Captain Sam's:
Today at Captain Sam's we had some really excellent conditions which allowed us to have a pretty productive August banding day. For myself I was able to see a few new species in the hand which provided us with some excellent lessons in the molts of those species. Some of said species were also new for our season at Captain Sam's such as Common Yellowthroat, Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and most excitingly Louisiana Waterthrush! For the station Louisiana Waterthrush is not an annual catch so it was a real treat to be able to have one in the hand. Even better was that today was a great day for good numbers of Northern Waterthrush, this allowed us to look at the two species side by side and compare!
North winds bring Northerns
Amongst them you are bigger
Louisiana
Firstly, from the photos that the Louisiana is much bigger than the Northern Waterthrush, this individual was approximately 10 grams heavier than that of the Northern. Other notable differences include a heavier bill in the Louisiana, Northern Waterthrushes tend to have more of a yellow wash to them but can be more white, this Louisiana Waterthrush also has much buffier undertail coverts.
A super exciting day overall but the Louisiana takes the cake for best bird of the day! Hopefully something neat will show up at the station tomorrow!
- Nathaniel
Little Bear:
This morning Kandace and I conducted the first banding session of the season at our "Little Bear" banding site, on the opposite side of the island from Captain Sam's. It was a mostly uneventful morning as we went about banding hatch-year Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens. It was a little disappointing to miss out on the surge of new birds getting caught down at the other banding station, but I'm sure Little Bear will make up for it soon.
While opening nets at dawn, I was taken aback by a Nine-banded Armadillo that I almost stepped on. Historically, Armadillos were only known to be in southern Texas (and Mexico), according to records from naturalists in the 1800s. However, they gradually expanded throughout the southeastern United States during the 20th century, including southern South Carolina. This is likely due to human development creating more hospitable forest fragments for them to thrive in, along with progressively milder winters, over the past 30 years especially. Since the turn of the century, they have become much more prevalent in South Carolina and can now be found throughout most of the state. For awhile, the low-country estuaries provided a natural barrier stopping them from reaching islands like Kiawah, however Kiawah's first was found about 4 years ago. This was my first time seeing one at Little Bear in my 3 years of banding here, and now that they're here I'm sure they'll be a regular fixture to watch out for while walking around in the dim early morning light.
-Josh
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Great Crested Flycatcher | - | 1 | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | 1 | 2 | 5 | - |
Brown Thrasher | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Mockingbird | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Louisiana Waterthrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 9 | - | 3 | - |
Prothonotary Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 1 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 9 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | 1 | - | 5 | - |
Painted Bunting | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 36 | 19 | 55 |
| # of Recaptures | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| # of Species | 16 | 7 | 17 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 163.5 | 108.1 | 271.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 25.7 | 17.6 | 22.5 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 119 | 19 | 138 |
| # of Recaptures | 34 | 0 | 34 |
| # of Species | 25 | 7 | 25 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 852.0 | 108.1 | 960.1 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 18.0 | 17.6 | 17.9 |
| # of Days | 7 | 1 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Ben Stalheim (CS)
