Friday, September 1, 2023

Banding Wars Episode 2: Attack of the NOWA

Captain Sams:

We had the busiest day of the season yet, with a total of 46 birds! Many Northern Waterthrushes visited our nets. By the end of the day, we had caught and banded 13! In addition to gaining good practice at ageing and sexing Northern Waterthrushes, we had a handful of beautiful second-year Red-eyed vireos to practice with and learn from as well. 

We also had 4 Traill's Flycatchers. Traill's Flycatchers cannot be identified down to the exact species (Willow Flycatcher or Alder Flycatcher) without specific measurements and data taken. However, it is possible to age these birds in the hand using the color and condition of their wing feathers. The simplest way is to look at the color of the wing bars. Older individuals have white wing bars with worn and older-looking wing feathers, while younger individuals have buff-colored wing bars and nicer, fresher feathers. You can see the difference in the photos below:

      (after-hatch year Traill's Flycatcher)               (hatch-year Traill's Flycatcher)

It was a successful day, resulting in high numbers and many memorable teaching moments! 

-Brittany


Little Bear: 

On the heels of Hurricane Idalia, our crew went out yesterday to set back up the station. We were greeted with lots of water and high hopes for catching the many Green Herons we flushed as we walked through the flooded net lanes. Those aspirations became a reality during our first net check of the morning, where we caught not only the Green Heron we were anxiously awaiting but also a Belted Kingfisher!

It was immediately apparent that our Green Heron was a young bird due to its' overarchingly dull plumage and streaky breast. Additionally, our individual had thick white tips on its primary and secondary coverts, another key difference in aging this species. 



Our individual, a Hatch Year Green Heron                                        Wentao holding the Green Heron

Where our Green Heron was easy to age from plumage alone, the Belted Kingfisher was similarly easy to sex. Females of this species have a blue and chestnut band across the breast, whereas males lack the chestnut. To age our individual, we had to look at levels of color surrounding the central rachis of the tail feathers, specifically on rectrice 1. In investigating these feathers, we saw white at regular intervals along the rachis, as well as a moderate amount of black. Keeping in mind that our individual was female, we were able to age the bird as an After Hatch Year adult.



Tail spread of our AHY female Belted Kingfisher

The station also captured its' first Hooded Warbler of the year, an After Hatch Year female, and a Carolina Chickadee banded in 2020! We also saw upwards of 4 Tricolored Herons and a Great Egret roaming the flooded areas between some of our nets, and are hopeful that we will be able to catch one of them in the next few days!


After Hatch Year female Hooded Warbler
-Matt

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 SamsLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Green Heron
--1-
Belted Kingfisher
--1-
Downy Woodpecker
-1--
Traill's Flycatcher
4-1-
White-eyed Vireo
1---
Red-eyed Vireo
9-3-
Carolina Chickadee
-1-1
Carolina Wren
---2
Worm-eating Warbler
--2-
Northern Waterthrush
13-4-
Common Yellowthroat
2-4-
Hooded Warbler
--1-
American Redstart
1-1-
Yellow Warbler
--3-
Prairie Warbler
5---
Northern Cardinal
-1-4
Painting Bunting
6211


Today's Banding StatsCaptain SamsLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
41
22
63
# of Recaptures
5
8
13
# of Species
11
14
16
Effort (net-hours)
192
142.5
334.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
24.0
21.1
22.7
# of Nets
32
25
57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats Captain SamsLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
228
97
325
# of Recaptures
116
34
150
# of Species
25
20
45
Effort (net-hours)
2246
776.9
3022.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
15.3
17.8
-
# of Days167-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Brittany Holliker (CS)
Matt Hixson (LB)
Camille Blose (CS)
Wentao Yang (LB)
Natalie Miller (CS)

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