Cold, Windy, and some High Tides... But Still Birds!

 Captain Sam's:

The weather at the banding station limited our ability to catch birds for much of the day. Wind, tides, and cold all kept birds hunkered down and out of sight. The high tides made it especially tricky for navigating around the banding station. Unprepared, I wore knee high boots, which were no match for these astronomically high tidal floods. All but a few nets were subject to standing water underneath. Despite all of this, we thought that conditions seemed excellent for a repeat performance by the Tree Swallows. However, they failed to show and left us without much to show for it.

Myrtle Warblers continued to be the most prevalent bird around. It was easy to find them hopping around the vegetation all day long, and we managed to get just over 20 birds in the nets. Quite a few of the recaptured myrtle warblers were adults, likely banded here just 1 or 2 years ago. These birds are incredibly loyal to Captain Sam's as a migration stopover/wintering site; which is fascinating to see.

Some notable catches include another Orange-crowned Warbler, this one a hatch-year female. Additionally, 2 House Finches were brought back on the same net run. For the first time this year, one of those HOFI's was an adult, with a bright spectacle of red plumage all over. 

High winds and even higher tides are projected for tomorrow. We will all be wearing our hip waders and hoping for some luck in finding new birds in our nets. 

-Ben

Little Bear:

The wind this morning was forecasted to be just as bad as yesterday, and it was decided not to open. Little Bear is a much more exposed site than Captain Sam's, and typically faces the strongest and gustiest winds on the island. It looks like the next few days will be getting even windier, so it seems that it may be awhile until we can get back to banding at Little Bear. 

-Josh

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
House Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	6	8	-	-
Hermit Thrush	1	-	-	-
House Finch	2	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
(Western) Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
(Myrtle) Yellow-rumped Warbler	18	5	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	33	-	33
# of Recaptures	16	-	16
# of Species	11	-	11
Effort (net-hours)	159.5	-	159.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.7	-	30.7
# of Nets	30	-	30

2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4039	2919	6958
# of Recaptures	904	519	1423
# of Species	86	78	97
Effort (net-hours)	10805.5	7417.6	18223.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	45.7	46.3	46.0
# of Days	78	70	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ben Stalheim (CS)

Kandace Glanville (CS)

Nate Watkins (CS)