A Happy hOWLoween Indeed!

Captain Sam's

As the sun rose, groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers continued to move overhead today. We didn't have too many land at Captain Sam's today and only caught 6 of this species. It was a slow day and we only caught 21 new birds and 10 recaps of 12 species. We continue to recapture our lone Wilson's Warbler. Banding ceased early as we left to attempt marsh sparrow banding at high tide in the coastal marshes. We set up mist nets in the water around areas of high elevation that the sparrows concentrate on during high tide. Our team walked through these areas and attempted to flush birds into the mist nets. Many individuals haven't arrived from the north, but we did end up catching a decent number of Nelson's Sparrows, Seaside Sparrows, and several Marsh Wrens. Several of us got lifers, and we were all thrilled to see these coastal sparrows and learn about the different subspecies.

-Joel


Little Bear

Little Bear did a bit better than Captain Sam's today, with 28 new birds banded and 14 recaptures of 16 species total. Our highlight of the day was definitely the Eastern Screech Owl we caught during our first net run! This sleepy guy/gal decided to perch right next to one of our nets and was very easy to flush in, making for the perfect Halloween catch. The Little Bear crew closed up nets early along with Captain Sam's to spend some time marsh sparrow banding on the island during high tide. We had a blast sloshing through water, capturing marsh sparrows and wrens, and getting to see a Clapper Rail flush only feet from us! Pictures of several of the species we captured are shown below.

 "Grey Morph" Eastern Screech Owl (hatch year)

After hatch-year Marsh Wren

After hatch-year Nelson's Sparrow (altera subspecies)

After hatch-year Seaside Sparrow (maritimus subspecies)

- Danaé

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Screech Owl	-	-	1	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	-	-	1	-
House Wren	3	-	1	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	2	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	1	-
Gray Catbird	4	6	9	10
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	1	-
Eastern Towhee	1	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	3	-
Swamp Sparrow	2	1	1	1
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	1
Blackpoll Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	6	-	4	-
Wilson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	21	28	49
# of Recaptures	10	14	24
# of Species	12	16	19
Effort (net-hours)	128.8	95	223.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.1	44.2	32.6
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,150	2,444	5,594
# of Recaptures	853	411	1,264
# of Species	71	69	85
Effort (net-hours)	8,224.1	3,716.9	11,941
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	48.7	76.8	57.4
# of Days	70	58	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (CS)
Danaé Mouton (LB)

FOS: Sharp-shinned Hawk

Captain Sam's
Today was not a super busy day but we did get some FOS! We got our Golden-crowned Kinglet, Yellow Palm Warbler, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. We had a total of 56 newly banded birds and 11 recaptures. My favorite catch of the day was the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Juvenile male Sharp-shinned Hawk

-Kristin 

Little Bear

The radar last night and this morning showed a good movement of birds, so we were expecting a busy morning. However, that was not the case as most birds must've continued to fly over and few came down to stop at Little Bear. We heard several groups of birds flying over, including Yellow-rumped Warblers and Pine Siskins, but after coming back empty handed from our second net run we knew it wouldn't be the day we hoped for. It was a very slow morning for us with only 20 new birds and 7 recaps of 12 species. The wind continued to gain speed through the morning, so we closed a little early. Hopefully tomorrow will bring us the big push of Yellow-rumped Warblers we've been waiting for! It is enjoyable to continue to get late warblers, though, such as Cape May Warblers, as migration has been later than usual this year.

