You Masked for It

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Unlike the last two days at Captain Sams, it was a fairly quiet day today at the station. We managed to capture 19 new birds and 9 recaptures, bringing our total to 28 for the day. Although the northeastern winds continued it appears that most of this small initial push of migrants has moved on. However, it appears that this weekend another burst of migratory songbirds is possible as long as weather and wind conditions remain favorable. We are anxiously awaiting this next push and are hopeful that this weekend's winds will carry feathered wings to Kiawah. 

Although we did not manage to catch a large quantity of birds today, we did catch some quality warblers. We have caught a fair number of American redstarts already this year, but the crew never seems to tire of them. Pictured below is a great example of a young male American redstart. Oftentimes we use the presence of an orange wash on the sides of the breast to determine a young male from a female, but there are other supportive features to examine if one chooses to. 

Sometimes bold mottling or patches of black feathers can be seen coming in on the head of these younger males. I find this to be a captivating feature of a young male as it gives you a glimpse as to what they will soon look like when they reach maturity. Another interesting characteristic that can help one differentiate from a young female American redstart is the amount of yellow within the third rectrix (or tail feather). Young males often average more yellow on this feather compared to females. When observing this in the hand, the yellow on a young male's R3 will extend past the rachis toward the inner part of the tail feather as seen in the image below. On slower days it is nice to take the time to more closely examine an individual bird even when one is sure of its age or sex class, which is one benefit to not being inundated with new birds on a busy day. 

American Redstart (hatch year, male) showing black mottling in the crown feathers as well as extended yellow within the third rectrix

-Noah Nei

LITTLE BEAR

As the fall banding season progresses, our two banding stations are preparing for an onslaught of common yellowthroats! While I have a lot of love for these small jaunty birds, they are notorious escape artists in the net and in the hand. Still, I am very excited to work with them more and become familiarized with their subtle molt patterns!

Common Yellowthroat (after hatch year, male)

This individual can be identified clearly as an adult male by its bold black facial mask, which is largely absent in hatch-years. Young males may have a partial mask, and young females lack it entirely. However, because there are exceptions to this rule, any young yellowthroats without a mask will be recorded as sex unknown. 

-Lisa Viviano

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
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1	1	-	-
Ovenbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	1
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	9	2	5	-
American Redstart	3	-	1	1
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	5	2	4

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	19	11	30
# of Recaptures	9	6	15
# of Species	10	6	12
Effort (net-hours)	181.9	145.6	327.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	15.4	11.7	13.7
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	477	327	804
# of Recaptures	169	122	291
# of Species	30	32	41
Effort (net-hours)	3403.4	1597.45	5000.85
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	19	28.1	21.9
# of Days	22	15	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (LB)

Noah Nei (CS)

Nancy Raginski