What are you, Yellow-bellied?!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

This morning was a nice break from the gloomy weather of the past week, and a continued effort in net repair between net runs. We captured a total of 21 birds today, one of the highlights being a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher! Being only the third individual of this species to be caught at both stations for the season (and my first in the hand!), this is one of our less commonly caught flycatchers. In birdwatching and bird banding alike, flycatchers are a challenge to identify because of how similar they may appear. We had our initial suspicions on this bird, being very small in stature with olive-green upperparts and a yellow wash below, but we were able to solidify our ID after a series of bill and flight feather measurements!

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Hatch Year)

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

Today was surprisingly busier than the past 2 days. We almost had a full page of recaptures, which totaled out to be 22 and only 14 newly banded birds. I think our species highlight of the day is capturing a flock of carolina chickadees. I love that they travel around the station in groups and end up getting caught all together. To our luck it also brought in a new downy woodpecker as well. 

As the days are getting hotter and the rain has subsided, our water levels out at the station is slowly getting lower. I am hoping the king tide that will be coming in next week don't bring in more water to the station. As much as I like catching herons every so often, it is nice to have dry feet for a few days. 

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	1	-
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	1	5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	3
Common Yellowthroat	3	3	4	2
American Redstart	1	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	2	1	-	1
Painted Bunting	1	3	6	10

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	11	14	25
# of Recaptures	10	22	32
# of Species	10	8	13
Effort (net-hours)	157.6	116.6	274.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	13.3	30.9	25.1
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	838	671	1,509
# of Recaptures	263	208	471
# of Species	37	43	80
Effort (net-hours)	4,568.6	2,411.40	6,980
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	24.1	36.5	28.4
# of Days	29	22

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (CB)

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab.