CAPTAIN SAMS
It was a busy morning at Captain Sam's spit with 291 new birds and 37 recaptures of 30 species. Gray Catbirds are on the move with another 159 captured today, and we are also starting to capture some wintering birds, like kinglets, swamp sparrows, and song sparrows. We captured many first-of-the seasons but the highlights were an adult female Blackburnian Warbler and our 6th Black-billed Cuckoo captured at KIBS. The first one was captured in 2015 (1st state record), followed by one in 2017, one in 2021, and two in 2022.
Black-billed Cuckoos are an uncommon migrant along the southeastern coast and are skulky and hard to find when they are in the area. They are a long-distance migrant, breeding in the north-central United States and southern Canada and spending the nonbreeding season in northern South America.
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| Black-billed Cuckoo (hatch year, unknown sex) |
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| Blackburnian Warbler (after hatch year, female) |
-Michael
LITTLE BEAR
Had a very busy day at Little Bear! With a total of 275 birds banded and captured of 27 species this is shaping up to be an exciting week.
One species that we had that I was very excited for were a few Gray-cheeked Thrushes. Gray-cheeked Thrushes are the most northerly breeding of the Catharus thrushes and the only Catharsis thrush to make it to the Old World breeding in taiga and willow thickets from Newfoundland across the far north of the continent and across the Bering Sea into far northeastern Russia. In the winter these thrushes dwell in the jungles northern South America where, at least in some locals, they specialize on the unflooded lowland forests called terra firme locally.
Close up look at a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Note the large eyes that this and other Catharus thrushes have that allow them to forage in the low light conditions that occur under dense canopy on the forest floor.
The Newfoundland population is unique, utilizing a more southern-type boreal habitat than the mainland birds, and is considered threatened in that province. Some consider the decline of this population due to the introduction of the Red Squirrel, a well known nest predator, to the island in which correlates with the decline of the thrush on the island in the 1980s.
Hopefully this big push brings in some exciting new birds. This is a great time to be out in the field!
-Jeremiah
| Species | Captain Sam's | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Black-billed Cuckoo | 1 | - | - | - |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | - | - | - |
Downy Woodpecker | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Flicker | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Wood-Pewee | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 14 | - | 17 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 5 | 2 | 6 | - |
Blue-headed Vireo | 2 | - | - | - |
Red-eyed Vireo | 2 | - | 3 | - |
Carolina Chickadee | - | - | 1 | - |
Tufted Titmouse | - | 1 | - | - |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 6 | - | 3 | - |
Northern House Wren | 5 | 1 | 6 | - |
Gray Catbird | 159 | 21 | 124 | 16 |
Gray-cheeked Thrush | 2 | - | 3 | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 3 | - | 7 | - |
Wood Thrush | - | - | 1 | - |
Song Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Swamp Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Northern Waterthrush | 2 | 1 | 3 | - |
Blue-winged Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | 2 | - |
Swainson's Warbler | - | 1 | - | - |
Tennessee Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Nashville Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 45 | 5 | 39 | 4 |
| American Redstart | 10 | 1 | 10 | - |
| Northern Parula | 3 | 1 | 1 | - |
| Magnolia Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
| Blackburnian Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
| Yellow Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 8 | - | 1 | - |
| Palm Warbler (Western) | 6 | - | 10 | - |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | - | - | 2 | - |
| Prairie Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
| Northern Cardinal | - | - | - | 2 |
| Indigo Bunting | 2 | - | 5 | - |
| Painted Bunting | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 291 | 252 | 543 |
| # of Recaptures | 37 | 23 | 60 |
| # of Species | 30 | 27 | 40 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 201.6 | 189.0 | 390.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 162.7 | 145.5 | 154.4 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 28 | 60 |
| 2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 3,492 | 2,495 | 5,987 |
| # of Recaptures | 472 | 412 | 884 |
| # of Species | 74 | 72 | 86 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 9,035.9 | 6,244.9 | 15,280.8 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 43.9 | 46.5 | 45.0 |
| # of Days | 56 | 48 |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)Michael Gamble (CS)
Liz Held (LB)
Arden Schneider (LB)
Camille Beckwith (LB)
Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)
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.
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