-Meredith

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	3	1	1	-
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
House Wren	2	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	7	-	1	-
Hermit Thrush	-	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	14	6	7	5
Eastern Towhee	1	1	-	-
Song Sparrow	4	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	4	-	4	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	1	1	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	-	-	-	-
Blackpoll Warbler	-	1	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (eastern)	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (western)	3	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	7	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	2	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	56	20	76
# of Recaptures	11	7	18
# of Species	21	12	23
Effort (net-hours)	154.7	70.3	225
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.3	38.4	41.8
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,129	2,416	5,545
# of Recaptures	843	397	1,240
# of Species	71	69	85
Effort (net-hours)	8095.25	3,621.9	11,717.15
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	49.1	77.6	57.9
# of Days	69	57	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)
Danae Mouton (CS)

10/29/18

CAPTAIN SAM'S

It was a slower morning out at Captain Sam's with 24 new birds and 21 recaptures of 18 different species. The conditions look favorable for decent migration tonight so we are hoping for a push of birds tomorrow morning!

LITTLE BEAR

We had our best net run in about a week early this AM with about 25 birds on the first net check. It slowed down a bit, and we finished the day with a total of 48 new and 18 recaps of 20 species. We had the second ever Red-breasted Nuthatch for Little Bear on the last net run of the day. It should be a great year for irruptive species such as this one, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin (which we have been hearing at LB). We are really hoping to catch some of these species as the temperature continues to drop. Irruptive species are species that move further outside than their "normal" range due to a number of factors. This can occur every couple years, or once only every 10 years or so. Several factors influencing these irruptions include severe winters up north or famine and few food choices. Some species will deplete their food sources more quickly in years the population does extremely well. Thus more birds will have to venture further from their range to find adequate food. Northern banding stations are already reporting very high numbers of Purple Finch, so we really hope to catch one (or more) in the upcoming weeks.

-Joel

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	1	-	1
Eastern Phoebe	3	-	2	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	-	1
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Red-breasted Nuthatch	-	-	1	-
House Wren	2	-	1	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	15	19	12
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	-	1
Song Sparrow	-	-	3	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	3	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	-	-	1
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Tennessee Warbler	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	2	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	4	-
Cape May Warbler	1	-	-	1
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Blackpoll Warbler	1	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (western)	2	-	2	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	5	1	3	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Wilson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	4	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	24	48	72
# of Recaptures	21	18	39
# of Species	18	20	27
Effort (net-hours)	154.4	118.7	273.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.1	55.6	40.6
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,072	2,396	5,468
# of Recaptures	832	390	1,222
# of Species	69	69	82
Effort (net-hours)	7,940.55	3,551.6	11,492.15
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	49.2	78.4	58.2
# of Days	68	56	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)
Danae Mouton (CS)

Interesting "Solitary" Vireo

CAPTAIN SAM'S

Today was a chilly day! We had a total of 40 newly banded birds and 16 recaptures. It was really cool that we recaptured the Wilson's Warbler that was banded 2 days ago! We also started to capture some more Orange-crowned Warblers. It is great to see these birds and the variation of the orange they can get in their crowns.

-Kristin

LITTLE BEAR

It was a cool fall day out at Little Bear with many more birds around than we have had the last few days. At the start of the morning, we heard a Pine Siskin fly over the station and one turned up near one of our nets. With this being an irruption year, hopefully one will find our nets eventually. We banded 43 new birds and had 23 recaptures of 16 different species, which included 6 late Cape May Warblers.

The highlight of the morning was this interesting vireo pictured below. When I saw it in the net I thought just a Blue-headed Vireo but when I extracted it, right away I noticed how dull it was compared to all the Blue-headed Vireos I have handled. For now we are just calling it a "Solitary" Vireo. The "Solitary" Vireo group split in 1997 following genetic studies, which demonstrated differences between 3 subspecies of distinct plumage types, the Plumbeous, Cassin's, and Blue-headed Vireo. We are used to the Blue-headed Vireo since they winter in the southeastern states and breed in the Appalachians and further north into Canada. The Plumbeous Vireo breeds in the Rocky Mountain region and the Cassin's Vireo breeds in the Pacific states and parts of the northern Rockies. There is some overlap in the ranges of the Blue-headed and Cassin's Vireo and the Cassin's and Plumbeous Vireo.

