FOS Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Nelson's Sparrow, and Tennessee Warbler

  CAPTAIN SAMS

We captured 169 new birds and 13 recaptures of 22 different species. We had several highlights, including a first of season Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Nelson's Sparrow, and Tennessee Warbler. This was only the third Red-shouldered Hawk banded at Captain Sam's. The mist nets we use are made to capture songbirds and larger species, like raptors, usually bounce out but I was able to grab this Red-shouldered hawk out of the net right when it flew in. 

Red-shouldered Hawk (hatch year, sex unknown)

Red-shouldered Hawk showing the diagnostic characteristics of the wing "window" and the red shoulder patch. 

We usually only capture Nelson's sparrows during our marsh sparrow research project during the winter. There are three subspecies (nelsoni, altera, subvirgata) of Nelson's sparrow that are geographically separated and inhabit grasslands, wet meadows, and tidal wetlands. We captured the altera subspecies, which breeds on the southern coasts of Hudson and James Bay, Canada. Nelsoni breeds from north Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and south Manitoba to northeast South Dakota and subvirgata breeds along the coast from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to northeastern Massachusetts. 

Nelson's Sparrow (hatch year, sex unknown)

Last, we recaptured an Ovenbird that was banded on 9/4/2022. We have recaptured this individual 26 times, and it has surprisingly wintered on the spit since 2022. Ovenbirds are common fall migrants along the coast; however, they typically overwinter in Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. 

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a lot busier than I expected! We ended with a total of 103 birds with 87 newly banded birds. We didn't add any new species but it was cool to see that our top species of the day were all in the 20s. Gray Catbird, Palm Warbler and Common Yellowthroats hit the top today! We also had a few Gray Catbirds that were banded last year that must have thought that Kiawah was a fantastic place to stop over and came back. It is nice to see recaptures from previous years doing so well! 

Some colder weather later this week might bring in a few good birds and push them around. There is a nice predicted path of hurricane Milton that might just graze us as it passes over Florida. We shouldn't be getting too much aftermath as it pushes out to the ocean but it could hold some birds that might leave from Kiawah. I can't wait to see what this week has in store for us!

Brown Thrasher (hatch year, sex unknown)

-Kristin 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Green Heron	-	-	1	-
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	-	-	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	2	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	6	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	36	2	28	5
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	1
Swainson's Thrush	3	-	-	-
Nelson's Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	1	1	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	-	-
Tennessee Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	73	2	24	3
American Redstart	12	-	3	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	4	-	-	-
Magnolia Warbler	1	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	6	-	3	-
Palm Warbler (western subspecies)	12	-	20	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	3	-	-
Indigo Bunting	3	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	1	3	6	6

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	169	87	256
# of Recaptures	13	16	29
# of Species	22	11	26
Effort (net-hours)	200	143	343
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	91	72.0	83.1
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,942	1,828	4,769
# of Recaptures	591	462	1,053
# of Species	65	59	80
Effort (net-hours)	8,309.9	4,959.35	13,269.24
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	42.5	46.2	43.9
# of Days	51	43

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (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.