August Slipped Away

 Captain Sams: 

I can't believe we are at the end of August already.  August was very wet and relatively slow bird-wise.  I was curious as if there was any correlation between the capture rate in August and the capture rate for the entire season.  Sure enough, it appears a slow August might be an indicator of a slower overall season.  I guess we will see in the end.   

After two days of not banding due to rain, we weren't sure what to expect today.  We were greeted with flooded net lanes and banding trails, and plenty of mosquitos.  We ended the day with 25 new birds and 3 recaptures which was better than I was expecting.  We got our first of the season "Traill's" Flycatcher and despite taking a series of detailed measurements to attempt to ID the bird to species, the formulas were not conclusive, which is the case for most "Traill's" Flycatchers.  Willow and Alder Flycatchers (collectively know as "Traill's") are notoriously difficult to identify to species because they look nearly identical.  Their calls/songs are the most reliable way to separate them in the field but unfortunately, they don't sing in the hand. 

-Aaron 

Little Bear:

After being rained out for the past 2 days, we were finally able to get back out and continue banding. The water was still very high, almost topping our rubber boots in places, but we walked the net lanes and trails strategically and made our way through. We thought things might be busier after the storms, but we ended up with only 10 new birds and 4 recaptures. Our main birds were Painted Buntings, Northern Waterthrushes, and Nothern Cardinals. However, we did at least get one White-eyed Vireo. Hopefully, with some calmer weather in the next few days, the site will dry out and more birds will be coming through. 👍

-Katie 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	1	-	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	1	1
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	3
Northern Waterthrush	6	-	3	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	3	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	5	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	5	1	5	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	25	10	35
# of Recaptures	3	4	7
# of Species	11	5	12
Effort (net-hours)	157.5	74.1	231.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.9	18.9	18.1
# of Nets	30	23	53

2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	269	178	447
# of Recaptures	103	48	151
# of Species	32	24	36
Effort (net-hours)	2120.7	774.5	2,895.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.6	28.6	20.7
# of Days	17	8	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Katie Serba (LB)
Brendan Wang (CS) 

Aidan Place (LB)

Maia Nguyen (CS)