Captain Sam's:
We started off the morning pretty busy with several Song Sparrows, Swainson's Thrushes, and Hermit Thrushes. We even had two new Northern Parulas and a little flurry of Yellow-rumped Warblers. After the first couple of net runs though, bird activity around the station slowed down. However, out in the marsh things were just getting started. There was a massive flock of Tree Swallows flying low through the marsh eating Spartina seeds and then gathering together as one gulp of swallows to descend upon the unsuspecting wax myrtle trees to feast on all the berries. With the tide being so high, the flock of White Ibises were also back so we set up our larger net farther in front of them and tried to walk them towards it. The first time, one saw the net as it flew and caused the others to fly away and right over the net. We got a second chance and things were looking really good. One bird walked right under the net, so we thought they were close enough, but once again they were able to fly over the net. We have a new game plan though so hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to band our first White Ibis of the season!
-Katie
Little Bear:
After a couple of slow days, today was like a breath of fresh air. While we didn't have the numbers of, say, a couple weeks ago, the species diversity climbed back up again today and we caught a couple excellent species. Early in the morning we caught the first of season Lincoln's Sparrow. These crisply marked sparrows were high on my list of species I was hoping to catch by this point in the season. However, the biggest highlight was a Black-billed Cuckoo that we caught on the last net round. This is the fourth one we've caught this season which is an exceptional number for what is a rather rare species in the South Carolina Low Country. Late October is also exceptionally late in the season for these birds which made the sighting even more exciting. My first day of work here was the first time that we caught a Black-billed Cuckoo this fall and it turns out to have really set the tone for the rest of the season!
-Aidan
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Black-billed Cuckoo | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe Red-eyed Vireo | 3 - | - - | 1 - | - - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 6 | 1 | 1 | - |
House Wren | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
Swainson's Thrush | 5 | - | - | - |
Hermit Thrush | 5 | - | - | - |
Song Sparrow | 5 | 1 | - | 1 |
Swamp Sparrow | 2 | 1 | - | 1 |
Lincoln's Sparrow | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Towhee | - | - | 1 | 2 |
Ovenbird | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 8 | - | 1 | - |
Bay-breasted Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
Northern Parula | 2 | - | - | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 11 | - | 3 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Scarlet Tanager | - | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 59 | 19 | 78 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 13 | 23 |
| # of Species | 17 | 17 | 23 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 162 | 97.75 | 259.75 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 42.6 | 32.7 | 38.9 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 4222 | 2,643 | 6865 |
| # of Recaptures | 1039 | 582 | 1621 |
| # of Species | 78 | 76 | 92 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 10008.4 | 5,077 | 15,085.4 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 52.6 | 63.5 | 56.3 |
| # of Days | 66 | 57 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
