Captain Sam's:
Captain Sam's was quiet when opening, but as we approached nets on the first round, it was evident today would be pretty good. There was an abundance of Yellow-rumped Warblers moving all around the area. As the sun started to hit an area, these birds would come alive, chipping and flycatching all around. I walked up to net 0 and found 8 of them already comfortably resting in the net. I extracted them and moved on, but could hear many more in the nearby shrubs. As Kandace then rechecked that same net only a few minutes later, she radioed that another 20 birds (nearly all Yellow-rumped Warblers) had flown in. I dropped my birds off and hurried over to help Aaron and Kandace finish off the net that was full of birds. It was quite a sight to see, and I can only imagine how many we still missed. We ended the day with 39 Yellow-rumped Warblers, by far the high count for the season thus far. I'm hoping that more flocks like this will come around, because that was one of the most exciting scenes.
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| Hatch-year unknown Clay-colored Sparrow |
My parents, David Stalheim and Celia Kadushin, came out for the afternoon of banding. After picking them up, we checked nets and immediately found a few catbirds. After their arrival, we caught some great birds like Yellow-billed Cuckoo (2), Downy Woodpecker (4), Orange-crowned Warbler (1), Black-and-white Warbler (1), and Painted Bunting (6). However, our best bird of the day came on the last net run. My mom and I were checking net 23 when I said that we had another bird. As I approached, I could tell it was something different, and then after seeing it up close, I knew it was a Clay-colored Sparrow. I was extremely excited and nervous to show everyone. With her help, we got the bird out and bagged, and continued checking/closing our nets. Back at the table, we appreciated and photographed the stunningly simple bird. We aged it as a hatch-year from the molt limit in its alular feathers, the pointy tail, and the fact it had an incomplete skull. This species is rare to the area, but Aaron mentioned that one of the stations generally catches one each year. Very awesome way to end the day out at Captain Sam's.
-Ben
Little Bear:
It was another good day at Little Bear, with cool weather and 91 birds captured. On the first net run, I was extremely excited to come upon a Little Bear first in net 16- a Brown Creeper! This species has been caught at Captain Sam's several times over KIBS history, but are generally uncommon winter residents on Kiawah. These tiny songbirds are a very unique species in North America; in fact they're the only species of their taxonomic family found on the continent. Creepers spend most of their time 'walking' up tree trunks looking for insects, a behavior similar to nuthatches. Unlike nuthatches, Brown Creepers have excellent camouflage with their wings and back covered in mottling of different shades of brown.
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| Brown Creeper |
The Brown Creeper wasn't our last exciting bird of the day though, as we also caught Little Bear's first of season Blue-headed Vireo and a handsome adult male Golden-crowned Kinglet.
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| Blue-headed Vireo |
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| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 2 | - | - | - |
Downy Woodpecker | 1 | 3 | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 | - | 5 | - |
Blue-headed Vireo | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 9 | - | 11 | - |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Brown Creeper | - | - | 1 | - |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 15 | 27 | 22 | 15 |
Hermit Thrush | 6 | - | - | - |
Clay-colored Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Song Sparrow | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Eastern Towhee | - | 1 | - | - |
Ovenbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Parula | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | - | - | 4 | - |
Pine Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 37 | 2 | 10 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 2 |
Indigo Bunting | - | - | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 6 | - | 3 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 87 | 71 | 158 |
| # of Recaptures | 35 | 20 | 55 |
| # of Species | 18 | 20 | 28 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 174.0 | 131.1 | 305.1 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 70.1 | 69.4 | 69.8 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,654 | 2,768 | 6,422 |
| # of Recaptures | 736 | 434 | 1,170 |
| # of Species | 79 | 76 | 93 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,750.65 | 6,782.65 | 16,533.3 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 45.0 | 47.2 | 45.9 |
| # of Days | 70 | 64 | - |
Banding Staff
