Today was extremely slow out on the Spit. We only banded 6 birds and had an additional 18 recaptures. I am anticipating that the next 6 days will be just as slow. Warm and humid weather conditions coupled with south winds are not ideal migrating conditions.
I did get a notice this evening from the Bird Banding Lab that a Common Yellowthroat that we banded last fall on October 16th was found dead at a residence in North Kingston, Rhode Island on 5/8/2019. The notification did not say how the bird died but I would bet that it was a window strike. Countless numbers of birds are killed each year, especially during migration, after striking windows. There are some simple and easy ways that homeowners and business owners can do to prevent this. The easiest is to install bird friendly decals to window where bird strikes are a problem. The following is an article highlighting several options that are available to protect birds from striking windows.
https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/gear/preventing-bird-window-collisions/15-products-prevent-birds-hitting-windows/
I forgot the datasheets in the banding bag - they are currently residing in the garage at Kiawah Island's Town Hall so the numbers in the table below are all from memory. I think I got most of it right.
-Aaron
LITTLE BEAR
Uffda! What a molasses-slow day at Little Bear. We managed to snag only 18 total birds today, which is less birds than amount of states I've been to this year.
We (I) spent our (my) time measuring bill lengths of catbirds because I was noticing some differences and turns out we've had a breakthrough! Turns out after-hatch-year catbirds have shorter bills than hatch-year catbirds. We're going to publish our findings in the Journal of Science. A sample of four birds is sufficient right?
Hoping for more birds soon, but the next few days are going looking slow for numbers. Cross your fingers, toes, and eyes for us that we at least get some rarities to post about!
Tonight we are carving pumpkins and getting into the fall spirit. Spooooooooky!!
- Dave
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Carolina Chickadee
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Gray Catbird
|
3
|
10
|
1
|
5
|
Eastern Towhee
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
American Redstart
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Common Yellowthroat
|
-
|
3
|
2
|
-
|
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Palm Warbler (Western)
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
Indigo Bunting
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
House Wren
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
Song Sparrow
|
-
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
White-eyed Vireo
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Northern Mockingbird
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Northern Waterthrush
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
Northern Cardinal
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
6
|
8
|
14
|
| # of Recaptures |
18
|
10
|
28
|
| # of Species |
8
|
9
|
14
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
114.8
|
80.0
|
194.8
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
20.9
|
22.5
|
21.6
|
| # of Nets |
28
|
20
|
48
|
| 2019 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded |
3,424
|
2,262
|
5,686
|
| # of Recaptures |
785
|
333
|
1,118
|
| # of Species |
78
|
69
|
92
|
| Effort (net-hours) |
8,345.8
|
3,740.3
|
12,086.1
|
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) |
50.4
|
69.4
|
56.3
|
| # of Days | 65 | 53 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Dave Sandahl (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Bethany Darby (CS)
