Creeping into the Salt Marsh Like High Tide

  CAPTAIN SAMS

Captain Sams had a slower day with 23 new birds and 27 recaps, but still with great species variety! Our FOS Hermit Thrush was banded today, in addition to a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, a Brown Creeper, and an increasing number of Myrtle Warblers. The crew was also joined today by a Chris Snook, a long-time volunteer and contributor to the original set-up of this station! Our thanks goes out to Chris for visiting and continuing to support Kiawah Island Banding Station.

Brown Creeper (Hatch Year, Sex unknown)

The outer brown and buffy plumage of Brown Creepers disguises them well, as they "creep" up trees to forage for small insects, hitching themselves in quick bursts until they approach the top, before starting again at the base of the next tree. Wrenlike, with a decurved bill, but note the long uncocked tail which is used for balance as well as support during their foraging behavior.

-Lisa Viviano

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a great day out at Little Bear! We caught 75 birds (39 new and 36 recaptures). We were shocked to see that we caught nearly as many recaptures as we did new birds! Most of these recaptures were Gray Catbirds that were banded within the last week, but we did catch one that was originally caught all the way back in 2019!

It is currently King Tide, but luckily Little Bear didn't expierience any flooding. It is the first time that I've seen the station dry the whole season. The high tides were conducive to catch marsh sparrows, so Kristin and I gave it a try by setting up some nets out in the marsh! We only caught 2 birds (a Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrow), and we were delighted to find that the Saltmarsh Sparrow was recapture! After entering the data we discovered that this bird was originally banded on October 29th, 2019, so nearly one year ago! It turns out I was the one who banded it, which makes it even more fun! It was aged as an after-hatch-year last year, which means that this bird is 3+ years old. It is great to see that this bird came back to Little Bear!

Saltmarsh Sparrow (after-hatch year, sex unknown) originally banded 10/29/2023

We also caught our first of the season Seaside Sparrow! Last year we tried several times to catch one out in the marsh but never managed to get one, so it was very exciting to get one today! This is the second ever Seaside Sparrow Little Bear has caught (the first one was caught all the way back in 2015). There are two subspecies of seasides: macgillivrayii and maritima. Our bird was the maritima subspecies. For more information about the two subspecies check out this blog post. 

Seaside Sparrow (after-hatch year, sex unknown, maritima subspecies)

On our last net run of the day I came across yet another cool bird, a Brown Creeper! Little Bear caught one two days ago, but these birds are an uncommon catch, so it was exciting to get two in such a short period of time. After processing this bird we released it and watched as it flew over to a tree near the banding table. Brown Creepers are named after their distinctive feeding behavior where they creep from the bottom of a tree to the top, foraging for small insects along the way. Kristin and I managed to find the tree that our bird had landed on and we snuck in close to capture a few pictures before it flew away! 

Our recently banded Brown Creeper displaying it's creeping behavior shortly after release

Overall, it was a very eventful and fun day out at Little Bear. I am excited to see what else we catch in the next few weeks!

-Natalie

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	-	-	3	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	2
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	-	-
Brown Creeper	1	-	-	1
House Wren	4	1	3	2
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	3	17	20	25
Hermit Thrush	1	-	-	-
Wood Thrush	-	-	1	-
Seaside Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Saltmarsh Sparrow	-	-	-	1
Song Sparrow	-	1	3	1
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	1
Eastern Towhee	1	-	-	-
Yellow-breasted Chat	-	1	-	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	3	1	2	-
American Redstart	-	-	1	1
Northern Parula	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	1	-	-	-
Myrtle Warbler	4	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	2	-
Painted Bunting	-	-	-	2

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	23	39	62
# of Recaptures	27	36	64
# of Species	19	17	27
Effort (net-hours)	163.2	119.6	282.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.6	62.7	44.6
# of Nets	32	26	58

2024 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,243	2,711	6,954
# of Recaptures	872	669	1,541
# of Species	80	78	94
Effort (net-hours)	10,620.7	6399.55	17,020.25
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	48.15	52.8	49.9
# of Days	64	54

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Kristin Attinger (LB)

Natalie Miller (LB)

Lisa Viviano (CS)

Chris Snook (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.