An Interesting Title

 Captain Sam's:

 

Heat, humidity, and bugs returned with a vengeance today. Few birds accompanied the shift in weather, although the trend of increased Catbirds continued. A few Yellow-rumped Warblers were caught as well, although not as many as a few days back.

The highlight of the day for me was going out pre-dawn to listen to nocturnal flight calls-- the chip and tseet calls that birds make as they migrate at night. In the 30 minutes I was out listening, hundreds of Yellow-rumped Warblers passed over as well as handfuls of Palm Warblers, Savannah Sparrows, and Song Sparrows. A Barred Owl calling in the distance completed the ambiance. 

-Aidan

Little Bear:

This morning, after Kristin and I set up the banding table and opened the nets, I walked out to the beach, just past Net 23, as I do every morning at Little Bear. 

It was low tide, with a long tide pool extending down the beach from the driftwood throne. The throne was empty today, as the grackles did not show. Many other creatures did show in the tide pool, however. A sea star waddled along the sandy bottom with its tube feet and a few small hermit crabs foraged along the pool's edge. I found a sea pansy, which is a cnidarian in the sea pen family (Renillidae). These collections of polyps feed like an anemone and often appear deflated when not in the open sea.

Tide pool - so much life in there!

Sea pansy (Renilla reniformis)

After returning from my sunrise adventure, it was time to band some birds. We started with a fruitful first run, including a couple firsts for Little Bear, a White-throated Sparrow and a Saltmarsh Sparrow. 

Saltmarsh Sparrow against the bright blue sky

Saltmarsh Sparrow exhibiting an eccentric molt. Primaries 5-9 and secondaries 6-9 (blue) have been replaced, while the retained flight feathers (yellow) are from the bird's juvenal growth. The presence of these juvenal feathers let's us know this is a young bird, and was hatched earlier this year (HY).

We ended the day with 43 total birds of 13 species. We caught 15 Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle) which are my absolute favorite (the ones that smell really good). While we are quite annoyed by this late heat wave, as it leaves us sweaty and mosquito bitten, we are looking forward to the remaining two weeks of the season and all the birds that come with it.

-Brendan

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	2	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
House Wren	-	-	-	1
Hermit Thrush	1	1	-	1
Grey Catbird	2	7	10	3
House Finch	1	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	2	-	1	-
Saltmarsh Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	1	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	1	-	1
Common Yellowthroat	1	2	1	1
American Redstart	-	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	2	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	18	-	15	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	1	2
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	29	31	60
# of Recaptures	14	12	26
# of Species	11	13	17
Effort (net-hours)	150	94.3	244.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	28.7	45.6	35.2
# of Nets	30	23	-

2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,576	2,777	7353
# of Recaptures	1,103	639	1742
# of Species	80	82	97
Effort (net-hours)	11,028.4	5,676.75	16,705.15
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	51.5	60.2	54.4
# of Days	73	64	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Nate Watkins (CS)

Katie Serba (CS)
Brendan Wang (LB) 

Aidan Place (CS)

Maia Nguyen (CS)