Captain Sam's:
With cooler temps and a slight breeze it finally feels like fall here at Kiawah. Next week will be back to hot temps and high humidity, so we're enjoying this weather while we still can. Overall capture rate was good today and we ended with 123 birds of 20 species. Today was also a pretty good day for Black-and-white Warblers and Northern Parulas, which are always a treat to band!
The highlight of the day was our first Tree Swallow of the season, a lovely hatch-year bird was caught in a swallow-net set up by a wax-myrtle bush. The past two days flocks of Tree Swallows have been swarming wax-myrtle bushes at Captain Sam's, so hopefully this week can catch more of these iridescent birds. Even thought this bird looks "adulty" with its clean white and iridescent teal colors, the skull was not completely ossified, meaning the skull hasn't fully formed yet and it hatched this year. Hopefully the continuing good conditions will bring even more birds tomorrow!
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| First-of-season Tree Swallow |
Also, a big thank you to David and Cathy for volunteering with us at the station today!
- Maia
Little Bear:
Fall temperatures seem to have settled in now with a high of 66 degrees today and overcast skies. It feels extremely nice to wear a sweatshirt all day after weeks of heat and humidity!
Birdwise, we had an excellent day with a good bit of diversity and solid numbers despite the brisk breeze. Northern Parulas were in above average numbers with three banded, including the first after hatch year male I've seen so far this season. Another highlight was an extremely crisp Hooded Warbler!
Another night of good winds are ahead of us, tomorrow will be just as good if not better than today!
-Aidan
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| Hooded Warbler |
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| Northern Parula |
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Tree Swallow | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | - | - | 2 | - |
Grey Catbird | 17 | 12 | 19 | 1 |
Swainson's Thrush | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | 1 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | 3 | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | - | - | 1 | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Mockingbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | 2 | 1 | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | - | 3 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Common Yellowthroat | 23 | 2 | 6 | - |
Hooded Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
American Redstart | 14 | 1 | 11 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | 5 | - | 3 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 19 | - | 25 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 2 | - | 3 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 98 | 86 | 184 |
| # of Recaptures | 26 | 15 | 41 |
| # of Species | 19 | 20 | 27 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 195 | 115 | 310 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 63.1 | 87 | 72.6 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2099 | 1202 | 3,301 |
| # of Recaptures | 404 | 262 | 666 |
| # of Species | 56 | 53 | 68 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 6474.07 | 3,230.55 | 9704.62 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 38.7 | 45.3 | 40.9 |
| # of Days | 45 | 36 |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
