Invader From the Northwoods

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

We had a lot of net repair/replacement to do today so I decided to close down the nets a little early so we could focus solely on fixing nets. We made great progress and repaired a number of nets. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we could replace some of the old and brittle nets. That will have to wait for another day. 

During our abbreviated morning banding effort, we captured 17 new birds and had 23 recaptures of 13 different species. We banded our first Orange-crowned Warbler of the season and had a bonus Red-breasted Nuthatch. This irruptive species is one that does not make it into the southeast (except for high elevation areas) each year. According to the Winter Finch Forecast 2025-2026 (https://finchnetwork.org/winter-finch-forecast-2025-2026), this should be an irruptive winter for Red-breasted Nuthatches due to a poor cone crop in the eastern boreal forest. Look for Red-breasted Nuthatches to be present this fall/winter especially in or near pines. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Hatch year, female)

-Aaron
 

  

 

LITTLE BEAR

Relatively slow day at Little Bear with 39 new bands put out and another 29 recaptures for a total of 64 birds. 

One species that we did get was an Ovenbird today. These well-loved wood warblers are our largest warbler and are named for the distinctive nests they make on the ground that are shaped like an old-fashioned Dutch oven. Unlike many warbler species these birds not only nest on the ground, but are specialized ground feeder, at a glance resembling miniature thrushes rather than wood warblers. During migration from the northern and eastern portions of the continent to Central and South America they can put on prodigious amounts of fat which is the case in this bird.

Ovenbird ready to migrate!

Forecast is looking good for tomorrow so hoping for some more action then!

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	-	1	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	-	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	-	-	-
House Wren	-	1	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	8	15	25	23
Swainson's Thrush	-	-	1	-
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	-
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	1	1
American Redstart	-	-	2	1
Northern Parula	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	1
Indigo Bunting	1	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	3	-	1	2
Swamp Sparrow	-	1	3	-
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	17	39	56
# of Recaptures	23	29	52
# of Species	13	14	20
Effort (net-hours)	95.6	133	228.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	41.8	51.1	47.2
# of Nets	33	28	61

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,086	2,998	7,084
# of Recaptures	802	697	1,499
# of Species	83	79	95
Effort (net-hours)	10,259.5	7,530.5	17,790
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.6	49.1	48.2
# of Days	65	56

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.

A sign of winter

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Due to the small cold front that moved through the area early Monday morning, we had a slight uptick in birds this morning. We captured 52 new birds and 30 recaptures of 18 species. We just passed the peak of Painted Bunting migration; however, we still banded 12 today. Painted Bunting was the top species captured followed by 11 Gray Catbirds. We have another cold front coming through tomorrow so we expect our first big push of winter birds on Thursday, which will most likely include many more Yellow-rumped Warblers.

This figure shows the last 10 years of Painted Bunting fall banding data. Early in the season (August-September), we band a lot of local Painted Buntings (purple) but by early October we begin to capture migratory Painted Buntings (teal). We are just past the peak migratory period but do not expect bunting numbers to dramatically decline until November.

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

We also had a little uptick of activity out at Little Bear with 94 birds of 19 species today. We had 28 recaptures and 68 new birds. Gray Catbirds are still our most prevalent bird, making up almost 50% of our captures today. After not seeing a single new or recaptured Painted Bunting yesterday, we banded 12 today and I think we should see a push of them over the next few days. We've also noticed a gradual increase of sparrows, house wrens, and yellow-rumped warblers this week. I'm excited to see more sparrows and what arrives with the next cold front later this week. 

We were all a little surprised that Jeremiah came back with a Winter Wren after our first net run. This is the time of year I would expect to see them back home in Wisconsin, so it seems a little early to catch one here. Winter Wrens are our smallest and darkest wrens, with a very short tail that is often held raised up over the back. They are a rich, chocolate brown compared to the grayer brown of the House Wren and have a distinct buffy stripe along the eyeline. We actually ended up with three different wren species from the first run, and we couldn't resist a little wren size comparison. 

