Captain Sam's:
Keeping with the pattern this week, today was another slow day at Captain Sam's with 19 birds (14 new, 5 recaps). Early in the morning, we were excited to capture a Hooded Warbler, a FOS for Captain Sam's and a lifer for me! We determined she was a hatch-year female based on the presence of molt limits and the lack of any black feathers in her crown. Adult male Hooded Warblers have a distinctive black hood all the way around the face, while adult females and immature males have only some black around the face. Our immature female can be separated from other yellowish warblers (like a Yellow) by her white outer tail feathers.
Look for Hooded Warblers gleaning insects from shrubs in the understory, fanning their tails to show those patches of white. Our bird is on her way to wintering grounds in Mexico or Central America, where females like her will defend territories in different habitat (young, scrubby forest) than males, who winter in more mature forest.
Fun fact: their species name, Setophaga citrina, means lemon-colored - just look at the photo below to see why!
-Sarah M.
Little Bear:
Perhaps needless to stay, we didn't catch much at Little Bear today. The first half of September typically tests the crew's patience, as we feel the impending torrent of birds on the horizon but are forced to wade through muggy mornings until the first true cold front of the fall overtakes the region. Looking back at KIBS history this time of year, and after gleaning past a good many "slow day" posts, today's date in 2016 really sticks out. It was a quality over quantity type of day, and while the crew at Captain Sam's was most excited to catch the station's first ever Mourning Warbler, they also caught their second Bell's Vireo of the year. Although they could not have known it at the time, this turned out to be the last Bell's Vireo to be caught at KIBS up to the present day. Bell's Vireo (whose closest breeding population is in the Mississippi River Valley) is a casual vagrant to the east coast, and Captain Sam's had an incredible stretch of catching one per season from 2011-2013. After that, none we seen in South Carolina again until the two captured in 2016. Since then, only one has been found in the state, an individual seen by several birders last October at Ft. Moultrie National Monument, approximately 13 miles northeast of Little Bear. Although tomorrow may not have the quantity of birds that we're looking forward to soon experiencing, we can always hope for a quality species to surprise us and liven up the day.
--Josh
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 3 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 3 | 1 | - | - |
Hooded Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 14 | 3 | 17 |
| # of Recaptures | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| # of Species | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 107.25 | 80.45 | 183.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 17.7 | 6.2 | 13.1 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 22 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 693 | 399 | 1,092 |
| # of Recaptures | 239 | 78 | 317 |
| # of Species | 34 | 33 | 42 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3243.06 | 1,772.15 | 5015.21 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 28.7 | 27.5 | 28.1 |
| # of Days | 27 | 19 | - |
Banding Staff
Sarah Mueller (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Sarah Stewart (LB)
Vincent Weber (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)
