Finally a Tree Swallow!

 Captain Sam's:

The morning started off very cold and windy so we weren’t expecting too good of a day, except for the fact that those conditions make for decent swallow netting. We had our swallow net open and had some swallows fly close but never got quite close enough to the net. As it started to warm up, conditions got a little worse for swallow netting but we kept trying. Ben and Aaron saw a really good sized flock out in the distance and ran to set up another swallow net around the wax myrtle they were feeding on. The first time they were unsuccessful until one silly little Tree Swallow got caught. A really exciting first of season for Captain Sam’s! They figured the big flock would come back so they stayed quite vigilant, waiting for the moment for a group of swallows to hit the net. We had a pleasant surprise of four additional Tree Swallows that hit the net! We also managed to get another first of season for Captain Sam’s; a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I extracted this bird and as I was walking up to it, from a distance, I thought it might be another Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I was super happy that I was wrong, it has been quite some time since I’ve handled the species and forgot just how small they really are! With these two species, that brings the KIBS species total for the season to 97. It doesn’t happen often where a crew breaks 100 species in a fall. There are a few potentials left for us to get, so fingers crossed for all of them!

The wind gusts at dawn,

The birds fill the sky like an -

Alfred Hitchcock flock

 

Hatch-year female Tree Swallow. It's hard to really get a good photo showcasing the brilliant green iridescence. 

Hatch-year male Sharp-shinned Hawk.

- Nate

Little Bear:

Today was a windy day at Little Bear. We managed to open up 11 nets but for not that long. We did catch a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher though! We had a total of 9 birds with only 5 species. Pictured below is the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. You can see that this bird is a hatch-year based on a greater-covert molt limit. Shown in red are the old juvenile feathers that have not been replaced yet, and shown in white are the newer feathers that have been replaced. You can see how the newer feathers are fresher and have more gray compared to the browner and duller juvenile feathers. 

Hopefully the wind will be better in the next few days.

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Tree Swallow	5	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
House Wren	2	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	3	6	2	3
White-throated Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	2	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	1	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	24	3	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	-	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	40	5	45
# of Recaptures	12	4	16
# of Species	11	5	-
Effort (net-hours)	145	22	167
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	35.9	40.9	36.5
# of Nets	30	23	53

2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4004	2,918	6922
# of Recaptures	888	519	1407
# of Species	86	78	97
Effort (net-hours)	10646	7,417.6	18063.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.0	46.3	46.1
# of Days	77	70	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Ben Stalheim (CS)

Kandace Glanville (CS)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Josh Lefever (LB)