Captain Sam's:
Captain Sam's was full of birds for the better part of the morning. The strong North winds and cloud cover made for a pleasant environment and birds all around. Although our totals weren't through the roof, we were able to band 136 individuals and recapture 10 others. This kept us busy and delighted all day.
With this new push of birds, surely some new species were to appear, and that they did! We caught our first Black-throated Green Warbler of the season. This hatch-year male was a stunning sight and a very infrequent catch.
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| Hatch-year male Black-throated Green Warbler |
Additionally, a Swamp Sparrow found our nets during the same run. This species will hopefully become more regular, but it was exceptionally nice on a day like today.
Although not first-of-season's, we did catch a few other irregular species. A hatch-year Blue Grosbeak and hatch-year female Magnolia Warbler were both found today. Notice in the Blue Grosbeak the thick black median coverts compared to the duller greater and primary coverts.
Little Bear:
With a strong north wind overnight, we were ready to possibly have a busy morning with lots of new birds arriving. I was a little worried that the wind might be too strong to safely catch birds this morning, but luckily that wasn't the case, and we had Little Bear's biggest day of the season! We banded 140 birds today, and had 9 recaptures. Our most common captures were Palm Warblers (45), Common Yellowthroat (25), and Gray Catbird (22). Amongst our 21 species were 3 first of seasons. Our first net run yielded a Baltimore Oriole (getting pretty late for them to still be moving through, so a welcome surprise), and a Pine Warbler (a less than annual catch).
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| Baltimore Oriole: hatch-year male that was uncooperative for photos |
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| Baltimore Oriole tail: Our hatch-year male had a mostly juvenile tail, but had advantageously replaced one tail feather with a bold black and orange adult-like feather. He must have lost that juvenile feather earlier in migration and re-grew it as an adult feather. |
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| Pine Warbler: a drab hatch-year, identifiable by its overall grayness with hints of yellow around the face, and large white markings on the wing coverts |
A little later in the morning we caught our 3rd first-of-season for the day, a couple of Blackpoll Warblers. Blackpolls are one of the longer distance migrants that we catch, and we usually only get a couple each fall. Our Blackpoll Warblers today were an adult male and an adult female, and are in the middle of an epic migration from their breeding grounds in northern Canada to wintering grounds in South America. While hatch-years can be difficult to impossible to sex, our birds today provided a nice example of the subtle differences in non-breeding plumage of adults of this species.
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| Blackpoll Warbler: Adult female; note the plain yellow breast and throat, and small, indistinct black centers to the back feathers |
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| Blackpoll Warbler: non-breeding adult male; note the black flecking on the breast and throat, and distinct black centers to the back feathers |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 1 | - | 3 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | 2 | 1 |
Red-eyed Vireo | 3 | - | - | - |
Tufted Titmouse | - | - | 1 | - |
House Wren | - | - | 1 | - |
Gray Catbird | 20 | 8 | 22 | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Baltimore Oriole | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 28 | 1 | 24 | 1 |
American Redstart | 14 | - | 11 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Blackpoll Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 19 | - | 7 | - |
Pine Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler | 30 | - | 45 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Black-throated Green Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Blue Grosbeak | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | 3 |
Indigo Bunting | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 136 | 140 | 276 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 9 | 19 |
| # of Species | 20 | 21 | 27 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 177.75 | 141.05 | 318.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 82.2 | 105.6 | 92.5 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2481 | 1658 | 4139 |
| # of Recaptures | 380 | 214 | 594 |
| # of Species | 61 | 55 | 70 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 7206.45 | 4949.7 | 12156.15 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 39.7 | 37.8 | 38.9 |
| # of Days | 53 | 48 | - |
Banding Staff
