CAPTAIN SAMS
A stalled low pressure system in the Gulf will collide with a cold front sweeping across the eastern US tomorrow. As a result, moisture from a tropical disturbance in the Gulf will be funneled up into the southeast bringing with it rain and thunderstorms. There is a good chance that we will not be able to open up the nets tomorrow morning. There is also a good chance that this could linger into Sunday morning spoiling any hopes of getting new birds that were migrating behind the cold front. Let's hope the cold front is strong enough to push the rain out of coastal South Carolina before Sunday morning.
Today was a little better than yesterday with 26 new birds and 7 recaptures. It was much less windy which undoubtedly helped us out. We captured Captain Sams' first-of-the-season veery. Veeries are the earliest of the "spotted thrushes" to migrate through South Carolina. Gray-cheeked thrush, Swainson's thrush, and wood thrush move through more towards the end of September and October while hermit thrush don't typically arrive until the end of October and November.
Bicknell's thrush, a rare species with a scattered breeding range restricted to high elevation, disturbed pines forests in northeastern US and Canada, has never been banded on Kiawah before. This species looks nearly identical to the gray-cheeked thrush and can only be reliably identified outside of its breeding range by it's flight call or by wing morphology with Bicknell's thrushes having a much shorter wing than gray-cheeked.
 |
| Veery (hatch year, sex unknown) |
LITTLE BEAR
After a few windy days, we finally enjoyed a busier day at the station. We ended our day with a total of 37 birds with 27 of them newly banded. We added our first of the season mourning dove as well!
I am hoping the weather plays out well this weekend and maybe we will get our first big day at the station. I am excited to see some more migrants coming in and maybe get a few first of the seasons.
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Mourning Dove | - | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | - | 1 | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 2 | - | - | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 2 | - | - | - |
Northern Mockingbird | - | - | 1 | - |
Veery | 1 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | - | - | 2 | 1 |
Worm-eating Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 14 | 1 | 7 | - |
American Redstart | 4 | - | 2 | 1 |
Yellow Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
Prairie Warbler | - | - | 9 | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 1 |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 26 | 27 | 53 |
| # of Recaptures | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| # of Species | 9 | 9 | 15 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 136 | 111.8 | 247.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 24.3 | 33.1 | 28.25 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 26 | 58 |
| 2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 503 | 354 | 857 |
| # of Recaptures | 176 | 132 | 308 |
| # of Species | 31 | 33 | 42 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3,539.4 | 1,704.95 | 5,244.34 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 19.2 | 28.5 | 22.2 |
| # of Days | 23 | 16 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Kristin Attinger (LB)
Natalie Miller (CS)
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 BBL
