Captain Sam's:
Today is "October Big Day" via the Cornell Lab of Ornithology! So some of us here at the banding station attempted to try and see as many species of birds possible today. Migration and southern winds made migration much slower at the station but we as the morning went on we kept getting more and more species. This lead Aiden and I to want to try our hardest. Some great birds we saw at the banding station today were Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Marsh Wren, and Peregrine Falcons. By noon we had totaled 67 species with lots of easy birds still to get.
Our next mission was lunch and listening for migrants from our porch. We didn't get anything new but had good looks at Tufted Titmouse and American Redstart.
The day continued and we were off to the east end of the island to do some passerine birding while picking up some easier birds for the day. We had really racked up a good number of species including some that we weren't too sure about like Least Flycatcher, Traill's Flycatcher, and Black-throated Blue-Warbler. A few birds that we were hoping to get at the banding station possibly.
Working our way down the east end we stopped in at the Ocean Course to work through flocks and found ourselves totaling 91 species! Great birds spotted there that we likely wouldn't have gotten anywhere else were American Kestrel, Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Kingbird, and European Starling (a surprisingly difficult bird to get on the island).
Getting closer to 100 we decided to stop by the Marsh Tower on the island and found a Pine Warbler while hoping for getting distant Black Vultures which we unfortunately dipped on.
The final stop for us before sunset was Captain Sam's Spit in hopes for shorebirds, gulls, and any missing terns. Thankfully we were able to pick up many species for the day with highlights including American Avocet, Dunlin, and Lesser Black-backed Gull. Our total for sunset....105 species!
Now as your reading this were likely still out listening for nocturnal flight calls (NFC's) and hoping to hear a few rails, owls, and night herons. We will update with our total at some point after we call it quits below.
-Nate
Little Bear:
With continuing south winds, we had another slower banding day at Little Bear. There were plenty of Gray Catbirds today (and plenty of their purple poop). However, we did get our first-of-season Gray-cheeked Thrush, a bird we've been expecting for some time now! Another highlight of the day was two Wilson's Snipes hanging out near Net 2 mid-morning. Hopefully they'll be back again tomorrow, and we can try to catch them.
When things slowed down at the station, Kristen and I closed a little early and headed back to repair nets this afternoon.
- Maia
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 2 | - | - | - |
Eastern Wood-pewee | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | 2 | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 2 | - | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | - | 1 | - | - |
House Wren | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 26 | 20 | 29 | 6 |
Northern Mockingbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Gray-cheeked Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Swainson's Thrush | - | 1 | 2 | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 | 2 | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Common Yellowthroat | 8 | 3 | 4 | - |
American Redstart | - | 5 | 1 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-throated Warbler | - | 1 | - | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | - | - | - |
| Painted Bunting | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 50 | 45 | 95 |
| # of Recaptures | 40 | 13 | 53 |
| # of Species | 20 | 13 | 23 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 147 | 80.5 | 227.5 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 61.1 | 72.1 | 65.1 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | 53 |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2807 | 1720 | 4527 |
| # of Recaptures | 575 | 325 | 900 |
| # of Species | 63 | 58 | 78 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 7340.67 | 3,456.1 | 10796.77 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 46.6 | 59.1 | 50.3 |
| # of Days | 50 | 41 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
