Captain Sam's:
Another great push thanks to the cold front brought on a good mix of catbirds and smaller birds which was well needed. It was a little less busier than we expected but that didn't stop us from having a fun day. With a total of 149 birds less than half of them were catbirds! I personally was glad to mostly have smaller birds in the hand after our long catbird stint. We'll never not have them from this point on but a healthy balance is nice.
Of the good birds today it was nice to see another Nashville Warbler and Tennessee Warbler at the station, not to mention our season first Swamp Sparrow and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Little Bear from the few updates we got in the morning were good to hear, a first of season Bay-breasted Warbler (a species we didn't even catch last fall) was excellent! Spending two falls here and being a birdwatcher means I'm keeping a list of all the birds I can find in Charleston county. Bay-breasted Warbler was one that I had not yet seen for the county so I was a tad jealous but that just drove me to go birding in the afternoon with Aiden. With great luck we actually were able to locate another on the east end of the island! I'm hoping we catch one tomorrow as that would be another species I haven't seen in the hand.
- Nate
Little Bear:
Since we were expecting a bigger push of birds, four of us went out to Little Bear this morning. We ended the day with 148 birds, only one less than Captain Sam's! Sunrise out at the beach was exciting, as we to got to see and hear some of the migratory birds passing through. Aidan even had an Eastern Meadowlark flying over the ocean. Brendan and Aiden also heard a Dickcissel calling when we arrived at the station (a bird that I keep missing 😡)
Highlights of the day were our first-of-season Bay-breasted Warbler and two Tennessee Warblers. It was my first time seeing both of them in the hand! We also had 6 Myrtle's Warblers today which were were a joy to process. Today I also learned that Yellow-rumps will often migrate in flocks of the same sex/age, which makes sense considering that a trio we caught today were all hatch-year females!
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| Bay-breasted Warbler |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler gals (Myrtle) |
- Maia
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-breasted Sapsucker | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 12 | - | 12 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 1 | - | 3 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | 1 |
House Wren | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | 5 | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 11 | - | 8 | - |
Gray Catbird | 41 | 20 | 44 | 9 |
Yellow-breasted Chat | - | 1 | 2 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | - | - | 1 | 2 |
Tennessee Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Nashville Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 11 | 1 | 11 | - |
American Redstart | 7 | - | 7 | - |
Cape-May Warbler | - | - | 3 | - |
Northern Parula | 3 | - | 2 | - |
Bay-breasted Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 8 | - | 4 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 19 | - | - | - |
Black-and-White Warbler | - | 1 | - | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 1 | - | 6 | - |
Swainson's Warbler | - | - | - | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | - | 4 | - |
Painted Bunting | - | - | 3 | 3 |
Swamp Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | 1 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 125 | 132 | 257 |
| # of Recaptures | 23 | 16 | 39 |
| # of Species | 21 | 25 | 28 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 180 | 124.2 | 304.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 82.2 | 119.2 | 97.3 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3367 | 2,028 | 5395 |
| # of Recaptures | 816 | 404 | 1220 |
| # of Species | 70 | 66 | 86 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 8369.3 | 4,014.55 | 12,383.85 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 49.5 | 60.6 | 53.4 |
| # of Days | 56 | 47 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
