Captain Sams:
We thought with the temperature going up a little today, it might not be as productive as yesterday. But the very first net run today already proved me wrong! We had a 12 birds run and by the end of the day, we caught 27 birds, 9 of which were recaptures. Surprisingly, we have 14 species total which is one more species than yesterday.
Migration is definitely on its way quietly. We had 8 species of new world warblers including a recaptured hatch year Northern Parula banded yesterday. Notably, we caught another Black-and-white Warbler for Captain Sams. Different from the one I extracted at Little Bear a few days ago which was a hatch year female, this one was a hatch year male. Even though it's still in his first year, the black streaks on the sides of him are so much more contrasting than those of a female.
hatch year male Black-and-white Warbler
Aaron also pulled out another Ruby-throated Hummingbird from the net today. We thought it was the same individual we had yesterday but it turned out to be not the same bird! The hummingbird we had today was a hatch year male. Even though we didn't band him, we still got the chance to admire his shiny throat feather. Since it is his first year, he only has a few red throat feathers that starting to molt in. Birds gain colors on their feathers in different ways. They could come from the colored pigments in food such as Carotenoids responsible for the bright yellow in goldfinches, and they could also come from the special structure of the feathers like the ones in hummingbird throats. Light waves reflect in and out differently, showing us the glint on a hummingbird's throat!
hatch year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
According to the birdcast, there is another big blob of birds that are migrating down south through the states! Hopefully, both stations could get their first big push of migrants sometime soon!
-Wentao
Little Bear:
Today was a productive day at Little Bear! We caught 25 individuals, 5 of which were recaptures. We got two first of seasons, a hatch-year male Baltimore Oriole and a hatch-year Western Palm Warbler. It was so cool to see both of these species in the hand! This is a bit early in the season for Palm Warblers, so catching one of these guys so early is pretty interesting.
Other notable catches were Little Bear's first Northern Parula, a male Black-throated Blue Warbler, and an after hatch year male Prairie Warbler. After a day like today we are excited to see what new birds tomorrow brings!
-Natalie
Hatch year male Baltimore Oriole (Photo by Kristin)
After hatch year female Northern Parula (Photo by Kristin)
Hatch year Palm Warbler
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 | - | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 4 |
Baltimore Oriole | - | - | 1 | - |
Ovenbird | 2 | 1 | 3 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 3 | 1 | 4 | - |
American Redstart | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Western Palm Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Cardinal | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 2 | 2 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 18 | 20 | 38 |
| # of Recaptures | 9 | 6 | 15 |
| # of Species | 14 | 11 | 25 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 156.8 | 102.5 | 259.3 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 17.2 | 25.4 | 20.4 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 23 | 55 |
| 2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 300 | 175 | 475 |
| # of Recaptures | 137 | 58 | 195 |
| # of Species | 29 | 27 | 56 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 2857.20 | 1258.25 | 4155.45 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 15.3 | 18.5 | 16.3 |
| # of Days | 20 | 11 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Kristin Attinger (LB)
Brittany Holliker (LB)
Matt Hixson (CS)
Camille Blose (CS)
Wentao Yang (CS)
Natalie Miller (LB)
