Captain Sam's:
It was quite windy out on the spit today. Usually west winds would have brought us a lot birds but unfortunately, rain in the northeastern part of the US grounded most of the migrants that would have come our way. Hopefully some of that rain will clear out for tonight as we are expecting good conditions again for migrating birds. The radar image at 8:10pm stills show the Nor'easter spinning in the New England states but there are some birds moving south behind it from Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The predominant winds will be shifting from the west to the north overnight, which should set us up for a pretty good morning tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
Ben and I had an okay morning at Captain Sam's with 33 new birds and 20 recaptures. Gray Catbirds, Common Yellowthroats, and Yellow-rumped Warblers made up most of what we captured today. I sometimes joke that there are three seasons during fall migration banding at KIBS: yellowthroat season, catbird season, and yellow-rump season. Yellowthroat season starts at the end of August and runs through the end of October with most of them coming through in September. Catbird season starts up mid to late September and will run through mid November. At that time most of the catbirds on site are winter residents. The end of October is the beginning of yellow-rump season. Their numbers generally peak in early November but continue to move through the rest of November. In most years, those three species make up between 50-60% of all birds banded at KIBS.
-Aaron
Little Bear:
Today was a lot busier than expected. We had a total of 69 birds with only 10 of them being recaptures. We finally got our Orange-Crowned Warbler for LB which was absolutely adorable! We also had a really handsome young male Cape May Warbler. I was so excited to see such a colorful bird for the day!
I am also extremely excited to see what tomorrow will hold! I'm hoping for both sites to pull through and get new species and lots of birds. This nice cooler weather is a treat for sure. It's a banders treat for a nice trick (meaning lots of birds for us).
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | - | 1 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 14 | 15 | 26 | 5 |
Eastern Towhee | 2 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | 13 | 2 |
Song Sparrow | - | - | - | 1 |
White-crowned Sparrow | - | - | 1 | - |
Orange-crowned Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle) | 6 | - | 3 | - |
Palm Warbler (western) | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | - | - | - |
Painted Bunting | - | - | 1 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 33 | 59 | 92 |
| # of Recaptures | 20 | 10 | 30 |
| # of Species | 12 | 15 | 20 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 156 | 102.4 | 258.4 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 34 | 67.4 | 47.2 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,567 | 2,696 | 6,263 |
| # of Recaptures | 701 | 414 | 1,115 |
| # of Species | 78 | 74 | 91 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,576.65 | 6,651.55 | 16,228.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 44.6 | 46.8 | 45.5 |
| # of Days | 69 | 63 | - |
Banding Staff
