The Birds are "Butter"-ing us up

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today was slightly slower than yesterday with 55 new birds and 24 recaptures. Just like yesterday Yellow-rumped Warblers were our most common catch, however instead of catching 101 of these "butter butts" we only got 29. Regardless, it was still a good day of banding. The Tree Swallows are still out and about, and this morning we set up 2 more swallow nets to be used when they decide to descend to feed on the wax myrtle berries. Tree Swallows will typically feed on bugs high above the canopy, but when insects are not present (usually due to cold weather) they will descend to the trees to eat some berries. We hope to catch them around the wax myrtle trees while they feed. Time will tell if we will get lucky with some Tree Swallows this year!

We also had a surprising amount of Common Yellowthroats today. For the last week or so we've only been catching a few each day but today we had 6 new and 2 recaptures. This is, of course, a far cry from the days earlier this season where we caught 100 yellowthroats in a day, but it is interesting to see this tiny push of them so late in the season. Overall October was a great month of banding, and I am interested to see what we catch during this last month!

- Natalie

LITTLE BEAR

It's warming up again at Little Bear! It nearly hit 80 degrees by the time we left site, and the mosquitoes sure are here for it. We had a slow but successful day of banding, with 27 newly banded birds, and 13 recaptures. Myrtle Warblers, Gray Catbirds, Song and Swamp Sparrows are most of what has been passing through the station these days, with a surprisingly regular appearance of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo or two. The contrast of species we encountered earlier this season compared to what we're seeing now is stark, and it is felt in studying (and struggling) with new molts. But recognizing molt patterns has gotten easier as I have seen and learned more about them here, and this change definitely allows more opportunity to practice. 

-Lisa Viviano

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	-	2
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	8	14	6	8
Song Sparrow	-	-	2	1
Swamp Sparrow	8	-	5	1
Common Yellowthroat	6	2	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	3	-
Yellow Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Myrtle Warbler	29	2	9	1
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	-
Indigo Bunting	1	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	55	27	82
# of Recaptures	24	13	37
# of Species	12	8	16
Effort (net-hours)	168.0	136.5	304.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.0	29.3	39.0
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,686	3,002	7,688
# of Recaptures	1,006	824	1,830
# of Species	84	81	99
Effort (net-hours)	12,031.85	7,547.1	19,461.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.3	51.5	48.9
# of Days	73	63

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (LB)

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.