KING TIDE

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

It was not a promising start to the morning with a low pressure system forming off the coast. The forecast had it coming ashore about the time we would open nets but after watching the radar, this system continued to break up before reaching land. Aaron and I decided to put down our office work and head out to Captain Sam's spit to see if we could get some banding in. There was a lot of bird movement in North Carolina last night, so we expected there would be birds coming down on Kiawah Island in front of the storm to rest and refuel. Little Bear received rain for most of the morning so we did not band there today.

Due to the lingering threat of rain, we only opened some of the nets. With these conditions and less nets open, we still captured 102 new birds and 5 recaptures of 20 different species. It was a mix of warbler species typical for this time of year led by 24 Common Yellowthroats. After a few net runs, it started to rain and we had to close for the morning but not before the biggest tide of the year inundated the station. Today's king tide crested at 8.4 ft., 1.5 ft. above the predicted! This was the highest I have seen the tide at the station, and it definitely made things more difficult at the table. 

The forecast looks the same through the weekend so we will wait and see if we can band. 

-Michael

 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	4	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	-	1	-	-
House Wren	2	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	31	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	5	-	-	-
Swainson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	24	-	-	-
American Redstart	10	-	-	-
Cape May Warbler	2	-	-	-
Northern Parula	6	-	-	-
Magnolia Warbler	1	-	-	-
Blackpoll Warbler	2	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	5	-	-	-
Prairie Warbler	2	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Indigo Bunting	2	-	-	-
Painted Bunting	3	1	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	102	-	102
# of Recaptures	5	-	5
# of Species	20	-	20
Effort (net-hours)	51.5	-	51.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	207.8	-	207.8
# of Nets	23	-	23

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,980	2,016	4,996
# of Recaptures	396	361	757
# of Species	63	62	75
Effort (net-hours)	8,618.7	5,840.3	14,459.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.2	40.7	39.8
# of Days	55	46

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (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.

Rain, rain, go away

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Millions of birds migrated through and to South Carolina last night. Unfortunately for us the weather did not cooperate. The radar was very unpredictable and just when we thought that we were clear, something new would pop up and it would start raining again. We opened and closed the nets on three separate occasions throughout the morning. Despite this, we still managed to catch a decent number of birds with 69 new and 9 recaptures. Neotropical warblers were on the move last night as we had 11 species including a Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a Pine Warbler. The next couple of days may produce more unsettling weather conditions as a Nor'easter is producing strong winds and rain off the coast of SC. On top of all that, the king tides are flooding the banding station making it a slow slog through 12-18" of water in order to check the nets. On the plus side though, today's tide was the largest so each day will get a little less water. 

-Aaron

 

 

LITTLE BEAR

We tried to band as much as we could this morning in pretty poor weather conditions. After a late start due to lingering rain, we had to leave a few nets closed due to high winds. We were able to band for about one and a half hours before it started raining again and we had to close the nets. We caught quite a few birds for only being open for a short time and had a high amount of diversity. We even caught a couple first of season Eastern Phoebes. We caught 8 species of warblers including a few gorgeous adult males, which are always fun to appreciate. Another highlight from the day was a very blue hatch year Indigo Bunting. The young male Indigo Buntings can have a variable amount of blue feathers at this time of year and seeing a large amount of blue on a youngster was a real treat! 

The king tide today flooded both sides of the station today, and as we were closing up we saw a few herons and egrets hanging out near the nets. Our fingers are crossed that all of this water brings a few more wading birds into the nets. 

-Liz 

Northen Parula, After hatch year male

American Redstart, After hatch year male

Black-throated Blue Warbler, after hatch year male

Indigo Bunting, hatch year male

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Wood-pewee	-	-	1	-
Acadian Flycatcher	-	-	1	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	2	-
White-eyed Vireo	1	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	-	-	-
House Wren	1	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	8	2	4	2
Swainson's Thrush	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	1	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	9	1	2	-
American Redstart	8	1	2	-
Cape May Warbler	2	-	1	-
Northern Parula	6	-	3	-
Magnolia Warbler	2	-	1	-
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	-	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	7	-	1	-
Western Palm Warbler	14	-	10	-
Pine Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	1	3	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	-	2	-
Painted Bunting	4	-	1	-
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	69	33	102
# of Recaptures	9	2	11
# of Species	18	15	23
Effort (net-hours)	114.7	36.9	151.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	68.0	94.9	74.5
# of Nets	31	23	54

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,878	2,016	4,894
# of Recaptures	391	361	752
# of Species	63	62	75
Effort (net-hours)	8,410.9	5,840.3	14,251.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	38.9	40.7	39.6
# of Days	54	46

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Amy Nickerson (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.

