The Storm: Waves of New Birds & A Cuckoo Bonanza

 Captain Sams:

For the past few days, we've been watching the weather and bird migratory radar and getting awfully excited about what would await us this morning. This excitement seemed palpable, as in anticipation our largest crew of the season (8 members) was assembled to face the oncoming avian storm. A mighty thanks to Michael Gamble, Nancy Raginski, Violet Wu, David McLean, and Chris Snook for joining us today!

We ended the morning with 198 newly banded birds and 11 recaptures; a grand total of 209 birds! Our large crew number gave us the advantage of having 4 teams of 2 to go on net runs, making it much easier to keep up with the birds hitting our nets as we banded them. Amongst our new birds today were a few surprises; three first-of-seasons, and one particularly interesting individual!

Strangely enough, all three first-of-seasons were captured during our first net run! The first was a hatch-year Tennessee Warbler, an expected migrant around this time of the year. At this age, we are unable to sex them, but it was nice to get a good look at their Fall plumage up close. We've been anxiously awaiting some new warblers and hoped that some would ride the cold front down to our station, maybe we'll catch some more tomorrow!

Hatch-year Tennessee Warbler

The second was another expected migrant, a Gray-cheeked Thrush! This bird is extremely similar in plumage to another thrush, Bicknell's Thrush, that inhabits dense forests in the northeast. Due to this similarity, some Gray-cheeked Thrushes have an additional tail measurement taken in order to possibly discern a rare Bicknell's Thrush out of the bunch. Our individual today had a wing size large enough that Bicknell's Thrush was ruled out; maybe another day!

Our third new bird today came as a surprise to everyone, so much so that when Aaron pulled it out of the net he proclaimed over the radio that no one would guess what bird he extracted. Rightfully so, we were in complete shock to see that out of net 28, a bird as far away from the marshes as possible, a Virginia Rail was captured! This is the second time this species has been caught at Captain Sam's; the first of which was in 2013. Our individual today was an after-hatch-year bird and was the first rail I have been able to hold in hand. It was mind-boggling to see how small they are, as I've always pictured them being bigger!

After-hatch-year Virginia Rail

Photo by Aaron Given

Hypopigmentation seems to be a running theme this year amongst some captured warblers. Similar to that of Little Bear's Northern Waterthrush with diluted plumage, today Wentao pulled an American Redstart with a similar condition out of a net! A lack of color across the entire body made the search for a molt limit quite a challenge. Thankfully we were able to default to our other method of aging, skulling, and were able to discern that our bird was a hatch-year! I wasn't present for Little Bear's Northern Waterthrush, so seeing this little genetic anomaly in hand was a very special experience.

Diluted plumage hatch-year American Redstart

Photo by Aaron Given

Diluted individual vs a typical individual

Photos by Aaron Given

As the day came to a close, we were able to physically feel the rush of wind, drop in temperature, and change in humidity that marked the arrival of the cold front. Tomorrow's temperatures look to be much more pleasant, and it is our hope that with this cold comes some more new birds!

-Matt

Little Bear:

Five of us took on the big day at Little Bear and our crew ran a tight ship. The first run set the pace for the day as all of us returned to the banding table with our necks weighed down by Cuckoos, Catbirds, and Common Yellowthroats. Immediately, three of us began our second run as Kristin and our guest John stayed behind to get the banding started. Within the mix today we had many first of the season birds, which were Blackburnian Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, Myrtle Warbler, and Pine Warbler. We also had the second Yellow-throated Warbler of the season and another Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 

Pine Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Another anomaly that occurred was the capture of 28 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, which is a staggering amount compared to previous years’ season totals! That definitely surprised us today. There was a mix of hatch-year and after hatch-year birds, which can be distinguished by looking at the contrast between black and white on the 6th retrice of the tale. A distinct line between white a black occurs for after hatch-years and a blurred line occurs for hatch-years. 
With some intermittent cloud coverage, we were able to have the station open for longer to make sure we could band as many birds as possible. The birds will keep riding this cold front south and more will come in for us tomorrow!

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	7	-	28	-
Virginia Rail	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	-	1	-
Acadian Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	6	-	9	-
White-eyed Vireo	4	-	12	1
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	4	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	4	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	2	-	-	-
House Wren	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	39	8	32	4
Northern Mockingbird	1	-	-	-
Veery	1	-	-	-
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	13	-	2	-
Wood Thrush	2	-	-	-
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	1	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	3	-
Tennessee Warbler	1	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	41	1	40	-
American Redstart	18	2	10	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	3	-
Northern Parula	3	-	3	-
Magnolia Warbler	1	-	-	-
Blackburnian Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	14	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	29	-	17	-
Pine Warbler	-	-	1	-
Myrtle Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow-throated Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	1	-

Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	199	177	376
# of Recaptures	11	6	17
# of Species	26	28	39
Effort (net-hours)	206.25	162.5	368.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	96.5	112.6	102
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2385	1588	3973
# of Recaptures	547	254	801
# of Species	56	63	72
Effort (net-hours)	8444.15	5111	13555.15
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	34.7	36	35.2
# of Days	52	42	52

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (LB)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (LB)

Wentao Yang (CS)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Nancy Raginski (CS)

Violet Wu (CS)

David McLean (CS)

Chris Snook (CS)