Captain Sam's:
Despite our occasional catbird slander for the incessant screaming and pooping all over our hands they still find ways to excite us. Today we had the first Gray Catbird that I’ve ever seen with an eccentric molt. Later in the season as banders unfamiliar with molts become more keen on spotting feather differences eccentric molts become more and more fun to look at. We have easier ones to see like Yellow-breasted Chats, intermediate ones like Common Yellowthroats, and some that can be challenging to see like our future Song Sparrows. Now to the easy category we can add Gray Catbird!
In addition to the kooky catbird we managed to catch a first of season Eastern Bluebird! This is a species I'm familiar with but this is the first time I'm seeing this species with "banders eyes". This was an after hatch year male and was quite a stunner! Looking at these feathers in the sunlight was truly something else.
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| After-hatching-year male Eastern Bluebird |
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| You can see the the molt limit in the secondaries of this Gray Catbird. Not shown was its 10th primary feather (which is reduced) that is also an older generation, the outermost primary covert it also older! Such a neat individual! |
- Nate
Little Bear:
Today was a little better than yesterday. We ended up with a total of 31 birds! Almost a split down the middle with new birds (16 banded) and recaptures (15 recaptured). We added 2 new birds to the site! We finally caught our Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and caught a Swamp Sparrow. Both birds were a treat to have. We managed to have more of a species diversity today than what we have been having for the past few days. We used this slow period to start to repair some nets and get ready for the next big push. I'm hoping tomorrow will have a nice increase in bird counts but any number of birds is always gonna be a good day!
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 3 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
Marsh Wren | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | - | 1 | - | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | 1 | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
Gray Catbird | 13 | 25 | 10 | 10 |
Northern Mockingbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Eastern Bluebird | 1 | - | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | 1 | - |
House Finch | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | - | 1 | - | 3 |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 3 | - | - |
American Redstart | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Palm Warbler (western subspecies) | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | - |
Painted Bunting | - | - | - | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 25 | 16 | 41 |
| # of Recaptures | 36 | 15 | 50 |
| # of Species | 14 | 9 | 22 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 159 | 91.6 | 250.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 38.4 | 33.8 | 36.3 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3242 | 1,896 | 5,138 |
| # of Recaptures | 793 | 388 | 1181 |
| # of Species | 68 | 63 | 82 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 8189.3 | 3,890.3 | 12079.7 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 49.3 | 58.7 | 52.3 |
| # of Days | 55 | 46 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