A sign of what's to come

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Relatively quiet day over at Captain Sam's with 48 new bands put out and another 6 recaptures. Highlight of the day were definitely the two Eastern Phoebes that we caught today

Hatch-year Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebes are the only species of flycatcher to winter in South Carolina, which also makes them the only species of flycatcher to occur in the state year-round. These birds are early migrants to the point of being a charming sign of spring in much of eastern North America breeding in woodland and woodland-adjacent areas, especially those near water. They love to put their nests on ledges, historically this could often be the upturned roots of a fallen tree, but with the settling of frontier these birds this now also includes places like bridges and porches. 

The Eastern Phoebe has a particular significance for bird-bangers as they have been long-rumored to be the very first bird to ever be banded in North America. John James Audubon claimed to have tied silver threads to five nestling phoebes when he lived in Mill Grove, Pennsylvania and then documented two of them returning next year. Some have expressed skepticism in this claim as the rate of return seems exceptionally high (Bob Montgomerie writing an article for the American Ornithological Society referenced a couple studies that indicated the odds of this occurring was less than 2%), however so this remains somewhat unsubstantiated.

We should be seeing many more phoebes in the coming weeks, so hopefully these are just he start of a much larger push.

-Jeremiah

 

LITTLE BEAR

This morning I did my usual check of the birdcast and radar to see what kind of volume we could expect for the day. The birdcast was pretty low, only around 40k birds moving through the county last night and the radar did not show much movement either. Much to our surprise we were hit with a little rush of Gray Catbirds today! We ended up with 80 birds consisting of 67 new birds and 13 recaps. We can thank the catbirds for giving our numbers a boost today as they made up 70% of our captures. This is just a hint of what it to come with the upcoming cold front, as we are expecting large numbers of this species to pass through. 

Gray Catbirds may be found in South Carolina year-round, but they are not common in the low country during summer. While they are closely related to other mimids like Northern Mockingbirds and Brown Thrashers, they are not as conspicuous and prefer to move sneakily through the tangled understory. Oftentimes their namesake mewing sound is heard before you catch a glimpse of them. From the bird bander's perspective, they sometimes get a reputation for being a bit difficult. Their wings are short for their body size, often getting more tangled in the net, and they are boisterous and fidgety in the hand which can make it difficult to take measurements. They also have a knack for finding any and all purple berries, resulting in purple stains everywhere. However, they are still pretty cute and we love them anyway, quirks and all. 

Another exciting highlight today was this Blue Grosbeak. Our first for the season out at Little Bear!

-Liz

Blue Grosbeak, Hatch-year unknown sex

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Phoebe	2	-	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	-	-	1
House Wren	3	1	2	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	1
Gray Catbird	31	3	51	5
Northern Waterthrush	1	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	6	2	7	1
Western Palm Warbler	1	-	3	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	1	-	-	-
Blue Grosbeak	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	3	-	1	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	48	67	115
# of Recaptures	6	13	19
# of Species	8	9	12
Effort (net-hours)	176	128.8	304.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	30.7	62.1	44.0
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,809	1,983	4,792
# of Recaptures	382	359	741
# of Species	63	61	75
Effort (net-hours)	8,296.2	5,803.4	14,099.6-
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	38.5	40.4	39.2
# of Days	53	45

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Amy Nickerson (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.

FOS Blue-winged Warbler

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

We were dodging rain showers again this morning and had to open later due to a quickly passing shower. We were able to get a full day of banding in but Little Bear was not so lucky. Storms continued to come ashore over Little Bear and they were not able to band this morning. The weather made for a slow day with 28 new birds and 15 recaptures of 12 different species. The highlight of the morning came during closing when we captured a first-of-the-season Blue-winged Warbler! This is only the 6th Blue-winged Warbler captured on Kiawah Island - the last one in 2023. We captured one in 2020, one in 2016, and the first two in 2015. 

Blue-winged Warbler (hatch year, female)

Blue-winged warblers breed from the Ozarks to the Appalachian Mountains in shrublands and scrubby fields. They breed in inland South Carolina but Kiawah Island represents part of their migratory route as they migrate to their nonbreeding grounds in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Over the last 150 years, landscape changes from forest clearcuts and agricultural fields to scrubby fields have allowed Blue-winged Warblers to expand their range northward where they are now in regular contact and hybridize with Golden-winged Warblers that breed in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Hybridization and competition with Blue-winged Warblers has contributed to Golden-winged Warbler population declines. Hybridization creates two distinctive and commonly seen hybrids known as Brewster's and Lawrence's Warblers. Brewster's have golden wingbars and a white belly (Golden-winged features) but a white throat (Blue-winged feature). Lawrence's have a black throat (Golden-winged feature) but white wingbars and a yellow belly (Blue-winged features). See Table below from Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.