-Liz

Winter Wren, hatch-year unknown sex

Left to right, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Winter Wren

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	3	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	1	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
Tufted Titmouse	-	2	-	-
House Wren	3	-	6	-
Winter Wren	-	-	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	2
Northern Mockingbird	-	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	11	24	25	21
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	1	-
White-throated Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	4	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	4	2	6	2
American Redstart	1	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	-	1	-
Bay-breasted Warbler	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	3	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	1	-	-	-
Indigo Bunting	4	-	2	-
Painted Bunting	12	1	12	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	52	68	120
# of Recaptures	30	26	56
# of Species	18	19	25
Effort (net-hours)	188.0	159.6	347.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.6	58.9	50.6
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,069	2,959	7,028
# of Recaptures	779	668	1,447
# of Species	81	79	94
Effort (net-hours)	10,163.9	7,397.5	17,561.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.7	49.0	48.3
# of Days	64	55

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.

The Recaptures Keep Coming

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was a pleasantly slow day at Captain Sam's with 78 birds, 50 of which were recaps! We captured the expected species like Grey Catbirds and Common Yellowthroats but also enjoyed the presence of a hatch year female Pine Warbler, the third we've caught this season! 

A small cold front arrived in the middle of the night last night and we are all enjoying the cooler weather. We are hoping this front will bring us a push of Yellow-rumped Warblers tomorrow! 

-Arden 

 

LITTLE BEAR

We banded 36 birds today and had 33 recaptures, for a total of 69 birds from 19 species. We had two first of season species for Little Bear: a Black-throated Green Warbler and a White-crowned Sparrow. We also enjoyed another new Bay-breasted Warbler today! All three of these birds were the first of their species that I have ever banded! 

Black-throated Green Warbler (hatch year, female)

Eastern White-crowned Sparrow (hatch year, unknown sex)

- Camille 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	2	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
House Wren	1	1	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	13	33	8	22
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	-	-
White-crowned Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	2	-	2	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	-	1
Ovenbird	-	1	1	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	8	5	5
American Redstart	-	1	-	2
Northern Parula	-	-	3	-
Bay-breasted Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	1	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	4	-	5	-
Pine Warbler	1	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	-	-	2	1
Black-throated Green Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	1	-
Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	-	2	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	28	35	63
# of Recaptures	50	33	83
# of Species	16	19	25
Effort (net-hours)	188.8	162.4	351.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	41.3	42.5	41.6
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,017	2,891	6,908
# of Recaptures	749	642	1,391
# of Species	81	78	93
Effort (net-hours)	9,975.9	7,237.9	17,243.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.8	48.8	48.1
# of Days	63	54

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was another slow day with more recaptures than new birds. We captured 15 new birds and 43 recaptures of 13 species. Most of the recaptures (28) were Gray Catbirds, which is typical for this time of year as many catbirds spend the winter here. Currently, many catbirds are stopping over to build up fat so they can continue on their migration to other nonbreeding grounds along the Gulf Coast, in the Caribbean, or in Central America. We expect more bird movement as a small cold front moves through overnight.

-Michael

 

LITTLE BEAR

With a total of 50 birds in all, 22 new and 28 recaptures, today was a rather slow day over at Little Bear. Given that we had only two people to manage the station, however, this number made for a very manageable day overall. 

Highlight of the day was definitely a hatch-year Bay-breasted Warbler. This species is often not very common in our nets so it is really lovely that we have been graced with so many at both our stations this season.

Hatch-year Bay-breasted Warbler

Another warbler we had, and have been having for a while, is this Western Palm Warbler.

Hatch-year Western Palm Warbler from today.

Palm Warblers are a single species of warbler that are divided into two separate subspecies that in the breeding season split the northern forests and bogs of the continent in the vicinity of Ottawa, Canada. To the west the aptly named Western subspecies breeds, in the east the Yellow Palm Warbler. In the winter both subspecies leave their summer homes and make for their wintering grounds in the south, but in a manner that is not particularly intuitive.

The eastern-breeding Yellow Palms winter along the gulf coast (a small, but regular handful make a more dramatic leap to the Pacific coast), but the Western Palm Warblers winter to their east along the south Atlantic coast, into the Caribbean, and in Florida where I have seen them winter in terrific abundance. If you were able to follow both migrations from space you would see them make an "X" over the eastern half of the continent. While on their wintering grounds both populations favor more open habitats with the birds on Kiawah frequently enjoying the island golf courses. 

Yellow Palm Warbler from earlier this season for comparison.

