Another Big Day!

 CAPTAIN SAMS

Today we had our second 400 bird day at Captain Sam's. This is the first time in KIBS history that we have ever had two 400 bird days at a single site in one season. Our totals were 400 new and 26 recaptures of 31 different species. Unlike our last 400 bird day, we saw more diversity as is typical for this time of year as we switch from warblers to Gray Catbirds and other overwintering species. Highlights included 44 Eastern Phoebes, 6 Bay-breasted Warblers, second Brown Creeper of the season, and 205 Gray Catbirds (KIBS single day high capture count). We also had three first of seasons Winter Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, and White-throated Sparrow. I have included some pictures below from our big day!

Winter Wren (hatch-year, sex unknown)

Bay-breasted Warbler (hatch year, male)

White-throated Sparrow (hatch year, sex unknown)

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a great day. We passed 200 birds today! We captured exactly 200 newly banded birds and 13 recaptures. We added 3 new species to Little Bear as well; Wood Thrush, Marsh Wren and Golden-crowned Kinglet. I was pretty excited to finally capture such a large amount of birds for this season. After looking back over the years that I have ran Little Bear, this is the 3rd time I have captured over 200 birds! 

Our highlight species of the day is the Gray Catbirds. We captured 103 catbirds, which was super cool to see so many of them. It is sad seeing that the Common Yellowthroats are starting to go down in numbers but the yellow-rumps will soon replace them.

While looking back on this day last year, we were at a total of 2,265 newly banded birds, currently for this year we are at 2,485. We are over 200 currently and I am hoping it stays like this for a while and I might have my highest season yet. 

Below is a lovely Golden-crowned Kinglet. We managed to capture 3 of them today and they are always a treat to have in the hand. The fiery crown completes their tiny little bodies. 

Golden-crowned Kinglet (After-hatch year, Male)

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	5	-	3	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	6	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	44	-	22	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	2	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	2	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	1	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	2	-	3	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	11	1	2	-
Brown Creeper	1	-	-	-
House Wren	7	2	3	-
Winter Wren	1	-	-	-
Marsh Wren	2	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	205	16	103	7
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	9	-	1	-
Wood Thrush	-	-	1	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	6	-	4	-
Swamp Sparrow	11	-	4	1
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	-	1	-
Tennessee Warbler	2	-	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	30	1	24	-
American Redstart	1	1	2	1
Cape May Warbler	4	-	-	-
Magnolia Warbler	-	-	1	-
Bay-breasted Warbler	6	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	4	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (western subspecies)	16	-	11	-
Palm Warbler (eastern subspecies)	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle subspecies)	6	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	7	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	5	3	6	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	400	200	600
# of Recaptures	26	13	39
# of Species	31	24	36
Effort (net-hours)	281.6	192.4	474
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	151.3	110.7	134.8
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,946	2,485	6,433
# of Recaptures	722	580	1,300
# of Species	78	73	91
Effort (net-hours)	9,929.6	6,013.1	15,943
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.0	51	48.5
# of Days	60	51

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (LB)

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.