Captain Sam's:
Today was a lot slower than it has been for the past few days. We had a total of 105 birds captured with 23 of them being recaptures. Our highlight of the day was catching another Connecticut Warbler! Who would have guessed that we would catch another one at CS! I was pretty excited to see it and its adorable face! I am hoping these next few days start to look good and that we can catch another great species for the site!
Here is a photo captured by Aaron of this young bird. Unlike yesterdays bird, this one is very drab and not a super striking. Here is a quick link here to show you yesterdays bird!
-Kristin
Little Bear:
Although our capture rate was much lower this morning than the previous few days, we still had a great banding session at Little Bear. We processed 70 birds, including our very own Connecticut Warbler! With yesterday's bird at Captain Sam's station being the first ever record for the island, it was incredibly exciting to have one show up at our site today. And with a total of 3 captured on the island over the past two days, it raises the obvious question of why these Connecticut Warblers have suddenly appeared here after being absent for KIBS' 12 year history. There's a natural inclination to wonder if the same off-shore storms that brought us an influx of Blackpoll Warblers the past 3 days has also caused the Connecticut Warblers to arrive on our shores. As Aaron explained in yesterday's blog post, Blackpolls make an incredible migratory flight over the open ocean to reach their Caribbean wintering grounds from launch points in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Some studies have suggested that Connecticut Warblers may undertake a similar pathway to reach their wintering destinations in South America. Unfortunately, there is little known for certain about this species' migratory route from the central-eastern US and Canada to South America, and this represents one of the biggest knowledge gaps in our understanding of the life histories among New World Warblers. Connecticut Warblers are infamous amongst bird-watchers for being one of the most difficult warblers to observe in the field due to their proclivity for foraging on the ground in areas of dense brushy cover. Long running banding efforts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey have shown them to be more abundant than birder observations would otherwise suggest, but fall records from the southeastern US are sorely lacking overall. Interestingly enough, a Connecticut Warbler was also banded today at a site off of the coast of Miami, FL and is only the sixth fall record for that state, with 4 of the previous records being from the same banding station in 2017, 2012, and 2010. Hopefully with the use of nanotags like the ones we've deployed on Painted Buntings, the mystery of Connecticut Warbler's fall migration will be better understood in the near future. Filling in the knowledge gaps of how this species makes their annual fall voyage across thousands of miles will help us better protect this coy but remarkable little bird.
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| Adult Connecticut Warbler (photo SM) |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
Eastern Wood-Pewee | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | 2 | 1 |
House Wren | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Gray Catbird | 35 | 13 | 36 | 5 |
Swainson's Thrush | 2 | - | - | - |
Eastern Towhee | - | 1 | - | - |
Ovenbird | 3 | - | 2 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 2 | - | - | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Connecticut Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 10 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
American Redstart | 12 | 3 | 1 | - |
Cape May Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
Blackpoll Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 3 | - | - | - |
'Western' Palm Warbler | 3 | - | 2 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | - | 4 | 2 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 82 | 56 | 138 |
| # of Recaptures | 23 | 13 | 36 |
| # of Species | 19 | 16 | 23 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 141.5 | 126.3 | 267.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 73.5 | 54.6 | 65.0 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2,769 | 1,431 | 4,200 |
| # of Recaptures | 518 | 197 | 715 |
| # of Species | 55 | 56 | 68 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 6,186.36 | 3,627.8 | 9,814.16 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 53.1 | 44.9 | 50.1 |
| # of Days | 50 | 39 | - |
Banding Staff
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)
Sarah Stewart (LB)
