunting

Banding Stats

# of Birds Banded: 10

# of Recaptures: 4

# of Species: 8

Effort: 142.5 net-hours

Capture Rate: 9.8 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets: 25

Banding Staff

Aaron Given 

Blaine Carnes 

Mattie VandenBoom 

Michael Gamble