Kiawah Island Banding Station

 Captain Sam's:

We hit our 50 bird count today! We had a total of 52 birds captured, 42 of them were newly banded and 10 were recaptures. We started out with a good amount of birds but it started to slow down very quickly. I was hoping for a new bird today, but a Sharp-shinned Hawk will do! This cutie was such a grabby bird and wouldn't let go of anything it touched. Tonight we have some south winds, which is not very promising for tomorrow but I am looking forward to Monday and Tuesday morning with the northwest winds.

Hatch-year Male Sharp-shinned Hawk

-Kristin

Little Bear:

Josh and I moseyed about today as a very limited number of birds ended up in our nets. We did some good bird watching along the beach on the North side of the station between checks when we would come back with no birds. There were a good amount of shorebirds including the regulars like Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper and Dunlin. We were also treated with a flock of about twenty Red Knots that flew by and we spotted a Northern Gannet, a sure indicator of the winter season. 

We did only band eight birds and had one recapture today, but our diversity was quite impressive for such low numbers. Seven species represented by just nine birds. Pretty cool. Unbeknownst to us, Captain Sam's was having a stellar day! Who would have thought the other side of the island was so active compared to Little Bear. Does tend to happen every once in a while.

Well, this will most likely be my last blog post for the season as I am leaving early Monday morning to head back up to New England to face the cold and enjoy the finch irruption. It's been one heck of a season and I'm happy to have returned. I appreciate everyone involved. From the ever resourceful guidance and passion of Aaron, to the apparent comprehensive skill and knowledge of bird banding that everyone else in the crew display with ease. Thank you for helping me expand my knowledge and repertoire of skills. What a pleasure to work with you all! 

Oh yeah, Josh and I ran out of gas in the Argo on the ride back today... A little spice for my last day at Little Bear. Here I am with the beast after gettin' it back to the stables.

The trusty steed and me

Best wishes and good health to all. Always remember, the birds are just outside waiting to flaunt their stuff and be admired. 

-- Daniel Errichetti

 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	0	0	0
Eastern Phoebe	1	0	1	0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	0	1	0
Gray Catbird	6	6	1	1
Brown Thrasher	0	0	1	0
Hermit Thrush	2	0	0	0
American Robin	2	0	0	0
Eastern Towhee	0	1	0	0
White-throated Sparrow	1	0	0	0
Swamp Sparrow	1	0	0	0
Common Yellowthroat	0	0	1	0
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	0	0	0
Western Palm Warbler	0	0	1	0
Myrtle Warbler	23	1	2	0
Northern Cardinal	0	2	0	0
Painted Bunting	2	0	0	0

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	42	8	50
# of Recaptures	10	1	11
# of Species	13	7	16
Effort (net-hours)	177	121.9	191.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.4	7.4	31.8
# of Nets	30	23	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,214	2,592	6,311
# of Recaptures	972	488	1,309
# of Species	77	71	89
Effort (net-hours)	11,145.68	7,552.02	16,535.58
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.5	40.8	46.1
# of Days	89	76	-

 

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (LB)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)