Captain Sams:
Today was more productive than I thought with 156 new birds and 25 recaptures of 26 different species. Gray Catbirds lead the way with 55 banded, followed by Common Yellowthroats and American Redstarts with 29 and 15, respectively.
A Golden-crowned Kinglet was a new species for the fall. I didn't even know that we had caught one today until I started writing this blog because it was processed early this morning prior to me arriving on site.
Fall migration is in a transition period where our neotropical migrants have mostly passed us by and our nearctic migrants are just starting to arrive. Because of this, species diversity is generally at its highest. Mid-October is an exceptional time to be banding or birding because you can see species like Prairie Warblers and Yellow Warblers, which generally migrate early right alongside Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Swamp Sparrow which are later migrants and winter residents.
I'd like to thank Michael and Nancy for helping out the last couple of days. And also my wife, Amy, and son, Aidan for helping out today.
-Aaron
Little Bear:
This morning, as we traveled east out to our site on the Argo, there was a glowing tear in the pre-dawn sky. I could not stop staring at this tear as we rolled down the cart path on our eight-wheeled amphibious vehicle, the way the light was shining through the tear did not make sense to me. How was this much light coming from this far off the horizon before dawn? Just above the tear, moving westward across the sky, the sky was still black, and stars were still shining; it made sense. This little portion of the morning sky, however, did not and does not. Eventually, I stopped thinking about it so as to not hurt my pre-coffee brain any further.
We had a steady flow of birds to band today, including Little Bear's first House Finch of the season. Our totals for the day came out to 81 new birds banded and 19 recaptures. We had eight hands on the Little Bear crew today, which gave us ample hand power to clean up some trails and repair nets in-between net runs.
Today marks 2/3 of the fall banding season down, and 1/3 to go. We have had a wonderful two months so far; I am grateful for all the interesting birds I have been able to interact with, the time spent working with my colleagues and friends, and the skills I have sharpened throughout my time here.
-Brendan
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Mourning Dove | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | - | - | - |
Downy Woodpecker | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 2 | - | 4 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo White-eyed Vireo | 1 1 | - 1 | - - | - - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 5 | - | 1 | - |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 2 | 1 | 2 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 55 | 18 | 39 | 13 |
Northern Mockingbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 2 | - | 1 | - |
House Finch | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Towhee | - | - | - | 1 |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 3 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Swainson's Warbler | - | - | - | 1 |
Common Yellowthroat | 29 | 3 | 21 | 1 |
American Redstart | 15 | 1 | 3 | - |
Northern Parula | 5 | - | - | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 9 | - | 2 | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Indigo Bunting | 7 | - | 2 | - |
Painted Bunting | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 4 | - | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 156 | 81 | 237 |
| # of Recaptures | 25 | 19 | 44 |
| # of Species | 26 | 18 | 29 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 180.0 | 101.2 | 281.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 100.6 | 98.8 | 99.9 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3523 | 2109 | 5632 |
| # of Recaptures | 841 | 423 | 1264 |
| # of Species | 71 | 66 | 87 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 8549.3 | 4,115.75 | 12,665.05 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 53.2 | 61.5 | 54.5 |
| # of Days | 57 | 48 | - |
Banding Staff
