It started off very windy at Little Bear, which limited the amount of nets we could run. This affected our capture rate as we only captured 9 new birds and 3 recaptures of 4 species. The highlight of the morning was a recaptured after-second-year male Painted Bunting with a geolocator on its back. This bird was banded last fall at Little Bear on August 25th as a second-year bird and then re-caught this summer at someone's house where Aaron fitted it with a geolocator. Now it seems it has returned to Little Bear this fall to molt again before its migration. Hopefully this bird returns next year so the data can be retrieved!
The last two summers Aaron has been fitting adult male painted buntings with geos in partnership with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center to see where our population of painted buntings winter. Geolocators collect light levels and based on light levels, you can figure out sunrise and sunset times and where these birds are wintering. Geos do not have pin-point accuracy but can give us a general area of where these birds are located during and after migration. If you want to learn more about this project, check out the Smithsonian's website at https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/painted-bunting.
Michael
CAPTAIN SAM'S
We banded 20 new birds and recaptured 8 at Captain Sam's today, including a FOS Brown Thrasher, which was a new bird to band for both Meredith and I. Another exciting bird for the day was an after second year male Painted Bunting, which we banded and then fitted with a small geolocator, as part of an ongoing study on the migratory habits of this species. Hopefully this bird will return to Kiawah next year, where its tag can be removed and its data analyzed.
The harness which is made out of flexible bead string is attached to the geolocator by forming two loops. The bird wears the geolocator like a backpack with each loop going around each leg and the geolocator sitting on the bird's back. Once attached to the bird, the geolocator can be tightened, if necessary, and the excess ends of the string trimmed off.
 |
| Geolocator |
 |
| Painted Bunting (After second-year, male) Note the light stalk from the geolocator coming from the lower back of the bird. |
Danaé
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Great Crested Flycatcher
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Red-eyed Vireo
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Carolina Chickadee
|
-
|
1
|
2
|
-
|
Carolina Wren
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
1
|
Brown Thrasher
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Northern Mockingbird
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Eastern Towhee
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Northern Waterthrush
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Common Yellowthroat
|
4
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
American Redstart
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Yellow Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Prairie Warbler
|
3
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Northern Cardinal
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Painted Bunting
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
20
|
9
|
29
|
| # of Recaptures |
8
|
3
|
11
|
| # of Species |
14
|
4
|
14
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
141.1
|
48.5
|
189.6
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
19.8
|
24.7
|
21.1
|
| # of Nets |
28
|
16
|
44
|
| 2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
219
|
47
|
266
|
| # of Recaptures |
61
|
10
|
71
|
| # of Species |
24
|
10
|
26
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
1327.05
|
169.6
|
1496.65
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
21.1
|
33.6
|
22.5
|
| # of Days | 10 | 3 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (CS)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
