What a Sap!

  CAPTAIN SAMS

The Gray Catbird numbers are climbing at Captain Sams! This morning we processed a total of 151 birds, 80 of which were Gray Catbirds. Even still, we had high species diversity which included a Bicknell's Thrush (second record for the state!), a Tennesee Warbler, a Winter Wren, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hatch Year Male

                      

The individual above was aged as a Hatch Year, since a molt limit was observed in the greater coverts; The outermost feathers indicated in red are a more light and worn black. These are juvenile feathers that have yet to be replaced by darker, formative feathers like the ones indicated in green which have recently grown in. This bird was also determined to be a male, as red feathers were present along the throat (which young and adult females lack).

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a fun day! We ended our day with a total of 132 birds, which 35 of them were recaptures. It is fun to catch already banded birds because we can learn more about them the second time around. If anything happens to them, we can see the difference or even if they were banded last year! I love seeing birds return after being banded from a few years ago.

Today we added 2 new species for Little Bear; Brown Creeper and Gray-cheeked Thrush. I was supper stoked on catching the Brown Creeper since I haven been present at either banding station for their captures. I have seen a decent about of them when I worked up in the northern states though. Another fun bird we captured today was a late Least Flycatcher as pictured below.

Least Flycatcher (hatch-year, unknown sex)

Gray-cheeked Thrush (hatch year, unknown sex)

-Kristin

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	5	1	-	-
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	3	-
Least Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	9	2	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	4	1	3	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	-	-
Brown Creeper	-	-	1	-
House Wren	3	1	11	2
Winter Wren	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	47	33	42	20
Gray-cheeked Thrush	-	-	2	-
Bicknell's Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	1	1	-
Song Sparrow	2	1	2	-
Swamp Sparrow	3	-	7	-
Eastern Towhee	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Tennessee Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	7	3	14	4
American Redstart	1	-	-	1
Cape May Warbler	1	-	-	-
Bay-breasted Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	2	-	1	-
Myrtle Warbler	-	1	-	1
Indigo Bunting	2	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	2	-	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	102	97	199
# of Recaptures	49	32	81
# of Species	29	19	48
Effort (net-hours)	195.2	149.5	344.7
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	77.4	86.3	81.23
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,939	2,672	6,611
# of Recaptures	802	633	1,435
# of Species	78	77	92
Effort (net-hours)	10,305.45	6,284.55	16,590
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	46.0	52.6	48.50
# of Days	61	53

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (CS)

Lisa Viviano (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 Bird Banding Lab.