CAPTAIN SAMS
Captain Sams had its first 200 bird day before its first 100 bird day! We caught a total of 217 birds, which is an unusual volume for an early September morning on Kiawah Island. To make things even more unusual, many of them were adult Cape May warblers. This species is known to follow a migration path along the East Coast towards the Southeastern United States (as far inland as Mississippi) before taking flight across the ocean to the Caribbean and Central America. It is believed amongst some birders and banders that adult individuals are more capable of using features such as rivers and mountains for plotting their course, though weather can play a large part in how they choose to navigate. Being along the coast, our station in past years has observed a higher amount of hatch years, who perhaps rely on this highly visible landmark to guide them South for the winter.
Cape May Warbler (after hatch year, male)
-Lisa Viviano
LITTLE BEAR
Today was a very exciting day for us at Little Bear, we ended our day with the highest for the season with 155 birds. Out of those 155, 146 were newly banded and we added 3 new birds to our species list. White-eyed vireo, blackburnian warbler, and Bell's vireo were the newly added birds. I was pretty excited to capture the Bell's vireo since this is a first in the hand for me. I have not yet seen one and seem to miss them over the years here at Kiawah! As I was pretty excited when I extracted this bird and knew what it was, I was very happy to see everyone's faces when I showed them this bird. Everyone did very well today with the amount of birds we captured. I can't wait to see what tomorrow might bring us. It seems like each day a new species will show up.
Bell's Vireo (hatch year, sex unknown)
We also had a very interesting American redstart captured today. This warbler had all the right appearances but was lacking the color where there should be color. This is not a diluted bird but a bird that just lacks color where she should have it in her tail and wings, so this bird was a little more white. If this was a diluted bird, the coloration would be lacking in all the feathers and not just in part of the feathers. This made her just a little more special to us at Little Bear, which warranted a great photo opportunity for us! Check her out below and admire this adorable bird. (They are one of my favorite birds, so as always, I will show off a redstart when I can!)
American Redstart (after hatch year, female)
-Kristin
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Green Heron | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | - | - | 1 | - |
Great-crested Flycatcher | 1 | - | - | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 4 | 1 | 2 | - |
Bell's Vireo | - | - | 1 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 22 | - | 13 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | - | 2 |
Gray Catbird | - | 1 | - | - |
Veery | 2 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 19 | 3 | 7 | - |
Worm-eating Warbler | 4 | 1 | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 8 | - | 28 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 13 | 1 | 4 | - |
Prothonotary Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 57 | 8 | 45 | 2 |
American Redstart | 20 | 1 | 14 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 28 | 2 | 17 | 2 |
Northern Parula | 2 | - | - | - |
Blackburnian Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Chestnut-sided Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | - | 1 | 3 | - |
Palm Warbler (western subspecies) | - | - | 1 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 9 | - | 2 | - |
Summer Tanager | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | - | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 193 | 146 | 339 |
| # of Recaptures | 24 | 9 | 33 |
| # of Species | 21 | 19 | 27 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 230.4 | 161.2 | 391.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 95.1 | 96.2 | 95.5 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 26 | 58 |
| 2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 769 | 606 | 1,375 |
| # of Recaptures | 206 | 154 | 360 |
| # of Species | 37 | 41 | 50 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 3,891.4 | 1,995.0 | 5,886.4 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 25.1 | 38.1 | 29.5 |
| # of Days | 25 | 18 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Kristin Attinger (LB)
Natalie Miller (LB)
Lisa Viviano (CS)
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.
