FOS Chuck-will's-widow

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We captured 21 new birds and 6 recaptures of 11 different species. Although it was a hot day with south winds overnight, we did have some new migrants arrive at the Spit compared to the last few days. This mainly included early migrants, like American redstarts and northern waterthrushes. It looks like we will get rain and cooler weather late next week, which hopefully will bring our first big push of migrants.

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Today was not a bad day. We ended our day with a total of 26 birds with 20 newly banded birds and on top of that we added 3 new species to LB for the season! We captured, what I'd say would be the best bird for the day, a chuck-will's-widow (first-of-season). Our second best bird, which would be a first for Natalie and maybe her best bird of the day, was a yellow-throated warbler. Last, our third new species was a yellow warbler. All three of these species was a treat to catch on such a slow day we have been having. 

Below are a few photos that were captured from today. Unfortunately, the yellow-throated warbler was not very cooperative to get a great photo but enjoy the chuck-will's-widow and yellow warbler!

Chuck-will's-widow (hatch year, sex unknown)

Yellow Warbler (after hatch year, male)

-Kristin

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
Chuck-will's-widow Downy Woodpecker	- 1	- -	1 -	- -
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	2	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	2
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
House Finch	2	-	-	-
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	6	-	5	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	1	1	-
American Redstart	3	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Yellow-throated Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	-
Painted Bunting	2	3	4	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	21	20	41
# of Recaptures	6	6	12
# of Species	11	12	19
Effort (net-hours)	153.6	89.3	242.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.6	29.1	21.8
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	299	209	508
# of Recaptures	142	87	229
# of Species	28	30	40
Effort (net-hours)	2,607.2	1,098.20	3,705.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.9	27.0	19.9
# of Days	17	10	-

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Nancy Raginski (CS)

"Weep"-ing for the Weekend

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was a hot and muggy day out at Captain Sams. The birds obviously agreed because we only caught 11 individuals (7 new and 4 recaptures). We had most of the usual species this morning, including Painted Buntings, a Northern Waterthrush, and a Prairie Warbler.

We also caught a new Great Crested Flycatcher, which is always exciting to see! These guys will soon be heading to their wintering grounds in southern Florida and Central America and won't be around for too much longer. In addition to this new bird we also caught a different Great Crested Flycatcher who was originally banded 5 days ago. It's great to see that it's still in the area!

We also recaptured a Downy Woodpecker that was banded exactly a year and 10 days ago (on August 20th, 2023). It was recorded as a hatch-year male last year, which now makes it a second-year! It is always cool to recapture birds from previous years and see how they're doing!

-Natalie 

LITTLE BEAR

The trend recently has seemed to be hot, muggy and very still mornings for both Captain Sams and Little Bear. Although mosquitos and the warm sun were unpleasant, Kristin and I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise along the beach after opening while waiting for our first net run. We got to see a variety of Egrets fly into the tidal pool near the beach while we watched the sunrise. The horde of egrets were also joined by several Wood Storks and one, beautiful Roseate Spoonbill. 

Another continuing trend was the slow push of birds, which totaled to 8 newly banded birds and 9 recaptures. Although slow, Little Bear netted one new species for the year. Our new bird was a young male Summer Tanager, which showed just subtle hints of red in the upper and undertail coverts, as well as in some of its newly replaced flight feathers. Normally, young Summer Tanagers are tricky to sex as they often show the same plumage characteristics this time of year when we catch them. It was great to see another new bird for the site in the hand and gave us something to be excited about for the day!

-Noah Nei

(Hatch Year, male Summer Tanager)

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
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	3	2
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Summer Tanager	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	3
Painted Bunting	2	1	3	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	7	8	15
# of Recaptures	4	9	13
# of Species	8	6	11
Effort (net-hours)	136.0	108.2	244.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	8.1	15.7	11.5
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	278	189	467
# of Recaptures	136	81	217
# of Species	28	27	37
Effort (net-hours)	2453.60	1009.40	3463.00
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.9	26.7	19.8
# of Days	16	9	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (LB)

Little Bear Strikes Again

CAPTAIN SAMS

Captain Sams had a day of low quantity but high quality birds! We caught a total of 18 birds, including another Yellow-billed Cuckoo and two first-of-season Summer Tanagers! The tanagers were found in the net at the same time, so which one was technically first? Nobody knows...

