Flight of the Vireos

Captain Sam's:

There was another solid push of migrants last night. We had a less busy morning than yesterday with 72 birds banded and 11 recaps of 14 species. We were expecting very high numbers again today but believe easterly winds may have pushed some migrants more inland. If we begin to get a westerly wind, our numbers should jump dramatically. Common Yellowthroats continued as the top species followed by Red-eyed Vireos (11). It's interesting to see the differing amounts of black in the mask of the hatch-year male yellowthroats. They vary from just a few specks of black to close to a complete black mask. I enjoyed today a bit more due to the less hectic pace and help of our volunteers Ryan, David, and Chris who were a great help.

-Joel

Little Bear:

Banding at Little Bear today wasn't quite as exciting as yesterday, but we still got plenty of awesome birds, which is great considering our slow start to the season. We banded a total of 55 new birds with 6 recaps, topping out at 14 total species, just like Captain Sam's. With 13 Red-eyed Vireos and 4 new White-eyed Vireos banded, the vireos beat out Common Yellowthroats for the most-banded birds today. As a vireo fan myself, I always love banding these charismatic birds, which always seem to have a bit more personality than most of the other passerines we catch. Another highlight for the day was a Yellow-breasted Chat, our second one of the season for Little Bear. These birds are the only member of the bird family Icteriidae, although they were previously classified in the same family as all other New World warblers (Parulidae) until just last year. 

- Danaé

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	3	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	2	4	1
Red-eyed Vireo	11	-	13	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Veery	2	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	6	1	5	-
Brown Thrasher	1	-	-	-
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	3	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	1	1	-
Ovenbird	2	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	36	2	16	-
American Redstart	4	-	2	-
Yellow Warbler	4	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	1	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	1	1
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	2	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	72	55	127
# of Recaptures	11	6	17
# of Species	14	14	19
Effort (net-hours)	116.7	55	171.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	71.1	110.9	83.9
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	670	421	1091
# of Recaptures	170	65	235
# of Species	42	32	48
Effort (net-hours)	3449.2	1239.65	4688.85
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.4	39.2	28.3
# of Days	29	22	-

Banding Staff
Joanne Hamilton (LB)

Chris Snook (CS)

David McLean (CS)

Ryan Donnelly (CS)

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Meredith Heather (CS)

Danaé Mouton (LB)

Kristin Attinger (LB)
Joel Throckmorton (CS)