It looks like things may pick up a good bit as the week goes. With any luck we will catch our share of them and have some exciting new species to share with you then.

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	2	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	1	-	-
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	1	1	1	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	10	28	10	15
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	-	2	1
Ovenbird	-	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	2
Common Yellowthroat	1	5	4	4
American Redstart	-	-	-	1
Bay-breasted Warbler	-	-	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	-	1	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	-	1
Painted Bunting	-	2	1	3

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	15	22	37
# of Recaptures	43	28	71
# of Species	13	12	17
Effort (net-hours)	156.8	147.0	303.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	37.0	34.0	35.5
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,989	2,855	6,844
# of Recaptures	699	609	1,308
# of Species	78	76	91
Effort (net-hours)	9,941.5	7,075.4	17,016.9
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.2	49.0	47.9
# of Days	62	53

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (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.

Part 2 of stealing the show

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Well, howdy again! It's your secret admirer, Kristin Attinger, bringing today's Daily Featherly News.

Today's overall forecast was consistent with recaptures and a few new birds. It was pretty heavy with recaptured Gray Catbirds for most of the day, but a slight sprinkle of various species, including Black-throated Blue Warbler and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

In breaking news on the new bird list was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-rumped Warblers (myrtle), a Song Sparrow, and a few other species. See the table below for the tallied votes of species that were captured. *Don't get too excited, there is so much more to see. Including Little Bears information too!*

Adam joined our team and was so thrilled to see some great birds today. I hope he enjoyed the fun laughs and jokes that our table had today, including my terrible reading skills in telling the difference between the numbers 23 and 32. I tried really hard, but I guess those busy days finally caught up to me and were blending in my head. I can at least identify birds and age, that's the most important thing:)

I didn't manage to get any good photos of birds today. This week, working on Captain Sams has been so much fun! I am grateful again for Aaron letting me hack into the blog and finish out my last day writing up a fun blog. 

Signing off for the season,

Kristin Attinger 💕💕

LITTLE BEAR

Today was surprisingly busy at Little Bear with 54 new birds and 61 recaptures for 115 total birds! For the first time this season, the number of recaptures was significantly more than the number of new birds. As expected, the majority of the birds we caught were catbirds. They are known for their loud and varied vocalizations during banding, making the station a lively place when we catch a flock of them at once. 

The  winter birds continue to arrive with several Swamp Sparrow and Yellow-rumped Warblers appearing in the nets. We're hearing from banders up North that it's a good year for Yellow-rumped Warblers so we're looking forward to seeing how many we'll catch as the season progresses. 

-Arden 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	1	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	4	-	1	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	-	-	1	-
Tufted Titmouse	-	1	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	4	-	2	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	-
Grey Catbird	25	33	26	38
Song Sparrow	1	-	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	1	2	3	1
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	3
Ovenbird	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	2	5	7	9
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	1	-	-
American Redstart	1	1	1	2
Northern Parula	-	-	2	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	2	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (myrtle)	3	1	2	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	3	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	3
Painted Bunting	-	1	1	4
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	43	54	97
# of Recaptures	50	61	111
# of Species	12	14	24
Effort (net-hours)	169.6	174	343.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	54.8	66.1	60.5
# of Nets	32	28	-

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,974	2,833	6,807
# of Recaptures	656	581	1,237
# of Species	78	76	91
Effort (net-hours)	9,784.7	6,928.4	16,713.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.4	49.3	48.1
# of Days	61	52

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Keegan Foster (CS) 

Adam Wolf (CS)

Kristin Attinger (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.

Being hacked by an old KIBS member: The reunion edition :)

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

*insert dialac tones* 

"Hold on, something is happening."........ "I think we are being hacked."

Well, well,  well..... It was a foreseen future that was definitely predicted that was going to happen. I hope this was a well-waited excitement ya'll were waiting to see. 

Would you have guessed it?! Here's a little hint...... It's a face you can't forget.

You might have thought about the Gray Catbirds, which is what have been showing up on the blog this week, but yet I have you fooled. The face behind this fun little blog is an old member from recent KIBS blogs over many years! 

The blog has been hacked by yours truly, Kristin Attinger! I decided to hack into the blog today while the boss (Aaron and Michael)  was out doing deer surveys and give them a break from having to write the blog.

