Captain Sam's:
We had a very good day out on the spit today with 196 new birds and 10 recaptures of 25 species. The rain to the north that blocked many migrants from reaching us yesterday cleared out allowing the birds to ride the north winds into South Carolina. Common Yellowthroats led the way with 89 of them banded. Palm Warblers and American Redstarts were next in line with 26 and 23, respectively.
We did catch a "rare" bird today... a Tufted Titmouse. Wait, Tufted Titmice aren't rare? In fact, Tufted Titmice are one of the most common songbirds on Kiawah Island but they rarely stray onto the spit. Today's bird was only the 11th one ever captured at Captain Sam's since we started banding in 2009.
Another interesting bird that we caught today was the eastern subspecies (Yellow) of the the Palm Warbler. This subspecies is much more yellow than it's "western" counterpart. The "western" subspecies is the more common of the two outnumbering the yellow palm warblers 50 to 1. Most yellow palms don't migrate through until much later in the fall, usually mid October so this guy was a little early.
 |
| Yellow Palm Warbler |
For me, the highlight of the day was catching two Chestnut-sided Warblers. On average, we only catch one or two of these each year so it was nice to be able to see both a hatch-year male and a hatch-year female. Young males and females can look similar but males will have large dark centers on the upper tail coverts and may show some chestnut color on the flanks. Hatch-year females will have reduced dark centers on the upper tail coverts and will lack chestnut on the flanks.
Chestnut-sided Warbler (hatch-year, female)
Thanks to Cathy and David for all their help today!
-Aaron
Little Bear:
 |
| Hatch-year female Yellow-throated Warbler. Photo by Josh Lefever |
For the first time this season, Little Bear broke 100 birds in a day! It was a large push of Palm Warblers that helped us reach that milestone. In addition to them, yellowthroats were once again abundant throughout the day. Unlike the last 2 days, no Green Herons were caught, which disappointed, but hopefully will turn around in the coming days.
 |
| Hatch-year Male Cape May Warbler. Photo by Josh Lefever |
 |
| Hatch-year Male Cape May Warbler. Photo by Josh Lefever |
The wind today was pretty strong and had a pretty strong effect on our capture rate. Despite all of that, we found some beautiful birds and were excited with the inundation of our new avian friends.
Some of the rather exciting birds today were a second Yellow-throated Warbler. This bird was a hatch-year female with a much duller plumage than the one caught before. Also, a Northern Parula, male Cape May Warbler, and a beautiful adult male Painted Bunting.
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Eastern Wood-Pewee | 1 | - | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 4 | - | 3 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 11 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Tufted Titmouse | 1 | - | - | - |
Veery | 2 | - | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 4 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 15 | 1 | 9 | - |
Brown Thrasher | 1 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 3 | - | 5 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 89 | 4 | 29 | 1 |
American Redstart | 23 | 1 | 15 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 2 | - | 4 | - |
Chestnut-sided Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 5 | - | - | - |
Western Palm Warbler | 25 | - | 41 | - |
Yellow Palm Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-throated Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | - | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 196 | 112 | 308 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 7 | 17 |
| # of Species | 25 | 15 | 27 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 193.2 | 135.1 | 328.3 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 106.6 | 88.1 | 99.0 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 1440 | 759 | 2199 |
| # of Recaptures | 182 | 93 | 275 |
| # of Species | 53 | 45 | 60 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 4896.7 | 3165.85 | 8062.55 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 33.1 | 26.9 | 29.4 |
| # of Days | 37 | 32 | - |
Banding Staff
