Wednesday, November 30, 2022

That's a Wrap on the 2022 Fall Migration Banding Season

 Captain Sams:

Well, another chapter in the Kiawah Island Banding Station has come to a close.  This has been a record breaking season at Captain Sams shattering the the 10 year average of total birds banded by 1,141 birds!  But more of that in the upcoming season summary post.

After a very good day yesterday, today was pretty much a bust.  The predicted rain arrived earlier than anticipated and I had to rush around to close down the nets before the downpour.  I barely made it but got drenched trying to pack everything up. In the 2.5 hours that the nets were open, I only captured 3 new birds and 6 recaptures.  

I recaptured the same Sharp-shinned Hawk that I recaptured yesterday.  My net must have surprised her as she was cruising around carrying her latest meal - a Brown Thrasher.  The headless thrasher carcass was laying in the net next to her.  Over the years, we have found several potential meals of Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks in our nets.  Some examples that I can think of off the top of my head include Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbird, Black Rail, Common Ground Dove, and a rat.  Most of the time, the hawk gets out of the net before we get there but they drop their prey in the net when they run into it.  

It's been a great season, and I had an awesome crew and wonderful volunteers,  all of whom, helped make this season a success!  I will be preparing the season summary over the next several day and will post here when I get it finished.  Thanks for following along with us all season long.

-Aaron              




  Species  Captain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Sharp-shinned Hawk
-1--
Gray Catbird
-1--
Swamp Sparrow
-1--
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
33--



Today's Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
3
-
-
# of Recaptures
6
-
-
# of Species
4
-
-
Effort (net-hours)
75.0
-
-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
12.0
-
-
# of Nets
30
23
-

2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
5,709
2,955
8,664
# of Recaptures
1,529
700
2,229
# of Species
86
83
100
Effort (net-hours)
15,292.6
6,985.05
22,277.65
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
47.3
52.3
48.9
# of Days10176-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

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