Captain Sam's:
Though we didn't catch anything nearly as exciting as Little Bear's Merlin, we had a really good day out at Captain Sam's! We caught nearly 100 birds today, and many of those were in the first round early in the morning. There were lots of small passerines dropping in, many of which were Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, and Black-throated Blue Warblers. It was nice to not be totally swamped with Gray Catbirds for the day, and to experience some more variety in the nets. We were also lucky enough to catch the first-of-season Bay-breasted Warbler, and a second-of-season House Finch.
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| After hatch-year female Bay-breasted Warbler |
Thanks Michael and Nancy for the help yesterday and today!
-Kandace
Little Bear:
We had an awesome surprise in one of the nets at Little Bear today, a species of falcon known as a Merlin. Merlins are an abundant predator found all across the northern hemisphere, and come to South Carolina only during the winter. We often see them migrating south along the coast during our banding sessions and have often dreamed of one day catching one. However they almost always stay high up above our mist nets, as they prefer to catch their prey (such as dragonflies) mid-air while they fly. This preference for hunting on the wing is common among falcons, and contrasts with the hunting styles of the Hawks which are more frequently caught by songbird banders, such as Cooper's Hawks. A Merlin had never been caught before at either KIBS site, and it was a big shock when Nate brought a gorgeous adult male back to the banding table this morning.
There are several subspecies of Merlin, however only one, known as the Taiga Merlin, is expected in South Carolina. Our bird's slate blue back is unique to adult males of the Taiga subspecies group, so figuring out the age and sex of our bird was pretty obvious. It was still a valuable opportunity to study this birds feathers up-close and learn more about their molt patterns, which include a variable pattern of suspended molt on migrating adult birds like ours.
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| Nate and Ben, looking for differences between the Merlin's flight feathers |
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| Spread wing of our AHY male Merlin |
-Josh
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Merlin | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | - | - | 1 |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 3 | 15 | 7 | 9 |
Swainson's Thrush | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Hermit Thrush | 3 | - | - | - |
House Finch | 1 | - | - | - |
Song Sparrow | 3 | - | 1 | 2 |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Towhee | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 8 | 2 | 2 | - |
American Redstart | 1 | - | - | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
Northern Parula | - | - | 1 | - |
Bay-breasted Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 7 | - | 7 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 9 | - | 3 | - |
Palm Warbler (Yellow) | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 22 | 1 | 3 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 74 | 40 | 114 |
| # of Recaptures | 22 | 16 | 38 |
| # of Species | 19 | 16 | 24 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 150.0 | 101.2 | 251.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 64.0 | 55.3 | 60.5 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,451 | 2,582 | 6,033 |
| # of Recaptures | 669 | 389 | 1,058 |
| # of Species | 78 | 73 | 91 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,270.95 | 6,424.95 | 15,695.9 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 44.4 | 46.2 | 45.2 |
| # of Days | 66 | 61 | - |
Banding Staff