The plumage differences between these 3 species are subtle and can be difficult to identify in the field and hand. Blue-headed Vireos have a bright bluish crown and face that contrast with the bright greenish nape and back. The wing edging is also bright green, the outer rectrices have distinct white edging, and the flanks are yellow to yellowish olive, contrasting with the white underparts. Cassin's Vireos have a dull grayish to olive crown, nape, and face that contrasts slightly with the dull olive back. The wing edging is dull greenish, outer rectrices with no or indistinct white edging, and the flanks are dull olive, contrasting indistinctly with the white underparts. Lastly, Plumbeous Vireos have a uniformly gray crown, face, and back with wing edging whitish. The flanks are usually washed grayish, contrasting distinctly with the white underparts.

Plumbeous Vireo was ruled out due to this birds' smaller size. Wing and tail measurements were in the range for both Cassin's and Blue-headed Vireo but the exposed culmen was too small for Blue-headed Vireo. The plumage was also not typical of a Blue-headed Vireo so Cassin's is possible but a dull Blue-headed Vireo is a possibility as well. We are still trying to figure it out but will update the blog when we do. Take a look below! The first picture is a Blue-headed Vireo and all the others are different angles of the "Solitary" Vireo we caught this morning.

Blue-headed Vireo

"Solitary" Vireo (hatch-year, sex unknown)

-Michael

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo	2	1	5	1
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	5	1	1	-
"Solitary" Vireo	-	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	1
House Wren	1	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet	-	-	2	-
Gray Catbird	15	7	11	16
Song Sparrow	1	-	2	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	2	2
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Orange-Crowned Warbler	5	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	3	2	2	2
Cape May Warbler	-	-	6	-
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	2	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	2	-	5	-
Wilson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	-	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	1
Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	40	43	83
# of Recaptures	16	23	39
# of Species	17	16	23
Effort (net-hours)	164.75	124.0	288.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	34.0	53.2	42.3
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,048	2,348	5,396
# of Recaptures	811	372	1,183
# of Species	69	69	82
Effort (net-hours)	7,786.15	3,432.9	11,219.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	49.6	79.2	58.6
# of Days	67	55	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)

Cuckoo for Coccyzus (americanus)

CAPTAIN SAM'S

We enjoyed hosting an ornithology class from Clemson University this morning. Despite the chill and wind, we caught a good number of species to show them and teach them how we age and process birds. I think a favorite for all was the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It was also exciting for everyone when we caught our first-of-season Clay-colored Sparrow - a lifer for both Kristin and me!  We ended the day with a total of 16 newly banded birds and 16 recaps of 12 species. Between slow net runs, the class took time to bird around the site and add to their species list, including Bald Eagle, Seaside Sparrow, and a large group of White Ibis in both adult and juvenile plumage.

Clay-colored Sparrow (hatch year, unknown sex)

Aaron teaching the Clemson group about molt limits

-Meredith


LITTLE BEAR


Overall, we continue to wait for the next push of migrants.We are hoping the storms moving off the northeastern U.S. coast will allow for late season migrants to head our way. Today's totals included 22 new birds and 10 recaps of 10 species. We did have our biggest day for Yellow-billed Cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus) with 4 new and 2 recaps. It is amazing how loud the cuckoo can call in your hand. Sometimes, it is almost deafening. These birds have a lot of attitude, and I never get tired of seeing one in the hand (or field)! We keep secretly hoping for a Black-billed Cuckoo, which is a much less common species for South Carolina.

