Captain Sam's:
In hopes of having the great north-west winds this morning, we didn't have a great amount of birds. We had a total of 33 birds. This has been the best so far this week though, giving us 2 new first of the seasons at Captain Sam's. We had a Magnolia Warbler and Summer Tanager! 2 great birds to almost finish up the week. I am hoping tomorrow will have the same outcome and even more birds!
-Kristin
Little Bear:
Today at Little Bear, anticipation ran high as we had seen the shifting Northern winds. We tried to dampen our expectations, but any increase in abundance over yesterday would be appreciated.
We brought back a decent number of birds for the first few net runs, but then everything quickly died down. Despite the bird totals, we were graced by a few first-of-season (FOS) species. A Black-throated Blue Warbler, well actually 2, and a Summer Tanager were both firsts. Both of the Black-throated Blues and the Summer Tanager were hatch-year birds. We also captured a few species that we only had seen one time before, such as a young Cape May Warbler and Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The great thing about the slower day was that it gave us time to look over each of these amazing birds and snag a few photos. Another bird that got caught in our nets was a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. We are not permitted to band these birds, so we only aged and sexed it to hatch-year male before letting it go.
Things started to really heat up as the day carried on so we closed nets once the temperatures soared and birds died down. Tomorrow should be another chance for a good day of migration and I'm really excited to see what moves into the area.
A noteworthy bird that we saw fly past was a Common Nighthawk. They can be difficult to find on the coast here, so it was really cool to see one going Southwest early in the morning. Below are some photos from our day of banding.
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| Hatch-year Female Black-throated Blue Warbler. Photo by Josh Lefever |
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| Hatch-year Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Photo by Josh Lefever |
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| Hatch-year Female Summer Tanager. Photo by Josh Lefever |
-Ben
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | - | - | 1 | - |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
Eastern Kingbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | 1 | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 2 | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 2 | - | - |
Ovenbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Worm-eating Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 5 | - | 3 | - |
American Redstart | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Cape May Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Summer Tanager | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 22 | 23 | 45 |
| # of Recaptures | 11 | 1 | 12 |
| # of Species | 14 | 12 | 19 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 158.3 | 98.9 | 257.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 20.8 | 24.3 | 22.2 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 306 | 198 | 504 |
| # of Recaptures | 109 | 35 | 144 |
| # of Species | 36 | 28 | 43 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 2,370 | 1,266 | 3,636 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 17.5 | 18.4 | 17.8 |
| # of Days | 18 | 19 | - |
Banding Staff
