Scooped the Coop!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Captain Sams was engulfed by the fog this morning! Luckily for us, the birds still found their way into our nets. No species firsts of the season today, but a decent amount of new birds were caught, including an Ovenbird, 2 Prairie Warblers, and 7 Painted Buntings! 

It has been very heartening to observe some of our recaptured individuals putting on some more weight as they spend time resting and foraging on Kiawah Island, they will need lots of energy for when they continue their journey to the wintering grounds! 

Prairie Warbler (after hatch year, male)

Pictured here is an adult male Prairie Warbler, identified by yellow overall plumage with black streaks along the flanks, dull olive upperparts, and chestnut streaking on the back, which can be difficult to see on some individuals. These birds will be wintering in Florida and the Caribbean!

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

It was another slow day at Little Bear with only 11 new birds banded and 4 recaptures. The morning air was still and the stars and moon were visible, which provided a nice morning glow in the dark as we trudged through knee deep water to open our nets. We were met with a small, three-foot alligator during net opening and chased him off in hopes that we wouldn't see him again for the rest of the day; thankfully we didn't. Although slow, we had one particularly interesting catch for the day. During one of our later net checks we managed to catch a young Cooper's Hawk! These raptors belong to the genius Accipiter and are extremely adept at flying quickly through wooded areas in pursuit of prey. Luckily for us, we managed to find him before he was able to escape our nets and it was very exciting for Kristin and I. On slow, muggy days being able to catch birds like this is always a real treat and makes being out feel so much more worthwhile!

Cooper's Hawk (hatch year, male)

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
Cooper's Hawk	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	1	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	-	-	1
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	1
Northern Waterthrush Ovenbird	3 1	- -	1 -	1 -
Black-and-white Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	1	-
Painted Bunting	7	1	5	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	17	11	28
# of Recaptures	4	4	8
# of Species	10	8	10
Effort (net-hours)	150.4	108.65	259.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	13.9	13.8	13.9
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	259	163	422
# of Recaptures	126	64	190
# of Species	27	24	51
Effort (net-hours)	2,173.6	795.45	2,969.05
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.7	28.5	20.6
# of Days	14	7	-

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Noah Nei (LB)