Shafts of Light Through the Fog as Chucky Returns on Halloween Morn

 Captain Sams:

Fog greeted us this morning as we shook out the moisture from the nets. Being a little cooler today, we got a little pulse of Myrtle Warblers with a total of 19 new individuals, and various other warbler species. There was a total of 38 birds and 11 species, including 1 new for the season. We caught a Yellow-shafted Flicker, who had a molt limit within the greater coverts, characteristic of a Hatch-year bird. In addition, we caught a recaptured Pine Warblers, which is rare for this time of year. We spent our time fixing some more nets today to prepare for the busy days to come.

HY Male Yellow-shafted Flicker

Little Bear:

It was Halloween night, or should I say morning, when mist descended upon Little Bear. After opening all of our nets, we headed out into the marsh to see if we could catch any spooky sparrows. The sparrows eluded us, but we were fortunate enough to be visited by a sweet (and not so spooky!) Marsh Wren. During this endeavor, we saw the perfect Halloween scene- in the distance, eight Boat-tailed Grackles sitting on a tree. What a bone-chilling sight!

Was it a coincidence that on out of all the days of the field season, it was Halloween that Chucky (aka a Chuck-Will's-Widow) returned?? I think not. Luckily, he was not too scary but instead, quite delightful.

We are grateful this fellow graced our nets on this festive day. In addition to Chucky, we also caught a hatch-year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, three Downy Woodpeckers, and basically a whole flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Once again, a spooky and fun day indeed. We are excited to see what the cold front brings us tomorrow morning! Perhaps more sparrows? Perhaps...an owl? Stay tuned to find out! 

Happy Halloween!

-Brittany and 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
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	1	-
Chuck-Will's- Widow	-	-	1	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	-	-	1	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	2
Northern Flicker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	-	1
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	3	-
Marsh Wren	-	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	1	5	7	6
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	-	1	-	-
Blackburnian Warbler	-	-	-	1
Pine Warbler	-	1	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	19	2	22	2
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	2
Painted Bunting	-	-	4	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	26	44	70
# of Recaptures	12	14	26
# of Species	11	14	22
Effort (net-hours)	165.55	167.5	333.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	23	34.6	28.82
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,806	2950	6756
# of Recaptures	910	587	1497
# of Species	77	81	92
Effort (net-hours)	12,286	7522.1	19808.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	38.4	47	41.66
# of Days	75	63	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (LB)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (CS)

Wentao Yang (CS)

Natalie Miller (LB)