It was a very exciting day at Little Bear today, as expected we managed to catch a large quantity of birds which totaled to 139 newly banded and 20 recaptures. We had an impressive diversity of species as well, which included several warbler species, another Green Heron, and a Brown Thrasher that happened to be the first for Little Bear this season. After today, it became clear that Little Bear will likely break an old site record for most Painted Buntings banded in a season. Over the years the site has captured many Painted Buntings and it is thought to be a location where many individuals finish molting before migrating. In 2022, Little Bear managed to set its current record of 207 Painted Buntings banded in a fall season. Before that, it was only 158 which was set in 2016. As it currently stands, Little Bear is only one newly banded Painted Bunting away from tying the record set in 2022. Surely, Little Bear will manage to catch a few more Buntings before the end of the season setting a new record for the site. We are all eagerly anticipating this and will be sure to update you when it happens.
Coincidentally, we managed to catch a particularly unique Painted Bunting today. Most young Painted Buntings sport a lemon washed belly and green upper-side once they've molted and typically do not display the vibrant colors associated with the species during their first year of life. However, there is always an exception to the rule. Today we captured a young bird that had some red patterning mixed in on the stomach, blending nicely with the yellow that is typical of a young Bunting. We usually cannot determine sex in young Painted Buntings, but considering this bird was sporting the vibrant red a male will develop on the belly once reaching maturity we were able to determine this young bird a male.
It looks like tomorrow will be another busy day at both sites and we are hoping that things will pick up even more at Little Bear than they did today. It is likely we will continue to see an influx of Common Yellowthroats and wide range of warbler diversity for the remainder of this week. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have broken the record set in 2022 for Painted Buntings banded. It was a long, but exciting day today and are eager to get back out tomorrow!
 |
| Painted Bunting (hatch year, male) |
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 5 | - | 1 | - |
Green Heron | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Wood-Pewee | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Traill's Flycatcher | 1 | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 6 | 1 | 3 | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 21 | - | 7 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | - | 1 |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
Carolina Wren | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Gray Catbird | 11 | - | 10 | - |
Brown Thrasher | - | - | 1 | - |
Veery | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 25 | - | 11 | - |
Ovenbird | 2 | - | 1 | - |
Northern Waterthrush | - | - | 4 | 1 |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 147 | 4 | 59 | 3 |
American Redstart | 18 | - | 10 | - |
Cape May Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Northern Parula | 4 | 1 | 2 | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | 2 | - |
Yellow Warbler | 5 | - | 3 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 10 | - | 3 | - |
Palm Warbler (western) | 7 | 1 | 2 | - |
Prairie Warbler | 2 | - | - | - |
Summer Tanager | 2 | - | - | - |
Scarlet Tanager | 4 | - | - | - |
Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Cardinal | - | 2 | - | 2 |
Painted Bunting | 15 | 5 | 10 | 12 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 296 | 139 | 435 |
| # of Recaptures | 16 | 20 | 36 |
| # of Species | 26 | 26 | 30 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 246.4 | 174.2 | 420.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 126.6 | 91.3 | 112.0 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 26 | 58 |
| 2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2,214 | 1,403 | 3,617 |
| # of Recaptures | 532 | 392 | 924 |
| # of Species | 56 | 55 | 69 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 7,400.45 | 4,280.6 | 11,681.1 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 37.1 | 41.9 | 38.9 |
| # of Days | 46 | 38 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)