Captain Sam's:
It was a warm day at Captain Sam's, where we closed nets by 10:15 because of the heat. Still, we captured 27 birds (18 new and 9 recaptures), most of which were Northern Waterthrushes and Painted Buntings. One exciting capture today was a hatch-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Although we don't band hummingbirds, which requires a special permit (and very tiny bands!), we do still age and sex them. Adult male hummingbirds are quite obvious because of the colorful, iridescent gorget feathers on their throats, but females and young hummingbirds are more difficult to distinguish. First, we determine the age of the hummer. Young hummingbirds have grooves or "striations" running lengthwise down their bills that allow us to age them as hatch-years. Then we can look at the shape of the tail feathers to determine whether they're male or female.
-Sarah M
Little Bear:
Much like at Captain Sam's, we had a hot, muggy, and shortened day at the banding station. We also shared a similar highlight, catching our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the season. Ours was also a hatch-year, but a female rather than a male. Below is a photograph of Captain Sam's young male, with a close up of our female's tail inlaid. Like Sarah M explained, Ruby-throateds, once aged, can be sexed by the shape of their tail feathers. Note the pointed shape of the male's tail feathers (left) compared to the rounded shape of the female's tail feathers (right).
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| Hatch-year Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, tail comparison Photos by Sarah Stewart (HY male) and Josh Lefever (HY female, insert) |
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| Hatch-year Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a moment before taking off to continue her first migration. |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Downy Woodpecker | - | - | 1 | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Eastern Towhee | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | 2 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 7 | 3 | 3 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
Northern Cardinal | 1 | 1 | 2 | - |
Painted Bunting | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 27 | 18 | 45 |
| # of Recaptures | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| # of Species | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 114.9 | 83.3 | 198.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 23.5 | 21.6 | 45.1 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 20 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 278 | 92 | 370 |
| # of Recaptures | 101 | 16 | 117 |
| # of Species | 30 | 19 | 34 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 1,444.1 | 458.95 | 1,903.05 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 19.3 | 20.0 | 19.4 |
| # of Days | 13 | 5 | - |