Summer Tanager (hatch-year, male)

Summer Tanager (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Fortunately, we were able to tell the two individuals apart! In the pictures above, you can see that the bird on the left has a few red feathers scattered throughout the body; a juvenile male Summer Tanager. When this male matures, he will have replaced all of his yellow feathers with red. Pictured on the right, we have another juvenile in all yellow plumage. Male or female, yet another mystery. If we recapture this bird again next year, we'll be able to determine this information!!

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

I made a rare appearance at Little Bear today in order to give Kristin a day off.  Despite my alarm going off at 3:30am, so that I would have enough time drive to Kiawah, then drive to Little Bear at the opposite end of Kiawah, hike out to the banding station, and get the nets opened up 30 minutes before sunrise, it was well worth the effort!

It was a fairly typical late August morning.  The temperature was warm, the air was thick with moisture, and the mosquitos were hungry.  We only banded 18 new birds along with 8 recaptures of 11 different species.  None of that really sounded like it was worth getting up in the 3's, does it.  Normally, I would agree but today we caught a bird that I have never banded before - a Yellow-crowned Night Heron!  This is the 3rd Yellow-crowned Night Heron that we have banded at KIBS (all at Little Bear) but I was not present for the first two. 

And yes, these are live birds and not puppets as it might seem by the placement of our hands.     

Yellow-crowned Night Heron (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Yellow-crowned Night Heron (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Overshadowed by the night heron was our first-of-the-season Worm-eating Warbler.     

Worm-eating Warbler (hatch-year, sex unknown)

-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
Yellow-crowned Night Heron	-	-	1	-
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
"Traill's" Flycatcher	2	-	2	-
Red-eyed Vireo	2	-	1	-
Carolina Chickadee Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	- 1	- -	- -	2 -
Carolina Wren	-	1	1	2
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Worm-eating Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	3	-
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	3	-
Summer Tanager	2	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	1
Painted Bunting	2	3	5	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	12	18	30
# of Recaptures	6	8	14
# of Species	11	11	16
Effort (net-hours)	144.0	114.7	258.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	12.5	22.7	17.0
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	271	181	452
# of Recaptures	132	72	204
# of Species	28	26	53
Effort (net-hours)	2,317.6	910.15	3,227.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.4	27.8	20.3
# of Days	15	8	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (LB)

Scooped the Coop!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Captain Sams was engulfed by the fog this morning! Luckily for us, the birds still found their way into our nets. No species firsts of the season today, but a decent amount of new birds were caught, including an Ovenbird, 2 Prairie Warblers, and 7 Painted Buntings! 

It has been very heartening to observe some of our recaptured individuals putting on some more weight as they spend time resting and foraging on Kiawah Island, they will need lots of energy for when they continue their journey to the wintering grounds! 

Prairie Warbler (after hatch year, male)

Pictured here is an adult male Prairie Warbler, identified by yellow overall plumage with black streaks along the flanks, dull olive upperparts, and chestnut streaking on the back, which can be difficult to see on some individuals. These birds will be wintering in Florida and the Caribbean!

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

It was another slow day at Little Bear with only 11 new birds banded and 4 recaptures. The morning air was still and the stars and moon were visible, which provided a nice morning glow in the dark as we trudged through knee deep water to open our nets. We were met with a small, three-foot alligator during net opening and chased him off in hopes that we wouldn't see him again for the rest of the day; thankfully we didn't. Although slow, we had one particularly interesting catch for the day. During one of our later net checks we managed to catch a young Cooper's Hawk! These raptors belong to the genius Accipiter and are extremely adept at flying quickly through wooded areas in pursuit of prey. Luckily for us, we managed to find him before he was able to escape our nets and it was very exciting for Kristin and I. On slow, muggy days being able to catch birds like this is always a real treat and makes being out feel so much more worthwhile!

