I wonder if he had any "Egrets" after he got stuck in a net.

 Captain Sams: 

Today started with Aidan, Maia, and myself watching the sunrise by the river after we opened our nets. Whilst counting the shorebirds and enjoying the morning sky we were greeted by a bonnethead shark. This species of shark (Sphyrna tiburo) is the only known shark species to display sexual dimorphism and the only known omnivorous shark species. They are quite common in the shallows around Kiawah Island, so keep an eye out!

Now, back to birds.

It was another slow, muggy morning out on the spit. Our highlight bird of the day was a worm-eating warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum). These warblers sport a dashing head pattern and get their somewhat inaccurate name from their diet, consisting not of worms, but caterpillars.  

-Brendan

Little Bear:

Today was definitely a slower day than we have typically been having. We ended our day with a total of 23 birds and out of those 23, 14 were newly banded and 9 were recaptured. We added 2 new species to KIBS total and 3 species to Little Bear's total count for the season. 

One of our species added to KIBS is a first ever in the net! Little Bear has been open for 1 whole week and has captured some great birds. Our amazing bird we captured was no other than a Great Egret! How awesome is that?! A large wading bird that has managed to find itself in a net. Over the week, there has been a Great Egret walking around one side of our station. I thought it would be fun to try to walk it into a net but it just flew off instead. I kept thinking to myself, man that would be a cool bird to catch if it would just go into a net. I was also thinking it would a pain to catch with that large bill that is as sharp as a knife. 

As we started our first net run, I told Katie to catch something good today and continued to my first net. As I got close to the first net I hear a loud grunt and I kicked into action thinking there was something good there! As I came into view I saw the Great Egret trying to fly away. I quickly and safely grab the bird by the bill and body. I didn't want it to try to hurt me or itself with that bill. Once I got the bird safely out of the net, I instantly radio Katie and said I got the largest bird KIBS might be able to catch at a station. 

We both got back and quickly processed this bird so that it can go on it's way. Of course we took a bunch of photos to show off how big they are and how cool they look. I am still shocked that it even stayed in the net but glad to add it to our list.

Great Egrets can stand about 3 feet tall. Looking that the photos below, you can see how large that bird is in the hand. This bird is also the main logo for the Audubon Society as well. Check out their page to learn more about Great Egrets with this link here https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-egret. 

Kristin holding the Great Egret

Look at how large their bill is! Absolutely stunning!

Check out the toes on this bird! They also have combs on their nails to help with preening their feathers. 

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Great Egret	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	-	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	2
Brown Thrasher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	1
Worm-eating Warbler	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	3	1	3
Painted Bunting	-	-	5	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4	14	18
# of Recaptures	3	9	12
# of Species	4	11	13
Effort (net-hours)	129	87.4	216.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	5.4	26.3	13.9
# of Nets	30	23	-

2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	244	168	412
# of Recaptures	101	44	145
# of Species	31	24	35
Effort (net-hours)	1,963.2	700.4	2,663.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.6	30.1	20.9
# of Days	14	7	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Katie Serba (LB)
Brendan Wang (CS) 

Aidan Place (CS)

Maia Nguyen (CS)