Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Multiple First-of-Seasons, and a Lingering Wanderer

 Captain Sam's:

Today was my first day banding here, and I’m still adjusting to the mugginess after spending the summer in arid Montana. We captured 11 new birds and 6 recaptures of 6 species (17 total). I was excited to see a Northern Waterthrush, which is the first time I’d ever seen that species (a “lifer”)! Another exciting capture was an adult male Mourning Dove; we determined it was a male by its pink breast feathers and bluish crown.  Mourning Doves are large enough that they aren’t often captured in our nets.





It was a lovely first day, and I'm excited to see what new birds tomorrow has in store!


- Sarah M


Little Bear:

This morning started out a little slow, but we were eventually treated to some great birds, including 5 new species for the site this season. Before going out on our first net check, we agreed that it felt like a good day to catch our first American Redstart, a common species throughout most of the fall. A few net checks later, I was able to bring one back to the table, a dashing hatch-year male. We also banded the first of season Downy Woodpecker and Yellow Warbler, both fairly common birds. Things got more exciting when yesterday's vagrant, the Black-whiskered Vireo, made a return appearance. We suspect that we may be treated to a few visits from this bird as it works to regain the fat and muscle it lost during its windswept journey from a land further south. Our other two first of season birds were especially notable, as they are less than annual captures here despite being year-round residents on Kiawah Island. First was a young Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, one of the smallest birds that we are able to band, and the first for Little Bear since 2017. Later in the morning, I found one of my favorite warblers in a net, a Yellow-throated Warbler. This site catches exactly zero to one per season, and this hatch-year male was the fourth in our six year history. 

Yellow-throated Warbler, hatch-year male
Photo by Kristin Attinger

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, hatch-year
Photo by Kristin Attinger
--Josh



  SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Mourning Dove
1
-
-
-
Downy Woodpecker
-
-
1
-
Black-whiskered Vireo
-
-
-
1
Carolina Chickadee
-
-
-
1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
-
-
1
-
Carolina Wren
1
-
1
2
Northern Waterthrush
4
-
4
-
American Redstart
2
-
1
-
Yellow Warbler
-
-
1
-
Yellow-throated Warbler
-
-
1
-
Prairie Warbler
-
-
2
-
Northern Cardinal
-
5
1
1
Painted Bunting
314-




Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
11
17
38
# of Recaptures
6
5
11
# of Species
6
12
13
Effort (net-hours)
121.54
83.35
204.89
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
14.0
26.4
23.9
# of Nets
30
20




2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
225
49
274
# of Recaptures
88
12
100
# of Species
28
13
31
Effort (net-hours)
1207.49
287.65
1495.14
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
25.9
21.2
25.0
# of Days113-

Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Sarah Mueller (CS)