Today was definitely a slower day, with just pushing over 100 birds. I can't for sure say exactly our total count. I do not have access to any of the banding data. I even bribed the big man to allow me to have access to the banding data to get the total numbers, but he knows me too well and told me no. So, I am leaving it up to the crew to handle the dirty work for me, so sorry, but thank you so much!

I came in on Saturday morning and have been volunteering my time at the station to help out during this year's big migration days. I was very fortunate enough to pick a good week and use my wonderful skills in assisting with extracting and banding birds. It felt great to get my hands on some birds and not forget any knowledge that I have learned over the years. We have captured some great birds over the past few days, and some highlights have been shown off during those days. It was nice to work with Aaron and Michael again and see some friendly faces that I typically see every year. It was great to catch up and to get into the banding mode during those busy days and not miss a beat. 

Today, we kept up the species diversity by adding a new species for the year, a Red-winged Blackbird. This lovely individual was such a treat to see. We don't typically catch many during fall migration, and this one was even better, being an adult female. Molts in most blackbirds are unique and different and are seen in the underwing coverts. Typically, most birds will have their molts in the primaries and secondaries, but blackbirds can replace their primaries and secondaries completely, and we need to look at the underwing coverts to confirm the age. The juveniles will retain some worn feathers, while the adults will replace them all. This lovely adult female, now pictured below, was strikingly beautiful. Check out her lovely motled feathers. Female Red-winged Blackbirds are typically misidentified as sparrows due to the coloration of their feathers. They do show up at feeders and blend in well with other birds as being drab. You can sometimes see, in females, hints of red in the wing, which might help you identify them as a Red-winged Blackbird. 

adult female Red-winged Blackbird

I greatly appreciate Aaron for letting me come back for the week to give some of my time to assist in any way I could, and for letting me stay in the field house, even for the crew letting me stay as well and be in their space. I definitely missed this place and was so happy to see such a variety of species in a week! I unfortunately will be leaving tomorrow and heading back to the north, where it's cold and sad. Not really sad, but it's starting to get cold. I wish the rest of the season would be an easy breeze and that a lot of new species would show up. I got to experience Kiawah differently this year and this is something I will always remember.

May the feathers fall in your favor,

Kristin Attinger 💕

 

LITTLE BEAR

Today was a pretty slow out at Little Bear. We had a total of 82 birds, with 46 new and 36 recaptures of 15 different species. We had almost an even amount of new and recap Gray Catbirds: 23 new and 21 recaps. Many of our recaptured catbirds still have very little fat, so hopefully they start finding food and gaining some weight soon. 

The highlight from today was a Savannah Sparrow that caught us by surprise. They are not a very common capture, so it was a nice surprise. I have only had one other in the hand, and I appreciated getting to band this one and get another close up look. Some of the characteristics that help identify Savannah Sparrows are the whitish crown-stripe, usually with a yellow wash on the lores. You may notice that the young bird we caught is missing the tell-tale yellow lores. They are also more crisply streaked than a Song Sparrow with a shorter tail, smaller and pinkish bill, and a white belly. We also happened to band a Song Sparrow, so it was nice to be able to compare the two sparrows and increase our species diversity for the season. 

-Liz

Savannah Sparrow, hatch year unknown sex

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	1	-	1	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	3	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	-	1	-
House Wren	1	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	52	32	23	21
White-crowned Sparrow	-	1	-	-
Savannah Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Swamp Sparrow	2	-	-	-
Red-winged Blackbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	2
Common Yellowthroat	8	4	6	5
American Redstart	2	-	3	5
Black-throated Blue Warbler	2	-	3	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Pine Warbler	-	1	-	-
Myrtle (yellow-rumped) Warbler	1	-	2	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Painted Bunting	2	1	-	1
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	78	46	124
# of Recaptures	40	36	76
# of Species	16	15	21
Effort (net-hours)	172.8	170.8	343.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	68.3	48	58.2
# of Nets	33	28	61

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	3,931	2,779	6,710
# of Recaptures	610	520	1,130
# of Species	78	76	91
Effort (net-hours)	9,615.1	6,754.5	16,369.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	47.2	48.8	47.9
# of Days	60	51

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)

Keegan Foster (CS) 

Kristin Attinger (CS)

David McLean (CS)

Ann McLean (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.