An Excellent Trophy: the Station's First HOFI!

 Captain Sams:

Our numbers were high but our species were limited today. The high tides are still infiltrating the trails and the nets have to be raised as to not touch the water. A new wave of Gray Catbirds graced our nets along with American Redstarts, Common Yellowthroats, and some beautiful adult male Painted Buntings. Along with these commoners, we snagged a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a Black-and-white Warbler, and a Chestnut-sided Warbler. 

With 79 new Gray Catbirds, we see a variety of molt limits that are abnormal for other birds. Sometimes, they will replace their 1st alula (A1) and/or their carpal covert (CC) before they complete all of their greater coverts (GC). The majority of birds we see will complete their GC before moving onto their A1 or CC. Overall, the day had a busy start, and quickly tapered off as the sun rose. 

After Hatch-year Male Painted Bunting

- Camille

Little Bear:

It is a well-known fact that banders on Kiawah Island check the bird migratory forecast as a ritual on each morning before work. This forecast, showcasing the nightly movements of birds across the continental United States, gives us a glimpse into how busy our day might be. This prediction is all thanks to the same technology that gives us the weather forecast: radar. Similar to that of raindrops from an oncoming storm, doppler radar radio waves bounce off birds as they migrate, allowing for accurate portrayals of the movements of migrators during each night. For us today at Little Bear, we were excited to see a very large burst of migratory movement around the Charleston area and were expecting another busy day similar to the last two.

Radar showing last night's migratory movements

Source: https://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/

Details given by source: "Content archived from the NEXRAD Radar page run by the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison."

We finished with an expected daily total close to that of Saturday and Sunday, 83 total birds. That number was made up of 71 newly banded birds and 15 recaptures.

Many of the individuals we caught today were the two we have been accustomed to catching frequently each day; Common Yellowthroats and Gray Catbirds. Another guess was made as the day began as to which we would catch more of, and it was the Gray Catbirds that won the bet today with 35 new individuals!

The highlight of the day was a bird heard frequently at both Captain Sam's and Little Bear; House Finch! A hatch-year female wandered into one of our nets today at the station, giving us great looks at her stripey plumage and eccentric molt.

Hatch-year female House Finch

We hope that the coming days continue to be busy, and hopefully, we will pass our most recent high total of 86 birds!

- Matt

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	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	3	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	79	12	35	5
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	-	-
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	-	-	-	1
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	30	2	23	2
American Redstart	6	1	1	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	-	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	2	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	4	-	2	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	1
Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	3	1	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	137	71	208
# of Recaptures	19	12	31
# of Species	15	15	22
Effort (net-hours)	208	116.5	324.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	75	71.2	146.2
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	1982	1266	3248
# of Recaptures	450	216	666
# of Species	52	53	62
Effort (net-hours)	7613.75	4309.5	11923.25
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	31.9	34.4	32.8
# of Days	47	37	47

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (CS)

Matt Hixson (LB)

Camille Blose (CS)

Wentao Yang (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)