A Solitary Pewee but Multiple Mosquitoes

Captain Sams:

Today brought two new species to Captain Sams, a Veery and a Western Palm Warbler! Amongst the 27 birds caught, we had a stunning after-hatch year Prothonotary male warbler, a Black-and-White Warbler (always one of my favorites!), and a beautiful after-hatch year Prairie Warbler. Our most frequent species of the day was the Painted Bunting (5) followed by Prairie Warblers (4) and Ovenbirds (4). As always, we are excited to see what tomorrow brings!

 

-Brittany

Little Bear:

Today was a warm, buggy day out at little bear. There was a good amount of birds (23 total, of which 4 were recaptures) and an even greater amount of mosquitoes. We caught many interesting species today, including 2 Eastern Kingbirds (the firsts at Little Bear this year) and a Veery. 

My personal favorite bird of the day was the station's first Eastern Wood-Pewee for the year! These little guys are in the flycatcher family and breed throughout Eastern North America. They are currently migrating to South America where they will spend the winter. These birds are one of my favorites so being able to band one and see one in the hand for the first time was an amazing experience!

The other highlight of the day was a Solitary Sandpiper that we caught on our last net run of the day! This bird hasn't been caught at Kiawah since 2019, so it was very exciting to get a chance to see this bird up close. Solitary Sandpipers breed further north and lay their eggs in the abandoned nests of different songbirds, including Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and American Robins! They are currently on their way to their wintering grounds in Central and South America.

Hatch-year Eastern Wood-Pewee, sex unknown

After hatch-year Solitary Sandpiper, sex unknown

-Natalie

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s BBL

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Solitary Sandpiper	-	-	1	-
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
Eastern Kingbird	-	-	2	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	-	-
Northern Mockingbird	1	-	-	-
Veery	1	-	1	-
Ovenbird	4	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	1	5	4
Black-and-White Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	1	3	-
American Redstart	-	1	2	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	2	-
Western Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	4	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	1	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	5	-	1	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	27	19	46
# of Recaptures	4	4	8
# of Species	13	10	17
Effort (net-hours)	176	105	281
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.2	21.9	39.5
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	421	265	686
# of Recaptures	163	79	242
# of Species	34	38	72
Effort (net-hours)	3049.2	1619.85	4669.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	19.2	21.2	19.81
# of Days	23	14	37

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (CS)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (LB)

Wentao Yang (CS)

Natalie Miller (LB)