Winter Banding Part 5

 CAPTAIN SAM'S

Wednesday, March 24th was the last banding session of the winter season.  Despite hearing a few nocturnal flight calls from migrating birds overhead while opening nets, we did not band any know migrants.  In fact, only 8 birds were banded along with 30 recaptures of 15 different species.  Now that the Yellow-rumped Warblers have moved on, capturing birds that haven't already been banded is much more difficult.  

 Spring has definitely sprung around the banding station.  One of the first plants to flower on Kiawah is Carolina Jessamine.  It's delicate yellow blooms are very fragrant and gives off a pleasing aroma that can be sensed well before seeing the plant.  Carolina Jessamine, SC's state flower, is an evergreen vine that climbs up trees and shrubs around the edges of the dunes at the banding station. This year a substantial population of this plant is growing next to net 26 and 32.  Although the flowers are fragrant and beautiful, all parts of this plant is poisonous.  It can cause an allergic reaction when touched and ingesting it can be fatal!  

Thank to Ryan's help, we managed to take down 16 of the 28 nets throughout the morning leaving only 12 nets left for me to take down next week.  The nets won't go back up now until August in preparation for the fall migration season.  

-Aaron 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Phoebe	1	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	2	-	-
House Wren	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	4	-	-
Brown Thrasher	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	14	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	2	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) Northern Cardinal	2 2	1 -	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	8	-	-
# of Recaptures	38	-	-
# of Species	15	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	139.6	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	27.2	-	-
# of Nets	28	-	-

2021 Winter Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	175	-	-
# of Recaptures	183	-	-
# of Species	21	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	641.95	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	55.8	-	-
# of Days	5	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ryan Donnelly (CS)

Winter Banding Part 4

The number of birds using the banding station has dwindled over the past month.  Today we only banded 9 new birds!  Fortunately, there are still a lot of banded birds hanging around and we had 43 recaptures.  The biggest difference appears to be in the local Yellow-rumped Warbler population.  During the other 3 banding sessions this winter, yellow-rumps made up a bulk of the captures.  Anecdotally, it appears that most of the wax myrtle berries around the banding site have been consumed causing the yellow-rumps to move on to find a new source.  Yellow-rumped Warblers are one of a few birds that eat the fruits of the wax myrtle because they are able to digest the waxy coating surrounding the pulp of the berry.  This allows them to winter much further north than other warbler species in temperate North America.   Tree Swallow are another species that can take advantage of this food source and will feed heavily on wax myrtle berries during the fall and winter during periods when insect activity is low (rain, cold temperatures, high winds).    

 

White-eyed Vireo (after second-year, sex unknown)

This White-eyed Vireo was originally banded on 21 September 2020 during fall migration banding.  Interestingly, this bird was never recaptured again during the fall despite us banding everyday until the end of November but has been captured twice this winter with the first time back in January. 

-Aaron

     

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	2	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	18	-	-
Field Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	2	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	6	12	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	3	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	-	-
# of Recaptures	43	-	-
# of Species	11	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	170.8	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.4	-	-
# of Nets	28	-	-

2021 Winter Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	167	-	-
# of Recaptures	153	-	-
# of Species	18	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	502.35	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	63.7	-	-
# of Days	4	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ryan Donnelly (CS)

Winter Banding Part 3

Captain Sam's

The 3rd banding session of the winter occurred on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.  Only 25 new birds were banded that day but we continued to had very good numbers of recaptures with 53 captured.  

There are still some Yellow-rumped Warblers around the site but not in the numbers like we had earlier in the winter.  The large numbers of American Robins that we experienced on the site over the last month have pretty much moved on leaving very little Smilax and palmetto berries in their wake.  

Orange-crowned Warbler (after second-year, male)
His orange crown patch is concealed in this photo.

Swamp-Sparrow (after second-year, sex unknown)

White-throated Sparrow (second-year, sex unknown)

This past fall and winter have been an irruptive year for a couple species of northern finches in South Carolina (Purple Finch and Pine Siskin).  Pine Siskins were heard frequently during the fall but usually only flying over the banding site.  Pine Siskins did not stick around the coastal areas of SC and now seem to be concentrated more inland.  Purple Finches on the other hand, seem to be everywhere.  Purple Finches were also seen and heard at the banding site during fall.  Despite having both species present, neither was captured during fall migration banding.  And it looks likes neither species will be captured this winter either.  Luckily, I started getting Purple Finches at my bird feeder at my house in December.  On Saturday, I decided that before they leave for the winter, I better try my luck at capturing some.  It may be awhile before there is another irruptive year.  I set out a drop-door trap on the platform feeder that the usually feed on and was able to capture two of them relatively quickly.  The first on was a second-year, and because males and females look similar during their first year, I was unable to sex it.  The second one was an adult female.

Purple Finch (second-year, sex unknown)

 

  There are only two banding sessions left for the winter.  The next one will be next week and the last one will be during the week of the March 22nd.

-Aaron    

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	4	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	5	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	19	-	-
Brown Thrasher	1	1	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	1	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	3	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	2	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	21	14	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	25	-	-
# of Recaptures	53	-	-
# of Species	13	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	145.6	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.6	-	-
# of Nets	28	-	-

2021 Winter Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	183	-	-
# of Recaptures	163	-	-
# of Species	20	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	477.15	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	72.5	-	-
# of Days	3	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ryan Donnelly (CS)