A Windy Day for Banding

CAPTAIN SAM'S
Conditions were less than favorable for banding on Kiawah today. So much so that Little Bear was unable to open due to wind. The undesirable conditions forced Captain Sam's to only open 15 nets. Because of this, we captured very few birds; 7 new birds and 5 recaptures for a total of 12 birds. Although our capture rate was low, our station managed to observe a few interesting birds.  We witnessed a large flock of Tree Swallows flying above our station. During fall migration and winter these Swallows can form large flocks, sometimes numbering in the thousands.  Unfortunately they did not swoop down into our nets. A Loggerhead Shrike was also spotted perched near the banding station. Although the shrike is a songbird, it exhibits raptor-like behaviors. These birds will feed on a variety of food sources including insects, rodents, and even other birds.  Shrikes will often impale their prey on objects such as thorns and barbed wire, and will return to feast off of the remains. In the days to come we hope to have more luck capturing these interesting birds.

-Ryan

LITTLE BEAR
Little Bear did not open the nets today due to strong winds.

-Aaron

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3	-	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3	1	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-

Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	7	-	7
# of Recaptures	5	-	5
# of Species	7	-	7
Effort (net-hours)	33.2	-	33.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.1	-	36.1
# of Nets	15	-	15

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (CS)
Ryan Donnelly (CS)

November 12, 2016

Captain Sam's 
It was a cool and blustery morning at Captain Sam’s today.  The weather condition kept our capture rate low with 15 new birds and 10 recaptures of 7 species.  Highlights included another Blue-headed Vireo and a White-throated Sparrow.  The wind is forecasted to die down a little for tomorrow but it is still likely to have an effect on the capture rate.       

-Mattie 

Little Bear

It was very squall like out at Little Bear this morning. A nearby weather station at Folly Beach had recorded winds speeds at approximately 20-22 mph. To us it seemed to be blowing a bit harder than that! We were only able to open four of our nets for 20 minutes prior to shutting them down. The breeze was too strong and it was not worth the risk to the safety of the birds. With that said, we banded two new birds and had two recaptures of three species. One of the new birds was a Sharp-shinned Hawk (pictured below on the Left). The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a very effective ambush hunter; weaving through trees and undergrowth after its prey. The bird we caught was a hatch year. You can determine this by two key indicators. First take note of the lighter, buffy edging (denoted by arrows) on the wing and overall brown color. Compare the overall brown color of Sharp-shinned Hawk on the left (banded today) with the slate-gray of the adult on the right (banded on 11/11/2016) This is generally present only on hatch year birds and not on second year or adult birds. Another key indicator is the eye color. Hatch year Sharp-shinned Hawks have yellow eyes, unlike that of adults which have a deep red eye.

- Michael R

Hatch year Sharp-shinned Hawk (Left) banded today. Adult (after second year) Sharp-shinned Hawk (Right) banded yesterday

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	1	-	-
Blue-headed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	1	-
Gray Catbird	1	5	-	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	10	2	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	-	-	-

Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	15	2	17
# of Recaptures	10	2	12
# of Species	7	3	8
Effort (net-hours)	113.9	1.33	115.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.9	100	25.1
# of Nets	24	4	28

Banding Staff
Blaine Carnes (LB)
Mattie VandenBoom (CS)
Alison Nevins (LB)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Michael Rodgers (LB)
Ryan Donnelly (CS)
Nancy Raginski (CS)