Triple Strike Heron Force!

 Captain Sams:

Work at the station today started with some pleasant breeze and a lot of active chipping notes around the table. We had a total of 46 birds today, with 10 recaptures. The radar last night was not the best, but still showed a decent amount of movement across the area. Not surprisingly, the first few net runs brought back a lot of migrants. We caught 3 Swainson's Thrushes today, which gave each of us a chance to process one. Fun fact about Swainson's Thrush: to identify them from Hermit Thrush, other than the tail color differences, we can also notice different shapes of black dots on the chest. Dots on Swainson's Thrush are more rounded shape while the ones on Hermit Thrush are more in a triangle. 

We also captured 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers with 1 hatch-year male and 2 hatch-year females. The Black-throated Blue Warbler is one of easiest species to age using the color of the alula feathers. For hatch-year birds that have an A1 molt limit, the replaced A1 feather will be dark with blue edging, while A2 will be lighter with a greenish edge. It is also quite straightforward to sex these guys even when they are in hatch year. Female birds are dullish-green in their first year, while male birds already put on their black masks and blue hoodies. 

The alula feathers on a hatch year male Black-throated Blue Warbler

-Wentao

Little Bear:

Who would have guessed that today would bring us not one, and not two, but three herons?! Needless to say, my first heron (a handsome hatch-year Green Heron) in the hand was an awesome experience but I most definitely was not expecting to find a Tricolored Heron in the net a few net runs later! A feisty little guy (or lady, who knows?), he was a recap from a few days ago, and I nearly couldn't hold in my excitement as I brought it back to the banding table. You see, Natalie and I have been especially waiting for a Tricolored Heron to come along. A fantastic bird to hold in the hand, little did this heron know how much joy he was about to bring into our lives. 

Natalie with the Tricolored Heron

Brittany with the Tricolored Heron

But the heron excitement didn't stop there! There was a second Green Heron waiting for me at banding table! Catching three herons was perfect, one for each of us to process.

hatch-year Green Heron, unknown sex, photo by Kristin

The day also brought my first ever Cape May Warbler (a lovely after-hatch year female), a handsome after-hatch year male Common Yellowthroat, and a variety of others. We've all been strengthening our banding and ageing skills and are excited to see what we will learn tomorrow!

-Brittany

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
Tricolored Heron	-	-	-	1
Green Heron	-	-	2	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
White-eyed Vireo	1	1	2	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	3	3	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	1	-	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	3	-	-	-
Ovenbird	1	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	1	2	2
Black-and-White Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	15	3	10	-
American Redstart	3	-	2	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	3	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	3	-
Prairie Warbler	4	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	1	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	35	29	64
# of Recaptures	10	6	16
# of Species	12	14	18
Effort (net-hours)	169.6	115	284.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.5	30.4	28.1
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	721	438	1159
# of Recaptures	265	134	399
# of Species	39	43	50
Effort (net-hours)	4992.15	2534.05	7526.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	19.8	22.6	20.7
# of Days	33	24	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (LB)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (CS)

Wentao Yang (CS)

Natalie Miller (LB)