Cooper's Hawk (hatch year, male)

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
Cooper's Hawk	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	1	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	-	-	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	1
Northern Waterthrush Ovenbird	3 1	- -	1 -	1 -
Black-and-white Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	-
Painted Bunting	7	1	5	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	17	11	28
# of Recaptures	4	4	8
# of Species	10	8	10
Effort (net-hours)	150.4	108.65	259.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	13.9	13.8	13.9
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	259	163	422
# of Recaptures	126	64	190
# of Species	27	24	51
Effort (net-hours)	2,173.6	795.45	2,969.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.7	28.5	20.6
# of Days	14	7	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (LB)

And Our Most Abundant Species Was Mosquitos

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We only captured 6 new birds and 14 recaptures of 9 different species. This is typical for these warm, humid days with south winds. For small songbirds, which is mostly what we capture early in the season, it is more difficult for them to fight against south winds. They can migrate farther south and burn less fat when traveling on a night with winds coming from the north. Unfortunately, it looks like these weather conditions will hold into early next week.

-Michael 

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a pretty slow day out at Little Bear, with only 5 new birds and 7 recaptures. We started out the morning with a decent amount of fog and - unfortunately - mosquitos. There wasn't much wind this morning which allowed the pesky mosquitos to stalk us through the fog. 

Most of our birds came from our first net run and things slowed down pretty quickly after that. The sun soon emerged and quickly warmed up the station and slowed things down even further. The majority the birds we caught today were painted buntings. The only warbler of the day was a hatch-year male prairie warbler. We hope to catch more birds tomorrow even though the weather will be about the same as it was today!

-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
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo	-	1	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Black-and-white Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Prairie Warbler	2	1	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	1
Painted Bunting	3	7	2	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	6	5	11
# of Recaptures	14	7	21
# of Species	9	5	10
Effort (net-hours)	150.4	78.0	228.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	13.3	15.4	14.0
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	242	152	394
# of Recaptures	122	60	182
# of Species	27	23	34
Effort (net-hours)	2,023.2	691.5	2,714.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.0	30.7	21.2
# of Days	13	6	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (CS)

Garfield hates Mondays and so do Catbirds

 CAPTAIN SAMS

After a nice streak of cool mornings the warm weather is back! It has continued to be relatively slow going at Captain Sams, but it ended up being slightly busier during the first half of the morning compared to the last few days. We banded 11 new birds and recaptured 6!

Although we just talked a little about cuckoos the other day, I want to take another look at a yellow-billed cuckoo we caught this morning and discuss another unique molt strategy we may occasionally see during fall migration. If the topic of molt interests you and you missed the last discussion regarding formative plumage and molt in songbirds, feel free to take a look back at August 20ths blog post titled "Eccentric Molt and Yellow-breasted Chats!" to get caught up to speed. 

In most cases, when songbirds undergo a pre-formative molt it typically occurs and finishes on or near the breeding grounds before their fall migration begins. Oftentimes, this strategy is optimal as it allows those weak, juvenal flight feathers to be replaced with stronger, durable formative feathers before their long southbound migration begins. Some birds, like yellow-billed cuckoos, take a slightly different approach by performing what is referred to as a suspended molt. This strategy essentially breaks up the pre-formative molt into two parts; the first half will occur on the breeding grounds before migration begins and the second half will occur after their long journey once they've reached their wintering grounds. According to Pyle, "the pre-formative can begin on the breeding grounds with body feathers and sometimes includes replacement of at least p1 (the first primary flight feather) before suspension for migration".

In the case of our yellow-billed cuckoo, we observed just that! The first and second primary flight feather had been replaced, which was very cool to see! Once this bird reaches its wintering grounds it will likely completely finish molting its primary feathers and all will be new, formative feathers. Although we don't necessarily use this molt pattern to determine age in yellow-billed cuckoos and typically rely on shape and pattern of the tail feathers, this was very exciting to see.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (hatch year, unknown sex)

Yellow-billed cuckoo undergoing pre-formative molt, but suspending the remaining juvenal primary flight feathers as discussed above; formative feathers in red and juvenal feathers in white

Thanks for hanging in there while we discuss some of these complex molt strategies! I hope you are enjoying reading them as much as I am writing them!

