Captain Sams:
Today was another typical late summer day here on the spit. The water level is ankle-deep along our trails; the crabs scurry into their holes as we approach. We are learning to discern the different species of cicada by their screams. We identify several dragonfly and butterfly species within our site.
Today, we caught our first-of-season Eastern towhee, a recapture from way back in 2016/2017. We also caught a great-crested flycatcher, which was my highlight of the day. This individual had a molt limit within the greater coverts (second image, red=retained green=replaced) which is diagnostic of hatch-year birds.
-Brendan
Little Bear:
After a couple of favourable nights for migration, the winds are back to being out of the south, shutting down most migration. Today was extremely slow as a result with only 15 birds banded of 4 species. In contrast with the past couple of days, there were no major highlights either-- although a Green Heron and Great Egret continue to hang around within easy striking distance of the nets, raising hopes that we'll catch them again.
These slower days are typical of this early in the season and are a necessary toll for the big migration days of late September and October which will be here before we know it!
-Aidan
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Great-crested Flycatcher | 1 | - | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 2 | - | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Northern Mockingbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Eastern Towhee | - | 1 | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Prothonotary Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | 4 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 21 | 10 | 31 |
| # of Recaptures | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| # of Species | 12 | 4 | 13 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 153 | 82.7 | 235.7 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 18.3 | 18.1 | 18.2 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 21 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 359 | 237 | 596 |
| # of Recaptures | 122 | 67 | 188 |
| # of Species | 35 | 27 | 40 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 2560.17 | 1,032.8 | 3,593.97 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 18.8 | 29.8 | 21.8 |
| # of Days | 18 | 11 | 29 |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (CS)
