CAPTAIN SAM'S
I was hoping for a much busier day today with overcast skies and little wind for most of the morning. Unfortunately, there was not many birds moving around and as a result, I only banded 21 new birds and had 13 recaptures. Around 11:00am a cold front arrived and the wind picked up and the temperature dropped a bit. About the same time, I noticed some Tree Swallows starting to flow down the spit. It didn't appear that there were that many birds but when they started to swirl around at far end of the spit, I estimated the flock to be about 300 birds. I decided to run out and open up the swallow net, just in case. For about an hour the swallows stayed out of sight and I didn't think I had a chance to capture any today. After the last net run of the day, I looked out at the swallow net and saw some "white things" hanging in the net. The swallow flock must have fed in the wax myrtle bush was while I was closing up the rest of the nets.
Compared to Friday's swallow catch which was made up of mostly females (70%), today's swallow captures were mostly male (86%). I wonder the sex ratio is skewed toward one sex in these huge migratory/wintering flocks? Or maybe the sexes are somewhat segregated within the flock? Food for thought...
 |
| Tree Swallow (male) |
Thanks to Rob, Margaret, and Malcolm for their help and company today!
-Aaron
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Tree Swallow | 7 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 | - | - | - |
Hermit Thrush | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 1 | 3 | - | - |
Song Sparrow | - | 1 | - | - |
White-throated Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 9 | 6 | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 21 | - | - |
| # of Recaptures | 13 | - | - |
| # of Species | 9 | - | - |
| Effort (net-hours) | 200.6 | - | - |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 16.9 | - | - |
| # of Nets | 30 | - | - |
| 2021 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 4528 | 3103 | 7631 |
| # of Recaptures | 1206 | 589 | 1795 |
| # of Species | 91 | 79 | 104 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 13631.0 | 8332.6 | 21963.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 42.1 | 44.3 | 42.9 |
| # of Days | 94 | 78 | - |
Banding Staff
