Captain Sams:
Today was the busiest day at the banding station since the first day of the season way back on August 15th. We were helped out by west winds last night which pushed migrants to the coast. As a result, we banded 52 birds and had 10 recaptures of 16 species.
We captured our first Brown Thrasher of the season. Brown Thrashers are year-round residents of Kiawah Island but we also get some migrants that move through as well. It can be difficult to tell which ones are migrants and which ones are residents. If we catch a thrasher that has substantial fat reserves, it is probably safe to say that it is migrant however, today's thrasher did not have any fat therefore we just don't know.
The highlight of the day came during the first net run when I removed a Bell's Vireo from net 14. It's been a while since we have banded a Bell's Vireo at KIBS. We had a good run during the early years catching one in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Then in 2016, we banded 3 (2 at Captain Sams and 1 at Little Bear) and haven't seen one since. Bell's Vireos are rare birds in South Carolina. In fact a majority of the confirmed records in the state are birds that were banded at KIBS. Bell's Vireos are notoriously difficult to detect outside of the breeding season because of their secretive and skulky habits. Bell's Vireos also closely resemble one of our more common species, the White-eyed Vireo, and in particular the juveniles. See the two photos below to see how similar the two species are.
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| Bell's Vireo (hatch-year, sex unknown) |
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| White-eyed Vireo (hatch-year, sex unknown) |
Little Bear:
Today was a lot busier than what I had expected. I like to predict what we might catch the night before and said that we would end up catching LB first of the season Prothonotary Warbler, Veery and Magnolia Warbler. I added a few extra species like maybe a Gnatcatcher and a Yellow-breasted Chat but I was also really excited to get some of the few we talked about.
The water is slowly going down out at the station but there are a few herons that are hanging around. We spotted a few Tricolored Herons, and a Great Egret hanging out in the middle of the station. Tomorrow is looking to be about the same as today or at least pretty close. Hopefully a few more new species for both stations!
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Green Heron | - | - | 1 | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | 3 | - | 3 | - |
Bell's Vireo | 1 | - | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 4 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 8 | - | 7 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 2 |
Veery | - | - | 1 | - |
Brown Thrasher | 1 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 7 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Prothonotary Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 16 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
American Redstart | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Northern Parula | - | 1 | - | - |
Magnolia Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 1 | - | 3 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 5 | - | 4 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 52 | 39 | 91 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 7 | 17 |
| # of Species | 16 | 14 | 22 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 192 | 144.2 | 336.2 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 32.3 | 31.9 | 32.1 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 25 | 55 |
| 2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 352 | 214 | 566 |
| # of Recaptures | 147 | 65 | 212 |
| # of Species | 31 | 30 | 40 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3049.2 | 1402.45 | 4451.65 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 16.4 | 19.9 | 17.5 |
| # of Days | 21 | 12 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)