Captain Sams:
Although the winds were loud and gusty, the birds were quiet and seldom seen today at Captain Sams. As a result, we caught very few compared to recently. Our grand total was 20; split evenly between 10 recaptures and 10 new birds.
Our excitement today came not only from birds (even though they are always exciting), but from visitors too! We had the pleasure of hosting four staff naturalists from nearby Camp St. Christopher located on Seabrook, our island neighbor right next door. During their visit, we were able to give them an accurate depiction of how our station runs and gave them close-up looks at a variety of boisterous species that we caught today. Two of such species were Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, males, caught by pure luck out of two of our nets. We do not band hummingbirds at our station, so both individuals were released without being banded. Our visitors were able to feel their tiny heartbeats and ogled over their iridescent green backs and the few ruby-red throat feathers they had, being hatch-year birds. Other highlights were some migrants; a Cape May Warbler, a Black-and-white Warbler, and a Northern Parula! Thank you again to Camp St. Christopher, we deeply appreciated your help on net runs and your fun presence at the station this morning!
Cold fronts have been arriving with Fall, and it's looking like tomorrow will be extremely busy because of one; winds shift into a favorable northwestern direction overnight, hopefully bringing lots of inland migrants to our nets. This increase in bird activity comes with decreases in temperature, both things we happily accept in the days to come!
-Matt
Little Bear:
Today was a lot slower than yesterday. We ended the day with a total of 31 birds with only 5 of them being recaptured and 26 newly banded. We added a few more Yellow-rumped Warblers to our totals today with catching 4! It's starting to feel like fall with them arriving.
This morning, I saw a few raptors flying around, including a Merlin! I'm hoping we catch another one this year! making it year 3 in the row to catch these cuties. We are spending some of our evening today fixing up a few nets to prepare us for the next week of being potentially busy. I'm hoping for some more new species like some sparrows and seeing a few good warblers too!
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
White-eyed Vireo | - | - | - | 1 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
House Wren | - | - | 1 | - |
Gray Catbird | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | - | 1 | 7 | 1 |
American Redstart | 1 | 2 | 2 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Palm Warbler (western subspecies) | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Myrtle Warbler | - | - | 4 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | 1 | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 1 | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 10 | 26 | 36 |
| # of Recaptures | 10 | 5 | 15 |
| # of Species | 10 | 9 | 14 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 146.45 | 97.5 | 243.95 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 13.7 | 31.8 | 20.9 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 25 | 57 |
| 2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2,823 | 2,058 | 4,881 |
| # of Recaptures | 678 | 334 | 1,012 |
| # of Species | 63 | 71 | 80 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,430.6 | 5,676.85 | 15,107.45 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 37.1 | 42.1 | 39.0 |
| # of Days | 58 | 48 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)