Rain, Rain, Go Away (please)

 Captain Sams:

After yesterday's day off we came back to Captain Sams with a dream, to catch more birds! We opened the station under cloudy skies and high spirits. And efforts paid off, because we caught 60 birds (14 of which were recaptures)! For the first time this season, we opened our second swallow net out in the marshes to try to catch some of the tree swallows that were frolicking through the skies. Unfortunately rain came soon after and our efforts were in vain! In a hurry, we closed down the station and ended the day a few hours earlier than usual.We hope that tomorrow brings more birds and drier conditions!

-Natalie and Matt

Little Bear:

This morning started out with a drizzle while we opened nets, but our perseverance payed off because the rain came to a stop by the time we did our second run. When conditions are cold and wet like this, we did a run through immediately after opening to make sure there weren't any birds waiting in the rain. Activity increased immediately and the Western Palm Warblers came flying in with a total of 27. Additionally, there was a Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a few Common Yellowthroats. Another Belted Kingfisher was caught today and it was my turn to band the hatch-year male. Their legs are so short, we have to band above the tarsus, as opposed to on the tarsus. Once the rain started picking up again, the activity died down, and we decided to close down due to the consistency of the drizzle.

Belted Kingfisher feet

Hatch-year Male Belted Kingfisher

- 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
Belted Kingfisher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	1	1
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	2	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
Blue-gray gnatcatcher	-	-	1	-
House Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	13	4	3	1
Brown Thrasher	-	1	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	4	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	14	1	5	2
American Redstart	4	1	2	2
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (western subspecies)	5	-	27	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	3	-	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	46	45	91
# of Recaptures	14	7	21
# of Species	13	11	18
Effort (net-hours)	112	78.7	190.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	53.6	66.1	45.8
# of Nets	33	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,813	2,032	4,845
# of Recaptures	668	329	997
# of Species	63	71	80
Effort (net-hours)	9,284.15	5,447.5	14,731.64
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	37.2	43.3	39.65
# of Days	57	47	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (CS)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (LB)

Wentao Yang (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)