First Day of the Season

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It is hard to believe that it is time to start fall migration banding already.  August 15th seems to come earlier and earlier every year.  

We experienced our first tropical weather system last week when Hurricane Debby moved up from Florida and into the Carolinas making its second landfall as a tropical storm just north of Charleston.  It was a slow moving storm that brought over 10" of rain over a 2-3 day period.  Kiawah suffered minimal damage despite an EF-0 tornado that spun off the ocean and across the island.  Because of all the rain, the banding station is quite wet, and it is also functioning as a nursery for multiple species of mosquitos.  

Because of a weak cold front, we actually had north winds and lower humidity today.  The relief from the heat and humidity won't last for long as the winds should shift back to the south by Saturday.  

We had a really good opening day with 45 new birds and 8 recaptures of 12 different species.  Painted Buntings led the charge with 18 new ones and 4 recaptures.  Since 2009, we have banded 1706 Black-throated Blue Warbler.  Only 20 of those have been banded in the month of August.  Prior to today the earliest banding date for a Black-throated Blue Warbler was August 20th back in 2014.  Today's bird was a handsome hatch-year male that mostly like was from the Appalachian subspecies based on the large amount of black on the back and head.  

Black-throated Blue Warbler (hatch-year, male)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Appalachian subspecies)

-Aaron                

LITTLE BEAR

Little Bear will be opening up mid to late next week.  We still need to get the nets up out there.  

 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Carolina Chickadee	2	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	1	-	-	-
Northern Mockingbird	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	5	-	-	-
Prothonotary Warbler	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	6	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	6	4	-	-
Painted Bunting	18	4	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	45	-	-
# of Recaptures	8	-	-
# of Species	12	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	153.6	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	34.5	-	-
# of Nets	32	-	-

2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	45	-	-
# of Recaptures	8	-	-
# of Species	12	-	-
Effort (net-hours)	153.6	-	-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	34.5	-	-
# of Days	1	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Nancy Raginski (CS)

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