FOS: Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Philadelphia Vireo

Captain Sam's
It was quite a busy morning at Captain Sam's!  We finished the day with 139 new birds and 10 recaptures of 21 different species.  In addition to our usual abundance of Common Yellowthroats, we also had decent numbers of American Redstarts and Black-throated Blue Warblers.  The best bird of the day, however, was a hatch-year Philadelphia Vireo!  We've only caught a few of these birds since the station opened.  The majority of this species migrate further west along the Mississippi flyway.

Hatch-year Philadelphia Vireo! One way to distinguish this vireo from similar species (Bell's and Warbling Vireo) is to examine the P10 feather, the outermost primary flight feather.  The P10 is a vestigial feather, meaning that it is a now functionless remnant of an ancestral species. The P10 is especially small on a Philadelphia Vireo. Also, a big Thank You to the members of the Master Naturalists course who came out to Captain Sam's today! -Brandon Little Bear We continued our busy mornings out at Little Bear with 121 new birds and 10 recaptures of 19 different species. Common Yellowthroats led the way, but Palm Warblers were not that far behind with 29 banded today. Palm Warblers enjoy areas with low vegetation and a scattering of shrubs and trees, which explains why we see so many Palm Warbler flocks moving through throughout the morning and ending up in our nets. The highlight of the morning came in the first net run when we caught a first-of-the season Ruby-crowned Kinglet. We will get many more as we start to get into October, but it was a nice surprise on a day that still felt like a hot, summer afternoon. The conditions will be pretty similar tomorrow so hopefully this busy run will continue! Ruby-crowned Kinglet (after hatch-year, female) -Michael   Species Captain Sam's Little Bear New Recaps New Recaps White-eyed Vireo 2 - 4 - Philadelphia Vireo 1 - - - Red-eyed Vireo 3 1 3 - House Wren 1 - - - Marsh Wren 1 - - - Carolina Wren - - - 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - - 2 - Ruby-crowned Kinglet - - 1 - Veery 3 - - - Swainson's Thrush 1 - 1 - Gray Catbird 9 - 9 3 Baltimore Oriole 1 - 1 - Ovenbird - - 1 - Northern Waterthrush - - 2 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 - 2 - Common Yellowthroat 78 4 44 3 American Redstart 17 - 8 - Cape May Warbler 1 - - - Northern Parula 1 - 2 - Yellow Warbler - - - 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler 9 - 3 - Palm Warbler (Western) 5 - 29 - Prairie Warbler 1 - 9 - Eastern Towhee - 1 - - Northern Cardinal 1 1 - 1 Indigo Bunting 2 - - - Painted Bunting 1 2 - -  Banding Stats Captain Sam's Little Bear TOTAL # Birds Banded 139 121 260 # of Recaptures 9 10 19 # of Species 20 19 27 Effort (net-hours) 145.6 108.0 253.6 Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) 101.6 121.3 110.0 # of Nets 26 20 46 Banding Staff Aaron Given (CS) Mattie VandenBoom (LB) Michael Gamble (LB) Kristen Oliver (CS) Brandon Connare (CS) Paul Carroll (CS) Hannah Conley (LB) David McLean (CS)