Captain Sam's:
Trick or treat? Today was definitely a treat. We pulled in 107 birds total, which was a great feeling to finally break a hundred again. It's been a while. Ten of those were recaptures and the other 97 were new birds. Among them we caught a bird I have longed to see in hand. One with a name that is very fitting for the holiday! A Brown Creeper! They appear grumpier than they are. A master of camouflage and scaling trees, these birds forage for bugs in the crevices of bark. They also nest in loose bark, usually on dead trees. They winter across the state, but they are quite uncommon on Kiawah Island. Aging this bird requires more study since the highly patterned brown feathers make it difficult to note molt limits, but it is suggested that the white tips of the primary coverts can be used as aging criteria.
We also caught another first of the season while closing, a White-crowned Sparrow. These are generally an annual capture, but that doesn't necessarily mean we will catch another!
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| Brown Creeper (DE) |
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| Brown Creeper Spread Wing |
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| Brown Creeper Creeping |
Little Bear:
After 2 days of not being able to open nets at Little Bear (due to strong winds), it was great to get back out there. But it was still very windy. 5 of our most exposed nets didn't get opened at all, and 5 more had to be closed early. As soon as the sun came up, the birds were hopping around like mad. For the first hour we had as many as the two of us could handle. The wind kept howling, and the number of birds in our nets dropped-off suddenly. Among 51 captures, we managed 1 new first-of-season species, a White-throated Sparrow.
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| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 | - | 2 | - |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Red-breasted Nuthatch | 1 | - | - | - |
Brown Creeper | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | 2 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 11 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
Hermit Thrush | 2 | - | 1 | - |
White-crowned Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
White-throated Sparrow | - | - | 1 | - |
Song Sparrow | 8 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | 11 | - | 1 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 3 | 1 | 5 | - |
Blackpoll Warbler | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
'Western' Palm Warbler | 6 | - | 2 | - |
'Yellow' Palm Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
'Myrtle' Yellow-rumped Warbler | 36 | 1 | 11 | - |
Painted Bunting | 2 | 1 | 6 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 97 | 46 | 143 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 6 | 16 |
| # of Species | 22 | 13 | 23 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 156.6 | 68 | 224.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 68.3 | 75.0 | 70.8 |
| # of Nets | 29 | 18 | - |
| 2020 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,862 | 2,344 | 6,206 |
| # of Recaptures | 803 | 396 | 1,199 |
| # of Species | 73 | 69 | 86 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,237.81 | 6,115.67 | 15,353.48 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 50.5 | 44.8 | 48.2 |
| # of Days | 76 | 63 | - |
Banding Staff
Vincent Weber (CS)
Dan Errichetti (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Sarah Stewart (CS)
Josh Lefever (LB)
