CAPTAIN SAMS
This has been one heck of a week at Captains Sam. In the last 8 days we have banded 1309 birds and processed any additional 127 recaptures. Today was a little slower than the last few day but we still banded 165 new birds and had 25 recaptures of 24 different species. Gray Catbirds continue to dominate with another 72 of them banded today and a lot more to come. Common Yellowthroats are having a down year so far with only 639 band for the season. Usually by this time we should have banded about 800 of them. If we don't get a big push in the next week or so we probably won't be getting many more.
The highlight of the day is a species that I have been waiting for, for a looooong time. You might say that this has been my "nemesis bird". A bird that I thought I would have captured on Kiawah before now but has evaded our nets for 12 years. But today, it finally happened - we captured a Connecticut Warbler!
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| Connecticut Warbler (after hatch-year, male) |
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The other highlight of the day was the capture and banding of 14 Blackpoll Warblers! We have only banded a total of 27 since 2009 and the highest number banded in any given year was 6 in both 2015 and 2018. The long line of offshore thunderstorms last night might have contributed to our Blackpoll luck today. Blackpoll Warblers undertake an incredible feat during migration by flying nonstop for up to 3 days over the Atlantic Ocean to reach their wintering grounds in the Caribbean and northern South America. Under ideal conditions most Blackpoll Warblers will completely pass by South Carolina during their fall flight. Last night there was a long line of offshore thunderstorms stretching from North Carolina to Florida (see 1st photo below). I wonder if those birds ran into the storms and were pushed to the coast. The current radar shows a similar pattern but the line of rain stretches all the way up to Maine (see the 2nd photo). This may prevent Blackpolls from lifting off tonight or maybe they will be forced to migrate closer to land. I guess we will see in the morning.
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| Radar image from the night of 10/3/2020 |
LITTLE BEAR
Like yesterday, we had a breezy and cool day at Little Bear and were a bit less busy than earlier this week, with 102 total captures. We had a good diversity of new captures, including a few more Blackpoll Warblers, a couple Cape Mays, and a Worm-eating Warbler. We recaptured 17 birds today, many more than usual at Little Bear which typically has very few recaptures. Most of our recaptures were first banded earlier this week - these are migrating birds that are using Kiawah Island as stopover habitat to rest and refuel on their way to their wintering grounds. One Common Yellowthroat we recaptured today was first banded on Sept. 22 and has gained almost 2 grams since then (an increase of about 20% of its total body weight!) in preparation to migrate.
-Sarah M.
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
White-eyed Vireo | 6 | - | 2 | 1 |
Red-eyed Vireo | 6 | - | 2 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | - | 1 |
House Wren | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 72 | 14 | 30 | 6 |
Veery | 2 | - | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Worm-eating Warbler | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Connecticut Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 21 | 2 | 16 | 1 |
Hooded Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | 13 | 2 | 10 | 4 |
Cape May Warbler | 3 | - | 2 | - |
Northern Parula | 5 | - | 3 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Yellow Warbler | 2 | - | - | 1 |
Blackpoll Warbler | 14 | - | 5 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 4 | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | - | 2 |
Indigo Bunting | 2 | - | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 2 | 2 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 165 | 85 | 250 |
| # of Recaptures | 24 | 17 | 41 |
| # of Species | 24 | 20 | 27 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 165.1 | 117.0 | 282.1 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 115.1 | 87.2 | 103.5 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 18 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2,687 | 1,375 | 4,062 |
| # of Recaptures | 495 | 184 | 679 |
| # of Species | 55 | 55 | 68 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 6,044.86 | 3,501.5 | 9,546.36 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 52.6 | 44.5 | 49.7 |
| # of Days | 49 | 38 | - |
Banding Staff
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Josh Lefever (LB)