-Joel

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	2	-	4	2
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	2	-
Gray Catbird	3	9	6	7
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	1
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	-
Clay-colored Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	2	-
Tennessee Warbler	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	3	2	-
American Redstart	2	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	2	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle's)	3	1	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	-	2	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	16	22	38
# of Recaptures	16	10	26
# of Species	12	10	17
Effort (net-hours)	137.3	91.5	228.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	23.3	35	28
# of Nets	26	20	46

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,008	2,305	5,313
# of Recaptures	795	349	1,144
# of Species	69	69	82
Effort (net-hours)	7,621.4	3,308.9	10,930.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	49.9	80.2	59.1
# of Days	66	54	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)

FOS: Wilson's Warbler

CAPTAIN SAM'S

After waking up and seeing the gloomy weather, I decided to give everybody a day off from banding.  The rain looked like it was going to clear, so I went out to the spit and opened up some nets.  It was very windy so I was only able to open 12 of our 28 nets.  On top of that, the tide was extremely high and the banding site was inundated with water making it more difficult to move around the banding trails.  Bird activity was extremely low and in a little less than than 2.5 hours I only captured 1 new bird and 3 recaptures.  However, the new bird that I did catch was a Wilson's Warbler!  Wilson's Warbler are quite rare on Kiawah Island, and we may only catch one (if we are lucky) each year.

-Aaron

Wilson's Warbler (Hatch year, female)

  

LITTLE BEAR

No banding occurred at Little Bear today due to wind and rain. 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Wren	-	2	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Wilson's Warbler	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	1	-	1
# of Recaptures	3	-	3
# of Species	3	-	3
Effort (net-hours)	26.9	-	26.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	14.9	-	14.9
# of Nets	12	-	12

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,992	2283	5275
# of Recaptures	779	339	1118
# of Species	68	69	81
Effort (net-hours)	7484.1	3217.4	10701.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.4	81.5	59.7
# of Days	65	53	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)

FOS: White-throated Sparrow

Captain Sam's 

The weather was great at Captain Sam's today, so we were able to stay open for a full six-hour day. We ended up with 40 new birds and 24 recaptured birds of 15 species total. As per usual, Catbirds were our most common bird captured during the day, but we did get some good species including an Eastern Wood-Pewee and two Orange-crowned Warblers. One of our Orange-crowned Warblers was a hatch-year male and had a fairly large orange crown, which was exciting for me since I had never seen a male of this species before.

Another great bird today was a Swamp Sparrow that was likely a member of the Coastal Plain subspecies of Swamp Sparrows (Also known as Melospiza georgiana nigrescens, in case you were curious). This subspecies breeds on the coast up North-- mostly in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay areas, and it is possible that some of them may winter on Kiawah Island. A study done in 2003 found that there were less than 28,000 breeding pairs of Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow, largely due to a lack of suitable breeding habitat (Check out this link for the full study, and another interesting article on the future of the subspecies here).

The characteristic that led us to suspect our bird was a member of the Coastal Plain subspecies was the relatively dark head, with the dark coloration extending down onto the back, as seen in the photos below.

Hatch-year Swamp Sparrow 

Hatch-year Swamp Sparrow

- Danaé

Little Bear

It was a pretty slow morning at Little Bear with 29 new birds and 13 recaptures of 10 species. The wind was not as bad as predicted and we were able to keep most of our nets open all morning. We caught all our usual species for this time of year with Gray Catbirds leading the way. The highlight of the morning was a first-of-the-season White-throated Sparrow and a recaptured Swamp Sparrow that was banded on 10/24/2016. We will begin to get the remnants of Hurricane Willa tomorrow morning so we will most likely not be able to run Little Bear due to the high winds and rain.

-Michael

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	2	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
House Wren	-	-	3	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	17	14	16	9
Northern Mockingbird	-	1	-	-
Eastern Towhee	2	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	1	2	1
White-throated Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	1	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	5	2	3	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	5	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	-	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	40	29	69
# of Recaptures	24	13	37
# of Species	15	10	19
Effort (net-hours)	160.05	109.95	270.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	40.0	38.2	39.3
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,991	2,283	5,274
# of Recaptures	776	339	1,115
# of Species	67	69	80
Effort (net-hours)	7457.2	3217.35	10674.55
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.5	81.5	59.9
# of Days	64	53	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)

10/24/2018

Captain Sam's

Today was a nice chilled morning! We started out with a great run, but soon died off as the day progressed. We had a total of 51 newly banded birds and 15 recaptured birds. We banded 19 Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle)  with 14 of those being caught during the 1st net run in net #1.  We also banded our first Hermit Thrush of the season.

