Captain Sam's
Today was a pretty crazy day out at Captain Sam's! We caught a, somewhat unexpected, total of 237 new birds with 146 of those being Common Yellowthroats alone! Its definitely that time of year! Common Yellowthroats are on the move!
We also noticed kettles of vultures, a few Bald Eagles and possibly some other raptors riding heat thermals up to begin to migrate as well. Though there was no frontal system pushing cold winds our way, there were good winds coming from the north that probably encouraged all these migrants to start moving. Some interesting captures for the day were a few, a little later than usual, migrants such as the Great-Crested Flycatcher and Hooded Warblers. Our hope is that tomorrow continues the trend of good migration as winds should continue to come from the north overnight.
 |
| A small portion of the birds we caught today. All waiting patiently to be processed. |
Little Bear
We had another busy morning down on the east end of Kiawah Island. We surpassed yesterday's total with 139 new birds and 6 recaps. Common Yellowthroat migration is in full swing! We banded 86 of those little warblers, including an interesting after hatch-year female. Other highlights of the day include an Eastern Kingbird, Hooded Warbler, Eastern Wood-Peewee, and Little Bear's first Gray Catbirds of the season.
A large black mask is generally a characteristic of adult male yellowthroats. However, adult females have been known to exhibit this characteristic on occasion.
 |
| Today's after hatch-year female. |
 |
| Male, after hatch-year |
 |
| Hatch-year males' appearance can range from no mask to a complete mask. Taken from a 2015 KIBS blog post |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Eastern Wood-pewee
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Eastern Kingbird
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Great-Crested Flycatcher
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
White-eyed Vireo
|
1
|
-
|
4
|
-
|
Red-eyed Vireo
|
34
|
-
|
11
|
-
|
Veery
|
5
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Gray Catbird
|
4
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
Northern Mockingbird
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Yellow-breasted Chat
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Baltimore Oriole
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Ovenbird
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
Northern Waterthrush
|
2
|
-
|
4
|
4
|
Black-and-white Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Prothonotary Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Common Yellowthroat
|
146
|
-
|
86
|
-
|
Hooded Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
American Redstart
|
11
|
-
|
8
|
-
|
Cape May Warbler
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Yellow Warbler
|
7
|
-
|
8
|
-
|
Black-throated Blue Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Palm Warbler (Western)
|
3
|
-
|
5
|
-
|
Prairie Warbler
|
2
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
Eastern Towhee
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Summer Tanager
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Norther Cardinal
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Painted Bunting
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
| |
| Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
237
|
139
|
376
|
| # of Recaptures |
4
|
6
|
10
|
| # of Species |
24
|
19
|
27
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
159.4
|
112
|
271.4
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
151.2
|
129.5
|
142.2
|
| # of Nets |
25
|
20
|
45
|
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Mattie VandenBoom (LB)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Kristen Oliver (CS)
Brandon Connare (LB)
Paul Carroll (CS)
Hannah Conley (LC)