-Noah Nei

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a fun day out at Little Bear. We started out this morning normally but was interrupted by a little visitor, a small alligator stopped by for a visit since our water at the station is currently higher than normal. We didn't see it for the rest of the day and it might not show back up again. We ended our day with a total of 30 birds. Painted buntings still are currently our most popular captured birds at the station. We added 4 new species to the station for this season: green heron, common yellowthroat, traill's flycatcher and an early bird, gray catbird. It was nice to see these new species since this week seems like it will be warmer and will be slower for the station. There's always a chance of catching something amazing at least. 

The green heron was a fun one to have in the hand since we don't typically catch many of them each year. Last year we ended with a total of 7, so maybe this year we might have more. In the image below you can see that this bird had a few different generations of feathers on the wing. Typically younger green herons will have a nice white edging on their greater coverts and on the inner primary and secondaries. This bird does not have any wedges left so this makes this bird an ASY (after second year bird). Check out our post from 2022 comparing a hatch year to an adult green heron.  https://kiawahislandbanding.blogspot.com/2022/09/is-september-new-august.html

Here is the wonderful ASY Green Heron we captured today. Check out the wonderful generations in the wing.

Traill's Flycatcher (hatch year, unknown sex)

-Kristin 

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
Green Heron	-	-	1	-
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
Traill's Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	1
Gray Catbird	-	-	1	-
Ovenbird	-	-	1	1
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	1
Black-and-white Warbler	-	1	-	-
Swainson's Warbler	-	-	-	1
Common Yellowthroat	3	-	2	-
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	2	-
Painted Bunting	5	3	11	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	20	31
# of Recaptures	6	10	16
# of Species	6	11	15
Effort (net-hours)	140.8	110	250.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	12.1	27.3	18.7
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	236	147	383
# of Recaptures	108	53	161
# of Species	27	23	34
Effort (net-hours)	1872.8	616.5	2489.3
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	18.4	31.4	21.85
# of Days	12	5	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (CS)

Cuckoo for Rain!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Another slow and steady morning, but despite the rain we had a good species turnout! Today Captain Sams caught its FOS great crested flycatcher and (my personal favorite) a yellow-billed cuckoo! 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (hatch year, unknown sex)

When they are referenced in literature, often the first thought that comes up may have something to do with clocks (or you know, going "cuckoo" for something), but you may be surprised to know that the yellow-billed cuckoo is also colloquially known as the "rain crow"! Yellow-billed cuckoos will generally let out a "croak" call in response to loud noises, but in Southern folklore they were believed to predict or indicate a storm, as they are often preceded by thunder.

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

It was a bit of a slower day out at Little Bear, with 13 new birds and 9 recaptures. The day started out cloudy and it wasn't long before a light drizzle came down upon the station. Luckily it didn't last long and was very light! We had most of the usual species today, including northern cardinals, painted buntings, and Carolina wrens. 

We did have one new species for the season, an eastern kingbird! It is always exciting to catch these guys because they are early migrants and will soon be on their way to their wintering grounds down in South America. This particular individual was a hatch year. These guys can actually be aged by the presence or absence of orange feathers in their crown. Adults of both sexes will have this orange splotch on their head when you blow on the feathers, but young birds won't get them until their second year. 

I am excited to see what else we catch this season! I have seen several herons hanging around the station so hopefully we catch one soon.  

Eastern Kingbird (hatch year, unknown sex)

-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
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
Eastern Kingbird	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	3	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	2
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	3	-	2	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	2	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
American Redstart	2	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	3	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	3	1
Painted Bunting	1	5	3	6

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	17	13	30
# of Recaptures	7	9	16
# of Species	11	7	15
Effort (net-hours)	153.6	106.65	260.25
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.6	20.6	17.7
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	225	127	352
# of Recaptures	102	43	145
# of Species	27	19	32
Effort (net-hours)	1,546.4	510.8	2,057.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.1	33.3	24.2
# of Days	9	4	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei