The Return of The Recaps

  CAPTAIN SAMS

Although not quite as busy as yesterday we still ended up having a productive day at Captain Sams. We caught 65 new birds and recaptured 6. We were also accompanied by the Seabrook Island Birders club, who came out to see the banding station and experience what we do on a day-to-day basis. Gray Catbirds are finally starting to outnumber Common Yellowthroats, which is a welcomed change of pace. Although, as we have reiterated, we will continue to see Common Yellowthroats throughout the entire season. 

We caught a Marsh Wren today, which is only the second the station has captured this fall so far. The first was during the "big day", where Captain Sams caught over 400 birds, so today we were actually able to take the time to appreciate the bird and show it off to the group that had come to visit. Marsh Wrens may appear drab brown when observed from the field, but in the hand they are a beautifully patterned bird with a variety of warm, brown hues broken up by streaks of black, white and gray. To me, they are the most visually appealing wren that we can expect to catch here on Kiawah. We were also graced with an Eastern Phoebe, which was the stations first for the fall. Phoebes have a long history with banding, as it is thought to be one of the first species to ever be "banded" when John James Audubon himself tied a piece of light string to a five nestling Phoebe's legs back in 1804. He did this to see if they would return to or near their birthplace to breed the following year. 

Marsh Wren (hatch year, unknown sex)

All in all it was another enjoyable day at Captain Sams. The weather was pleasant, mosquitoes were mild, and the birds were good. Thanks again to the Seabrook Island Birders for coming out to visit and see the work that we do. 

-Noah Nei

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a bit slower than yesterday, with 64 total birds (50 new, and 14 recaptures). We didn't catch many species (only 8), but we still enjoyed seeing the birds we did catch! Unsurprisingly we mostly caught Gray Catbirds, Common Yellowthroats, and Painted Buntings, but we did have a new Northern Mockingbird which was a treat!

Today we caught several older recapture. Of our 14 recaptures 7 were banded in previous years. The oldest was a Carolina Wren that was banded on August 22nd, 2021. It was a hatch-year then, which makes this bird 3 years old! It was great to see these birds doing so well! 

Tomorrow looks like it may be good, I am excited to see what we are going to catch!

Brown Thrasher (After-hatch year, sex unknown) originally banded 10/8/2023

Northern Mockingbird (hatch-year, sex unknown)

- Natalie

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	4
Marsh Wren	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	31	3	24	3
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	1
Northern Mockingbird	1	-	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	23	-	19	2
American Redstart	2	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (western)	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Painted Bunting	-	1	5	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	65	50	115
# of Recaptures	6	14	20
# of Species	13	8	15
Effort (net-hours)	153.6	114.4	268.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.2	55.9	50.4
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,007	1,878	4,884
# of Recaptures	597	476	1,073
# of Species	66	59	81
Effort (net-hours)	8,463.5	5,069.4	13,532.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	42.6	46.4	44.0
# of Days	52	44

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

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.