Our Favorite Color Is Cerulean Blue

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was an exciting day! We ended the day with a total of 28 birds, which included 21 new birds and 7 recaptures of 9 different species. 

Today was my first day of the season and I was able to see the most extraordinary catch of the day. It was not until later in the day that Natalie came back with a bird that was interesting, a very blue bird that was not yet familiar to her. After a quick peak in the bag, I was super excited to have Aaron see this bird. He was unsure at first but once given hints, he knew it was the last eastern warbler species caught at KIBS. It was a cerulean warbler! What are the odds?! This bird typically migrates west of South Carolina along the Mississippi Flyway and is an uncommon migrant along the Atlantic Flyway. I was excited to see this bird since 2019 was the last time I saw them in the hand! This is also a first for the Kiawah Island Banding Station! 

Cerulean warblers are an early fall migrant that crosses the Gulf of Mexico to winter in forests in the Andes in Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. Some studies show that they can migrate to their winter/spring grounds between 32-59 days! They are a threatened species in North America due to habitat loss and have declined 70% since 1966.

Here is a wonderful study: Cerulean Warblers exhibit parallel migration patterns and multiple migratory stopovers within the Central American Isthmus. that tracked cerulean warblers from multiple locations in North America and showed their stopover and winter locations in South America. 

 

Cerulean Warbler (hatch year, male)

We also captured our first of the season black-and-white warbler and house finch.

-Kristin

LITTLE BEAR

Today we hauled most of the banding equipment into Little Bear in preparation for it's opening. Hopefully within the next few days we can get the nets up and get the station up and running!

- 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
Traill's Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
House Finch	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	-	-
American Redstart	7	-	-	-
Cerulean Warbler	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	5	2	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	-
Painted Bunting	3	3	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	21	-	21
# of Recaptures	7	-	7
# of Species	9	-	9
Effort (net-hours)	128.0	-	128
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.9	-	21.9
# of Nets	32	-	-

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	109	-	109
# of Recaptures	49	-	49
# of Species	21	-	21
Effort (net-hours)	777.4	-	777.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	20.3	-	20.3
# of Days	5	-	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (CS)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (CS)