At Least We Caught A Few Catbirds

Captain Sam's:

The past week has been slow, but I think today takes the cake. We only caught 18 birds in approximately 4 hours, half new birds and half recaptures. Our banding day was also cut short by some rain moving in from the ocean mid-morning. Looking at the 10-day forecast, we aren't due for another cold front until next Thursday - we can only hope it breaks up this banding rut and pushes some wintering birds onto the island!

- Sarah S. 

Little Bear:

Couldn't agree more Sarah! At Little Bear, we only caught 13 birds (6 new and 7 recaps, of 5 of our most common species). Mercifully, some rain came in at around 10:30 to send us home early. But before we closed up, I took time to photograph a species we often take for granted here, the ever-abundant and vivacious Gray Catbird. Throughout our current slow spell, Catbirds have helped keep our numbers afloat, and their lively personalities infuse some energy into otherwise ho-hum mornings. Gray Catbirds are one of the most abundant and easy to observe bird species in the United States, breeding across much of the US in any shrubby area, including many people's backyards. They have an incredibly broad wintering range as well, from the mid-Atlantic coast, through the southeastern states and Central America, all the way down to northern South America. They are one of the most common captures at many US banding stations (especially in the east), and are undoubtedly the species that I've handled the most of in over 10 years of banding. Some days it is easy to feel tired of them, but they're certainly a quintessential part of the North American avian community.

Measuring the wing of a Gray Catbird

Recording the data

Blowing back body feathers to look at the amount of fat in the furcular hollow (this bird doesn't have much)

Accessing the wing for a molt limit to determine age

Close-up of the wing. Can you see the molt limit? Click HERE to check out one of our blog posts all about aging Catbirds

Hatch-year Gray Catbird, posing nicely right before being released back into the wild

--Josh

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
House Wren		1
Gray Catbird	6	5	4	4
Common Yellowthroat	1	1	1	1
'Western' Palm Warbler			1
Northern Cardinal		2		1
Painted Bunting	3			1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	6	15
# of Recaptures	9	7	16
# of Species	5	5	6
Effort (net-hours)	100.8	89.7	190.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.8	14.5	16.3
# of Nets	28	23	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3581	2075	5656
# of Recaptures	719	327	1046
# of Species	67	66	80
Effort (net-hours)	8116.66	5269.35	13386.01
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.0	45.6	50.1
# of Days	66	55	-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Dan Errichetti (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)

Sarah Stewart (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)