One in Four Birds Have Died Since 1970

Captain Sam's and Little Bear:

Today was like any other day, no new species for the station list. At Captain Sam's we caught a total of 115 birds, with Yellowthroats, Waterthrushes, and Redstarts being our top species. At Little Bear we caught 29 birds and Yellowthroats dominated that list.

But what really captured us today was the one unified report that was published by the journal of Science - one of the foremost journals in the field - that since the year 1970, we have lost 2.9 BILLION birds. That number is NOT worldwide, it is literally from only TWO countries - Canada and the United States of America. So in less than one generation, we've lost one in four birds. 

(Courtesy of Cornell lab of Ornithology)

Luckily places like Kiawah Island promote biodiversity and emphasize the continuation of research and work with birds and the initiative to grow native plants - which provide crucial habitat and food for birds.

With such devastating news, we were left with one final thought from Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring:

“On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices, there was now no sound.”


- Dave

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	3	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Veery	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	2	-	-	-
Brown Thrasher	2	1	-	-
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	4	-	1	2
Black and White Warbler	2	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	86	2	22	-
American Redstart	4	-	-	-
Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	2	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	111	27	138
# of Recaptures	4	2	6
# of Species	13	5	17
Effort (net-hours)	126.3	45.65	171.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	91.1	63.5	83.8
# of Nets	28	16	44

2019 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	963	443	1,406
# of Recaptures	260	112	372
# of Species	42	33	48
Effort (net-hours)	3,612.25	1,145.95	4,758.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	33.8	48.4	37.4
# of Days	29	20	-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Dan Errichetti (LB)
Arcata Leavitt (CS)
Dave Sandahl (LB) 
Katie Doherty (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Bethany Darby (CS)