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.
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| Yellow-throated Warbler, hatch-year male Photo by Kristin Attinger |
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| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, hatch-year Photo by Kristin Attinger |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
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 | 3 | 1 | 4 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # 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's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # 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 Days | 11 | 3 | - |
