A Slow Day All Around

 Captain Sam's: 

Today was on the slower side with 17 birds netted in total. Because the lack of birds meant that the net rounds went by quickly, we made use of the downtime by doing some much needed net repairs. A mist net undergoes a lot of wear and tear over the course of a season and it was good to have the time today to stitch back together some of the rips and holes from last year. Now the nets will be better prepared for the busier days which are hopefully right around the corner!

Little Bear:

Little Bear was also very laid-back today, with 15 birds banded and 6 recaptures of 11 different species. We also captured our first Yellow Warbler for this site. 

Our highlight of the day was the Yellow-breasted Chat which had three different molt limits within its wing. The chat, as shown below, is a hatch year bird based off of limits that we can see in three places: the primaries, the primary coverts, and the secondaries. Adult, "after hatch year", birds start their molt from their innermost feathers and grow outwards (from P1 to P9), but this individual started replacing feathers from P4 instead. By looking for these examples of "eccentric molt" we can determine if birds were born this year and can therefore be aged as "hatch year" birds. 

Yellow Breasted Chat wing: Red indicates new feathers that grew in recently, while blue indicates old, "retained" feathers. Because this individual did not replace its innermost feathers first, it is a hatch year bird.

- Maia

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	1	1
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	-	1
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	1	1
American Redstart	2	-	1	-
Prothonotary Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	1	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	3	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	2	2
Painted Bunting	1	2	5	1
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Northern Mockingbird	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	15	26
# of Recaptures	6	6	12
# of Species	11	11	14
Effort (net-hours)	168.0	97.75	265.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	10.1	21.5	14.3
# of Nets	30	21	51

2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sam's	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	225	132	357
# of Recaptures	92	26	118
# of Species	31	20	33
Effort (net-hours)	1696.2	509.5	2205.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.7	31.0	21.5
# of Days	12	5	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Katie Serba (LB)
Brendan Wang (CS) 

Aidan Place (CS)

Maia Nguyen (LB)