-Kristin


Little Bear

We had an uneventful morning at Little Bear. Although the radar looked decent this morning, we didn't have a lot of success. We think many of the Yellow-rumped Warblers continued to move overhead after sunrise this morning, and we have some evidence of this due to flight calls and several visual sightings. Few ended up in our nets, and the wind quickly picked up to shut us down! We totaled 14 birds banded and 6 recaps of 9 species today.

-Joel

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	2	1
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	4	-	1	-
House Wren	2	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	-	-
Hermit Thrush	3	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	9	10	3	3
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	1	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	3	-	2	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	3	-	1	2
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	19	1	2	-
Scarlet Tanager	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	51	14	65
# of Recaptures	15	6	21
# of Species	17	9	19
Effort (net-hours)	135.5	43.1	178.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	48.7	46.4	48.2
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2951	2,254	5205
# of Recaptures	752	326	1078
# of Species	67	68	79
Effort (net-hours)	7297.15	3107.4	10404.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.7	83.0	60.3
# of Days	63	52	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Joanne Hamilton (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)

Recap Roundup

Captain Sam's

Today was a cloudy day filled with recaptures, mostly Gray Catbirds that will remain for the winter. Some birds like Gray Catbirds, may remain on Kiawah for the winter until they migrate to their breeding territories in spring. One such Catbird has been wintering here for three years. Recaptures like this are part of what makes banding so great. Knowing that the same bird has come to the same spot for three years gives us insight into how old birds can live, what habitats they like, when they arrive and leave, etc. We will get many more recaptures this winter and hopefully they will return next year! Our totals for the day were 30 banded birds of 12 species, and 40 recaptures of 8 species.

- Joanne



Little Bear
Today was an extremely slow day. We had a total of 16 newly banded birds and 18 recaptured birds.
The highlight of the day was capturing a beautiful AHY female Painted Bunting and an Orange-crowned Warbler. Hopefully tomorrow will pick up, bringing in some more birds.

After-hatch year female Painted Bunting (Banded on 9/22/2018)

 After-hatch year female Painted Bunting

This after-hatch year female, was originally banded on 9/26/2016 as a after-hatch year. This makes this bird 3+ years old. Some females can gain more colors throughout their body as they get older. As seen above, this female has attained more of a blue tinge throughout her body compared to more greener color as shown above, banded on 9/22/2018.

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow Billed Cuckoo	1			1
Eastern Phoebe	1
White-eyed Vireo				1
Carolina Chickadee		1
House Wren	3	3		1
Carolina Wren		2		1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2		1
Gray Catbird	14	28	10	8
Brown Thrasher		1
Northern Mockingbird				1
Eastern Towhee	1			1
Swamp Sparrow	2
Orange-crowned Warbler			1
Common Yellowthroat	1	1	1	1
Cape May Warbler				1
Northern Parula	1
Blackpoll Warbler				1
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1
Western Palm Warbler			2
Myrtle Warbler	2
Northern Cardinal		3
Painted Bunting	1	1	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	30	16	46
# of Recaptures	40	18	58
# of Species	16	14	22
Effort (net-hours)	166.9	110	276.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	41.9	30.9	37.5
# of Nets	28	20	48

2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2900	2,240	5140
# of Recaptures	736	320	1056
# of Species	66	68	79
Effort (net-hours)	7161.65	3064.3	10225.95
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	50.7	83.5	60.6
# of Days	62	51	-

Banding Staff
Michael Gamble (CS)
Meredith Heather (LB)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Joanne Hamilton (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)