Captain Sams:
We had an ominous start to the morning as there was a dense cover of fog over the area. There was so much fog that we couldn't even see across the river and it almost felt like the start of a zombie apocalypse movie. While today wasn't a double banana split day of banding like yesterday, we still banded 38 new birds and processed 7 recaptures. We even had a first of season Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which was a bit of a surprise since we normally see them a bit later in the season. Our other highlight of today was having 3 cuckoos (2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos and 1 Black-billed Cuckoo)!! The Yellow-billed Cuckoos were both from the first net run and were new birds, while the Black-billed Cuckoo was actually a recap from almost a month ago. Typically, this bird would've left by now, but it is still in the process of molting some feathers so its stuck around. We were also able to observe the difference in the tail feathers for an adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo vs. a hatching year individual. The adult bird has a very stark contrast between the black of the tail feather and the white tipping, while the hatching year bird has a browner color to the feathers and more of a transition into the white tipping.
All of this was also extra exciting because we had a group from AmeriCorps with us. They were able to join us for the whole day and go on net runs, watch the banding process, and assist with releasing birds. It was really great to show people what we do and see their excitement when they saw certain birds for the first time or released their first bird.
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| menacing morning fog |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| Yellow-billed Cuckoo comparison After-hatch year (left) / Hatching year (right) |
-Katie
Little Bear:
Today was a lot drearier than yesterday. I was in hopes of more birds but we had a heavy mist hanging in the air most of our morning. It was kind of cool to see, but yet it wasn't that great for our nets. It didn't take long for it to burn off in the mid-morning sun and to heat up real quick. Our highlighted birds for the day are another Magnolia Warbler and a Yellow-breasted Chat.
Tomorrow is showing some very very high winds but I am hopping for it to mellow out a bit so we can open up Little Bear. Little Bear has more of a shorter habitat which means most of our nets are more exposed to the wind. Here's to hoping for a banding day tomorrow!
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 2 | - | - | - |
Black-billed Cuckoo | - | 1 | - | - |
Downy Woodpecker | - | 1 | - | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | 2 | - | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 5 | - | 3 | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 2 | - | 4 | - |
Veery | 1 | - | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 2 | - | 2 | 2 |
Common Yellowthroat | 15 | 2 | 8 | - |
Cape May Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 4 | - | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 38 | 22 | 60 |
| # of Recaptures | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| # of Species | 17 | 10 | 21 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 138.0 | 75.9 | 213.9 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 32.6 | 32.9 | 32.7 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 1193 | 827 | 2020 |
| # of Recaptures | 262 | 182 | 448 |
| # of Species | 45 | 41 | 54 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 5045.87 | 2608.2 | 7654.07 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 28.8 | 38.7 | 32.2 |
| # of Days | 36 | 29 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (CS)
