Red-eyes & Recaps

Captain Sam's:

Today was slightly busier than the past few days. Our first few net runs brought in the bulk of our numbers. The rest of our captures were sprinkled in throughout the rest of the day. In total we captured 43 birds (37 new, 6 recaptures). The bird that topped our numbers was the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceous) with 15 new captures. The two maps give an overview of this species entire range, and also where their population is estimated to be at this time in September. From the looks of it, there are many more yet to come.

After Hatch Year Red-eyed Vireo (Photo - Sarah Stewart)

This is one of the most common species in North America. Their vast breeding range encompasses the majority of eastern North America, but also reaches west to Washington State, and far north into the Yukon. They diet during the breeding season is composed mostly of insects, but they will also eat some small fruits. Today one individual gifted my hand with a mostly digested blueberry. Fruit is an important resource for this species while migrating. Their wintering range is nearly as broad as their breeding range—nearly the entire Amazon. In the non breeding season, their diet changes drastically to almost 100% fruit.

-Vincent

Citation: Cimprich, D. A., F. R. Moore, and M. P. Guilfoyle (2020). Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.reevir1.01

Little Bear:

We caught a decent number of birds today compared to yesterday's slow morning, with a total of 37 captures (28 new, 9 recaptures). Since we've been catching multiple Painted Buntings each day, Aaron came out and put nanotags on 4 of the 8 buntings we caught today. We're hoping to write a in-depth post about why we're putting nanotags on this species and the importance of the data they collect, so keep an eye out for that! 

Today's most exciting bird was actually a recaptured Brown Thrasher. After-hatch year thrashers go through a pre-basic molt after the breeding season, so this bird had fresh, beautiful plumage. It was banded at Little Bear in August 2016 as a hatch year, so we know it is in its 5th year, and it was only recaptured once in September 2017 before today. Ageing a bird based on recapture events over time is just one example of information we can gain from long-term banding studies. Since the oldest-recorded Brown Thrasher was almost 13 years old, there is a possibility that this bird could continue to revisit Little Bear for years to come. 

AHY Brown Thrasher. Photos by Josh Lefever

- Sarah S. 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	1
Red-eyed Vireo	15	-	4	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	1
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	1
Northern Mockingbird	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	2	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	11	1	12	1
American Redstart	2	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	4	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	3
Painted Bunting	4	3	6	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	37	28	65
# of Recaptures	6	9	15
# of Species	10	9	12
Effort (net-hours)	107.2	107.55	214.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	40.1	34.4	37.3
# of Nets	30	22	-

2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	679	396	1075
# of Recaptures	231	76	309
# of Species	33	32	42
Effort (net-hours)	3135.8	1644.7	4780.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	29.0	28.7	29.0
# of Days	26	18	-

Banding Staff

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

Sarah Mueller (LB)
Sarah Stewart (LB)