CAPTAIN SAMS
This fall has been exceptional in terms of overall bird numbers, species richness, number of foreign recaptures, etc. Pretty much every season-long metric has been surpassed already and we still have an the month of November to go. After 2.5 months of banding we have banded 4,778 birds. In the past 16 years of banding at Captain Sam, there have only been three years where we have banded that many birds during the entire season - 2022 (5,704), 2017 (4,795), and 2014 (5,083). The month of November can sometimes be hit or miss as most of the neotropical migrant have already passed us by. There is usually 1 or 2 more moderate pushes of migrants into our area during the first half of November but that is mostly going to be made up of Yellow-rumped Warblers with Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, and sparrows filling in the remainder.
Today was quite slow and we only banded 21 new birds and had 14 recaptures. A cold front is pushing its way across the US, but it seems the high pressure system sitting over the Southeast may be stronger and will prevent it from reaching us or drastically weaken it. The next cool down doesn't look like it will happen until the end of next week. There is a wind shift to the north on Saturday which may help bring us some new birds.
-Aaron
LITTLE BEAR
We ended our day with a total of 37 birds. Today picked up a little bit more than yesterday because we managed to catch a few roaming flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers throughout the station. From here on out, they will most likely be the most abundant species we catch each day. In late fall and winter, yellow-rumps form small to large foraging flocks and we will catch several of them in a net a one time.
We didn't have much diversity today and only had a total of 8 species captured at our station. Even on these slower days it is nice to enjoy hearing all the birds chirp as they fly over the station. Today we saw a flock of Eastern Bluebirds and a decent amount of Tree Swallows fly over. I hope that we might catch either of them this season but I'm just gonna keep thinking that Little Bear is just to cool for them.
Tomorrow seems like it might be much of the same, so we shall see what our nets will catch in the morning.
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 3 | - | - | - |
House Wren | - | - | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 1 | 9 | 1 | 7 |
Song Sparrow | 1 | - | 3 | 1 |
Swamp Sparrow | - | - | 2 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle) | 16 | 3 | 19 | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | - | - | 1 | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 21 | 27 | 48 |
| # of Recaptures | 14 | 10 | 24 |
| # of Species | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 137.6 | 127.4 | 265 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 25.4 | 29 | 27.2 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 26 | 58 |
| 2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 4,778 | 3,079 | 7,857 |
| # of Recaptures | 1,037 | 852 | 1,889 |
| # of Species | 85 | 82 | 100 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 12,476.65 | 7,918.65 | 20,395.30 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 46.6 | 49.6 | 47.8 |
| # of Days | 76 | 66 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Lisa Viviano (LB)
Noah Nei (CS)
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.
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