Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire

 Captain Sams:

Today was a cold and breezy day out at Captain Sams, but it was a somewhat busy day nonetheless. We had a total of 89 birds (15 of which were recaptures). The day was filled with an abundance of species, including a recaptured Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, and Yellow-breasted Chat. Some other highlights from today were 3 Cape May Warblers. We had 2 hatch-year males and 1 hatch-year female. It is always cool to see this bird in the hand, especially the males with their vibrant colors!

We also had 2 hatch-year male Northern Parula's with some interesting molt patterns. Typically most hatch-year birds have primary coverts that are edged in green. However, both of our birds had blue edgings to their primary coverts. Both birds had their skull pneumatization checked to ensure that they were actually hatch-year birds. It was very interesting to see this atypical molting pattern in these guys!

Hatch-year male Northern Parula. Note that the primary coverts are edged in blue. Photo by Matt

My favorite bird on the day came on our last net run when I was checking net 1. To my excitement I found a banded Bell's Vireo in the net! This bird was originally banded on September 20th (8 days ago). It has gained a lot of weight (2.1 grams to be exact), and has increased it's fat score by 3. It is great to see this little guy doing so well, and it is interesting to find that it has been hanging out by the station for over a week now. Hopefully it continues on it's migration to Mexico soon!

Hatch-year Bell's Vireo, sex unknown

A big thanks to David McLean for helping out at the station today! It was great to have you around and I'm glad you got the chance to see a Bell's Vireo up close! With these northeastern winds continuing throughout the week I'm sure we will get many more good birds in the coming days!

- Natalie

Little Bear:

We thrived today at Little Bear, with a total of 75 birds and 17 different species! We had a number of pleasant surprises, my favorite being a Blue-winged Warbler! Little Bear hasn't seen this species since 2015. 

hatch-year male Blue-winged Warbler, photo by Kristin

Bringing even more excitement to the station, we also had a Chestnut-sided Warbler. A real cutie! 

hatch-year Chestnut-sided Warbler, unknown sex, photo by Kristin

Also in the mix was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler, two Blackpoll Warblers, and a House Wren. The Gray Catbirds are coming more and each day. Today we had a total of 11, and before we know it, they'll be here in the masses.

-Brittany (Team Little Bear Forever)

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
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	4	1	1	1
Bell's Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	4	-	3	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	1
House Wren	-	-	11	-
Gray Catbird	6	3	10	1
Veery	1	-	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	6	1	6	-
Blue-winged Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-and-White Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	18	1	19	1
American Redstart	17	1	9	-
Cape May Warbler	3	-	-	-
Northern Parula	3	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	2	-	2	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	-	-	1	-
Blackpoll Warbler	1	-	2	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	3	1	11	-
Northern Cardinal	1	2	-	-
Painting Bunting	2	1	-	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	74	70	144
# of Recaptures	15	5	20
# of Species	21	17	24
Effort (net-hours)	224.0	152.35	376.35
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.7	48.2	43.4
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	1343	930	2273
# of Recaptures	371	181	552
# of Species	47	50	97
Effort (net-hours)	6683.35	3725.5	10408.85
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	25.6	29.8	27.7
# of Days	43	33	43

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (LB)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose

Wentao Yang (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

David McLean (CS)