Captain Sams:
Captain Sam’s was on the slow side today with 17 birds total, 9 of them being recaptures. No new species this morning, but we did capture a new Hooded Warbler. An American Bittern was also spotted across the Kiawah River, which was the first seen at Captain Sam’s this season. Kiawah Island has never banded a bittern, but maybe this could be the year! Also, winds the next couple of days are more favorable, so things should be picking up at the station pretty soon. The team spent a good chunk of the morning mending nets while Aaron fixed walkboards.
Post banding, Kristin, Aidan, Brendan, and I went fishing and had a lot more captures. Some “first of seasons” included Blue Crab, Flounder, and Oyster Toadfish!
-Maia
Little Bear:
Today began with another moonlit ride in the Argo to our site, followed by a warm sunrise over the Atlantic. By our second net run, we had three first-of-season birds for Little Bear: Worm-eating Warbler, Indigo Bunting, and Eastern Kingbird. The Worm-eating Warbler (pictured below) was a stunning adult; notice the striped head pattern and silky smooth plumage.
We ended the day sweaty and happy. On our ride back from the site we noticed a staggering number of Gulf Fritillary butterflies feeding on the wildflowers along the path, and stopped to enjoy their company.
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
Eastern Kingbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Veery | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | - | - | - | 1 |
Worm-eating Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | 1 | - | 1 |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Hooded Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
American Redstart | - | 2 | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 3 | 1 | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 2 | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | - | - | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 7 | - | 4 | 4 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 17 | 15 | 34 |
| # of Recaptures | 9 | 9 | 24 |
| # of Species | 9 | 11 | 16 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 142.5 | 83.5 | 226 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 18.2 | 28.7 | 25.7 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 591 | 424 | 1015 |
| # of Recaptures | 178 | 109 | 287 |
| # of Species | 37 | 36 | 46 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3704.67 | 1,728.35 | 5433.02 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 21.7 | 30.8 | 24.0 |
| # of Days | 26 | 19 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
