Windy Weather, But Still a Bird or Two

 Captain Sam's:

Despite the heavy winds, we were able to open a few nets today at Captain Sam's. For a brief moment, we thought that the Tree Swallows may do their feeding behavior on the local wax myrtles, giving us a chance to catch them. However, they stayed just out of reach and never truly approached the tree near our net. 

We caught 22 birds today, which is pretty good considering the conditions. Among those were some late Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, a Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and our resident Red-shouldered Hawk. Yes, that's right, for the 3rd time this year we have caught the hatch-year Red-shouldered. At this point, I don't know what to think, maybe the bird likes to rest in our nets every once in a while. After recording the band number and appreciating the stunning bird, I released it into the open area near the dunes.
 

Looking forward to less wind and more birds!

-Ben

Little Bear:

We did not band at Little Bear today to due excessive winds.

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Mourning Dove	1	-	-	-
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Red-shouldered Hawk	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	2	6	-	-
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Myrtle Warbler	4	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	13	-	13
# of Recaptures	9	-	9
# of Species	11	-	11
Effort (net-hours)	65.95	-	65.95
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	33.3	-	33.3
# of Nets	30	-	30

2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3730	2794	6524
# of Recaptures	765	451	1216
# of Species	80	77	93
Effort (net-hours)	9915.9	6860.85	16776.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	45.3	47.3	46.1
# of Days	72	65	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ben Stalheim (CS)

Kandace Glanville (CS)