For the past few days, we've been experiencing some nice northerly winds which have been bringing us a good amount of migrants, but unfortunately, those winds were absent today, meaning we had a slower and hotter banding day than usual. Still, we were able to band 8 new birds and had 6 recaptures, with a total of 7 species processed at the site.
When the birds are slow, it's nice to take some time and look around the site for other wildlife. Some of the species we've detected so far are deer (tracks), bobcat (tracks and scat), lots of snakes and lizards, and a plethora of butterflies. The most exciting find for me was a beautiful 3-4ft Eastern Kingsnake (pictured below). Like most of the snakes around Captain Sam's, Kingsnakes are non-venomous and pose no threat to us humans. Since I had never seen one before, I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to appreciate a new species of wildlife!
 |
| Eastern Kingsnake |
-Danaé
Little Bear
The wind finally let up at Little Bear and we were able to keep all the nets open for the duration of banding. Unfortunately, this meant the heat played an even greater factor today, causing us to shut down a little after midmorning. In this time, we were able to capture 9 new birds and 3 recaptures of 5 species. There were some new species spotted around the station that we hope to catch in our nets during this slower week of banding. We had a Chuck-will's-widow perched in a dead snag next to a net when opening this morning and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a tree above the banding table. After closing, a night heron landed close to one of our nets and I wished we could have stayed open just a bit longer!
-Michael
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Northern Mockingbird
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Carolina Wren
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
1
|
Eastern Towhee
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Northern Waterthrush
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
American Redstart
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Yellow Warbler
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
Prairie Warbler
|
2
|
-
|
1
|
1
|
Northern Cardinal
|
1
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
Painted Bunting
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
1
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
8
|
9
|
17
|
| # of Recaptures |
6
|
3
|
9
|
| # of Species |
7
|
5
|
12
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
128.2
|
70.0
|
198.2
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
10.9
|
17.1
|
13.1
|
| # of Nets |
28
|
20
|
48
|
| 2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
247
|
65
|
312
|
| # of Recaptures |
75
|
17
|
92
|
| # of Species |
26
|
10
|
28
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
1598.05
|
311.05
|
1909.1
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
20.1
|
26.4
|
21.2
|
| # of Days | 12 | 5 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
