The cold front has moved on and we're back to warmer mornings with less bird movement. Today we caught 50 new birds and 21 recaptures of 10 species. In the beginning of the season, this would have felt like a good day, but after our last few days being over 200 bird days, this felt slow. We were lucky enough to recapture the Swainson's Warbler from yesterday! This was a lifer bird for me and several other banders. With wind conditions that aren't ideal for migrating and no fat reserves, we think this bird and others around will wait until the next cold front later this week before continuing on with migration. In the meantime, they will rest and eat a lot to store up fat. We also caught our first of the season Orange-crowned Warbler!
We've been catching a decent number of Yellow-billed Cuckoos lately and have been able to capture both after-hatch-years and hatch-years. In the photos below you can compare the tails of both ages. The after-hatch-year tail is darker with a very distinct contrast between the black and white. The separation of the black and white on the hatch-year tail is more blended.
After-hatch-year tail of Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Hatch-year tail of Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Swainson's Warbler (hatch-year, unknown sex)
-Meredith
Little Bear
Today was a little warmer than usual. We did have an unusual amount of Blackpoll Warblers today. There was a total of 2 today! It was extremely exciting because Blackpoll Warblers migrate by the ocean to get to their wintering habitat. They rarely show up when the ocean weather is bad, pushing them towards the land. It was a blast to see 2 in one day!
 |
| Hatch-year male Blackpoll Warbler |
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
"Traill's" Flycatcher
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
| White-eyed Vireo | 1 |
-
|
-
|
-
|
Carolina Chickadee
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
House Wren
|
4
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Gray Catbird
|
34
|
13
|
14
|
8
|
Northern Waterthrush
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Swainson's Warbler
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Orange-crowned Warbler
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Common Yellowthroat
|
8
|
3
|
6
|
-
|
American Redstart
|
-
|
2
|
1
|
-
|
Cape May Warbler
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
Blackpoll Warbler
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
Northern Cardinal
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Painted Bunting
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
2
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
50
|
27
|
77
|
| # of Recaptures |
21
|
14
|
35
|
| # of Species |
10
|
10
|
15
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
105
|
56
|
161
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
67.6
|
73.2
|
69.6
|
| # of Nets |
28
|
20
|
48
|
| 2018 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
2562
|
1968
|
4530
|
| # of Recaptures |
465
|
210
|
675
|
| # of Species |
63
|
59
|
75
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
6127.6
|
2494
|
8621.6
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
49.4
|
87.3
|
60.4
|
| # of Days | 54 | 43 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (LB)
Meredith Heather (CS)
Danaé Mouton (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Joanne Hamilton (CS)
Joel Throckmorton (LB)
