An Incredibly Diverse Day!

 Captain Sams:

Good winds have kept the birds coming these past few days, with Captain Sam's totaling up to 42 new birds and 10 recaptures for the day. Between those two categories were 15 different species, a few of which came in gorgeous shades of bright colors, starting with a Prothonotary Warbler! The individual, an after-hatch year male, glowed like a candle in our hands as we admired his sunny colors. No wonder they earned the nickname "Swamp Candle" for how explosively contrasting their plumage is to their typical swampy woodland surroundings. 

After hatch-year male Prothonotary Warbler

Photo by Brittany Holliker

On our last net run of the day, we brought back two larger species; a Yellow-breasted Chat and a Scarlet Tanager! The Chat, a hatch-year female, gave us good looks at the eccentric molt young individuals of this species exhibit during this time of year. The Scarlet Tanager, an after-hatch year female, was a new capture for the season. We were able to determine that our bird was a female, as the wings were not black, like a male's would be right now. The bird exhibited a bright and cheerful lime green plumage typical of members of this species at this time of year, and we were delighted to be able to have such good looks at a bird not often captured at the station! 

After hatch-year female Scarlet Tanager

We are hopeful that that high numbers of birds continue on as this week winds to a close, and we are looking forward to further experiencing the wonders of the beginning of Fall migration!

-Matt

Little Bear:

It was a very exciting day at Little Bear today. The past few nights of west winds have increased the bird volume and brought us many new ones for the season. While we were opening nets, we caught an Eastern Screech owl in a net near the banding table. New birds kept pouring in, including a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a Summer Tanager, two adult Cape May Warblers, and a Great-crested Flycatcher. Also, another Green Heron fell into the net, this one being a beautiful second year. The Great-Crested Flycatcher is the first for Little Bear ever. There were 20 different species today, which is very diverse and encouraging.

Eastern Screech Owl

- Camille

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
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-
Green Heron	-	-	1	-
Eastern Screech Owl	-	-	1	-
Traill's Flycatcher	3	-	2	-
Great-crested Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	2	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	4	-	4	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Ovenbird	4	1	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	7	-	3	6
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	3	5	3	-
American Redstart	8	-	4	-
Cape-May Warbler	-	-	2	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	2	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Pairie Warbler	4	-	2	-
Summer Tanager	1	-	-	-
Scarlet Tanager	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	2
Painted Bunting	4	1	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	42	33	75
# of Recaptures	10	10	20
# of Species	15	20	25
Effort (net-hours)	200	112.4	312.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.0	38.3	30.4
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	394	246	640
# of Recaptures	157	75	232
# of Species	32	35	42
Effort (net-hours)	3049.2	1514.9	4564.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.1	21.2	19.1
# of Days	22	13	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (CS)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (LB)

Wentao Yang 

Natalie Miller