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:
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.
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.
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
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 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # 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 Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # 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 Days | 16 | 7 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)