Sparrow Saturday

 Captain Sams:

We were slightly busier today as compared to yesterday, with 29 newly banded birds and 4 recaptures. With the tides increasing in height each day, we had water covering a good majority of our trails throughout the morning making net runs take longer than usual. However,  this negative has been offset greatly by our successful marsh sparrow banding attempts yesterday, as well as an influx of White Ibis foraging near the banding table. They've been becoming more comfortable with our presence over the past few days to the point where many have started roosting in the trees above our heads as we band birds. It is our hope that in the coming days, we may be able to capitalize on these close encounters, and possibly catch one of them in a net!

Captured birds today were made up mostly of late-fall migrants such as Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Myrtle Warblers. Excitingly we also captured an Eastern Wood-pewee, a species of great interest currently as many reports of its' counterpart, Western Wood-pewee, have been made in areas outside their range. Additional measurements and photos were taken with the hopes that our species was one of these vagrants. Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed almost immediately, as the individual began calling the moment after release, solidifying its' identity as an Eastern Wood-pewee. Darn!

We further await the arrival of the cold front next week and are excited for what it may bring with it!

- Matt

Little Bear: 

Today was a slow but exciting day out at Little Bear! We started the day strong by heading out to the ocean and setting up some nets to do some marsh sparrow banding! To our delight we managed to snag an adorable little Saltmarsh Sparrow, which is the 2nd for Little Bear this season! 

In fact, today was what one could call a sparrow bonanza! In addition to the saltmarsh sparrow we also caught a White-crowned sparrow, a Savannah sparrow, a Song sparrow, a recaptured Swamp sparrow, and not one but two Eastern Towhees! To our surprise, one of these towhees was a male that was banded all the way back in 2021! It is great to see him again, and we hope he continues to have a great life!

We are excited to see what birds come with the upcoming cold front on Halloween! Until then, we will enjoy our time with the birds that are here.

-Natalie

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
Eastern Wood-pewee	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	10	-	1	-
House Wren	1	1	2	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	5	1	4	12
Hermit Thrush	1	-	-	-
White-crowned Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Saltmarsh Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Savannah Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	1
Eastern Towhee	-	-	1	1
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	-	1	-
American Redstart	-	1	-	-
Myrtle Warbler	8	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	1	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	29	18	47
# of Recaptures	4	16	20
# of Species	11	15	19
Effort (net-hours)	147.4	105	252.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	22.4	32.4	26.5
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3744	2879	6623
# of Recaptures	885	557	1442
# of Species	76	81	91
Effort (net-hours)	11,835.75	7274.6	19,110.35
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.1	47.2	42.2
# of Days	72	61	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Brittany Holliker (LB)

Matt Hixson (CS)

Camille Blose (CS)

Wentao Yang (CS)

Natalie Miller (LB)