Sunday, October 20, 2019

Blackpolls Galore

Captain Sam's:
Some windy weather and rain shortened our morning at Captain Sam's, but we were still able to capture 23 new birds and 10 recaps of 8 species. On our last net run of the day, we captured a first of season Blackpoll Warbler! We also captured this Eastern Palm Warbler. We catch many of the Western variety, which are mostly brown with yellow undertail coverts, but catch fewer of the Eastern, which are more yellow overall like this hatch year below.

Hatch-year Eastern Palm Warbler
- Arcata

Little Bear:

The weather was against us, but we persisted like riders on the storm. Over the course of the day, we managed to open twelve nets, but many were closed early. Even with the low number of net hours, we managed to pull in 45 birds of 17 species. We caught another Winter Wren today, which was a first-ever for Little Bear just yesterday. We too caught, not one, but three Blackpoll Warblers! These amazing birds set their course to South America from Canada and New England on an incredible trans-Atlantic journey. We had a southerly wind today that must have pushed them inland. Seeing as these little guys all seemed pretty tuckered out, they must have needed to stop to refuel before continuing their adventure. Luckily, KIBS was their pit stop.

Blackpoll Warbler (Hatch Year)

Blackpoll joy
Breeding male Blackpoll Warblers look quite different compared to hatch year plumage, which was all we caught today. You can see their breeding plumage and learn more about them here!



  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
2
-
2
-
White-eyed Vireo
-
-
1
-
Red-eyed Vireo
-
-
2
-
House Wren
-
-
1
-
Winter Wren
-
-
1
-
Gray Catbird
12
5
5
4
Yellow-breasted Chat
-
-
-
1
Eastern Towhee
-
-
1
-
Ovenbird
-
-
1
-
Northern Waterthrush
1
-
-
-
Common Yellowthroat
1
4
9
-
Hooded Warbler
-
-
1
-
American Redstart
3
-
1
-
Cape May Warbler
-
-
3
-
Northern Parula
-
-
1
-
Blackpoll Warbler
1
-
3
-
Black-throated Blue Warbler
2
1
-
-
Palm Warbler (Western)
-
-
2
1
Palm Warbler (Eastern)
1
-
-
-
Painted Bunting
--1-




Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
23
35
58
# of Recaptures
10
6
16
# of Species
8
17
19
Effort (net-hours)
29.9
45.2
75.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
110.4
90.7
98.5
# of Nets
20
12
32



2019 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
3,179
2,048
5,227
# of Recaptures
632
260
892
# of Species
72
64
86
Effort (net-hours)
7,483.15
3,251.5
10,734.65
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
50.9
71
57.0
# of Days5947-

Banding Staff

Kristin Attinger (CS)
Bethany Darby (CS)
Arcata Leavitt (CS)
Dave Sandahl (LB) 
Josh Lefever (LB)
Dan Errichetti (LB)