Sedges Have Edges, Rushes Are Round, Grasses Have Nodes All the Way to the Ground

 Captain Sams:

Bird activity slowed down a bit today with 21 new birds and 9 recaptures of 11 different species.  After a couple days of overcast skies, the sun finally made a return and the temperature reached 80 degrees.  

The normal cast of characters for mid-November graced our nets today with one exception.  We have been hearing and seeing a couple of Sedge Wrens for the last few weeks around nets 4 and 5.  In fact, we have captured them at least a dozen times over that period but they are so small that they just go right through our nets.  After another failed attempt yesterday, I had the idea of putting another mist net parallel to the existing net but only a few inches apart .  This would create another layer for the slippery Sedge Wren to have to get through.  The key was to make sure that the pockets of the outside net are pushed into the corresponding pockets of the inside net.  Today we implemented that plan, and were successful in catching a Sedge Wren!  

Sedge Wren (Hatch-year, sex unknown)

      

Kristin's last day was today.  Brittany, Natalie, Matt, Wentao, and Camille all left over the last couple of days.  I'd like to thank all of them for their hard work and commitment to this banding project.  They all worked their butts off this season in some not so forgiving conditions like hoards of mosquitos, heat and humidity, flooded net lanes, and a sometimes crabby Aaron😉.  I wish them the best and am happy to have shared the last 3 months with them.  For the remaining 12 days of the season I will be operating the station by myself or with the help of volunteers.  

Thanks to Matt Johnson for his help today! 

-Aaron

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
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3	-	-	-
Sedge Wren	1	-	-	-
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	1	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	12	5	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	21	-	-
# of Recaptures	9	-	-
# of Species	11	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	195.2	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.4	-	-
# of Nets	32	25	57

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,446	3,380	7,826
# of Recaptures	1,142	729	1,871
# of Species	83	86	98
Effort (net-hours)	15,278.05	9,293.95	24,572.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.6	44.2	39.5
# of Days	93	78	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (CS)

Matt Johnson (CS)