FOS Tree Swallow

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It was another slow day at Captain Sams, with 29 new birds banded and 14 recaptures. Over the past few days, we have observed large flocks of Tree Swallows flying around the station. Being particularly tricky to catch, we even have separate mist nets that get set up for when the time comes to make a specialized attempt in capturing this species. However, today's catch was a surprise, as four Tree Swallows happened to be flying low enough to land into one of our usual nets! 

Tree Swallows are best known for their shining iridescent blue-green outer plumage, in addition to bright white underparts. They prefer open habitats such as marshes or fields, where they can be found foraging for insects or berries with much speed and accuracy.

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

It was another beautiful day to be out at Little Bear. Temperatures are on the rise ever so slightly, which does tend to heat up the study site quite a bit by the end of the day before close. We are holding out for another push of birds in the next week or so. Hopefully, cold winds will provide us with wintering breeds from the north. 

Today we captured 37 birds; of that total, 21 of them were recaptures and only 16 were newly banded. We have a fair amount of Gray Catbirds that are still lingering around, but hopefully they will soon be replaced by another push of catbirds before the season is over. Although we were not lucky enough to catch any today, we also enjoyed large numbers of Tree Swallows as they passed over our heads in large flocks. We also saw a Timber Rattlesnake on our walk back to the truck at the end of the day, which was an exciting find. 

- Noah Nei

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	2	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Tree Swallow	4	-	-	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	1	-	-
House Wren	-	-	1	1
Gray Catbird	4	11	4	15
Song Sparrow	3	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	4	1	2	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle)	7	-	3	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	1
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	1	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	29	16	45
# of Recaptures	14	21	35
# of Species	12	12	-
Effort (net-hours)	172.8	132.6	305.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	25	27.9	26.2
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,331	2,785	7,116
# of Recaptures	943	770	1,713
# of Species	82	79	95
Effort (net-hours)	11,222.3	6,773.3	17,995.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47	52.5	49.1
# of Days	68	58

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (LB)

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.