Interestingly, Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers look different, sing different songs, breed in different habitats, and winter in different places; however, these species are 99.97% genetically similar! This is compared to the differences between humans with and without freckles, which may indicate that they are not separate species after all. The genetic similarities and the propensity for these species to hybridize indicate the likelihood that these species have been intermixing for thousands of years (pre-European) and may not be a recent, human-caused occurrence.

-Michael

 

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	2	-	-
Northern House Wren	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	16	1	-	-
Blue-winged Warbler	1	-	-	-
Swainson's Warbler	-	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	4	2	-	-
American Redstart	2	1	-	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	3	-	-
Painted Bunting	3	3	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	28	-	28
# of Recaptures	15	-	15
# of Species	12	-	12
Effort (net-hours)	161.8	-	161.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.6	-	26.6
# of Nets	32	-	32

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,761	1,916	4,677
# of Recaptures	376	346	722
# of Species	62	60	74
Effort (net-hours)	8,120.2	5,674.6	13,794.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	38.6	39.9	39.1
# of Days	52	44

Banding Staff

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)

Amy Nickerson (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.

Big Excitement at Little Bear!

 CAPTAIN SAMS 

Small pop-up rain showers plagued us much of the morning. Our nets were open for about an hour before it started to rain. We kept the nets closed for over and hour and a half until the rain passed. Once we opened the nets back up, the sun came out and helped dry out the nets. It was not a very productive day bird-wise with only 15 new birds and 3 recaptures but we did catch a Blackpoll Warbler which is not a very common bird for us. 

-Aaron 

 

LITTLE BEAR

While overall a quiet day at Little Bear it was a tremendously exciting day as we got two new species! The first was a hatch-year Seaside Sparrow.

Hatch-year Seaside Sparrow

The second was a hatch-year Yellow-crowned Night Heron that we caught in net 5. This was my first heron and I was absolutely delighted to actually get to have one of these in hand. In particular Yellow-crowned Night Herons are very distinctive herons with their shorter, heavier bills. 

Hatch-year Yellow-crowned Night Heron

These distinctive bills reflect a distinctive role of Yellow-crowned Night Herons in that this species specializes in crustaceans. Inland these prey items are typically crawfish, while in coastal habitats they feed heavily on crabs, of which we have no shortage on Kiawah. 

Close up view of bill. Note the extensive wear.

While the heavy bill and specialized diet mark this species apart from the many heron species that ply our swamps and waterways, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron does have a great deal in common with its kinsmen. A couple of these have to do with hygiene. Given their long bills the beak of a herons does not make for a very good preening instrument in contrast to many other birds. To compensate for this the middle tow of herons has a small comb on it that allows the heron to adequately preen and maintain its feathers. 

See middle toe. Note nail has comb-like ridges to allow for better preening. Apologies if not super focused, our camera had trouble focusing in on the middle toenail. I can't confirm, but I think they were made to focus on other subjects.

But the middle toe is not the only specialized adaptation herons have to keep them in handsome condition. On their breasts the have a specialized set of feathers called powder down. These feathers are fascinating as these feathers are to other feathers what hair is to fur, that is to say that while other feathers are molted and replaced these feathers continuously grow from the body of the bird. These feathers are delicate and break down into a talcum-like powder that can be used in preening to oil feathers and facilitate the removal of outside contaminants. This latter function must be deemed especially important as good feather maintenance is key for bird health and the environments most herons frequent could easily be the subject of a detergent commercial.

Powder down feathers of hatch-year Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Couldn't breathe more thrilled with the day. Very grateful with what we have gotten, but with much of the site still waterlogged we could well have more wetland birds. Here is hoping for our ibis!

Cheers,

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Yellow-crowned Night Heron	-	-	1	-
Red-eyed Vireo	-	1	1	-
Gray Catbird	9	-	7	2
Seaside Sparrow	-	-	1	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	1	-
Black-and White Warbler	1	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	1	1	1	6
American Redstart	1	-	-	-
Cape May Warbler	-	-	1	-
Blackpoll Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	2	2
Painted Bunting	1	1	2	3
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	15	20	35
# of Recaptures	3	13	16
# of Species	8	12	14
Effort (net-hours)	105.6	157.9	263.5
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.0	20.9	19.35
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,733	1,916	4,649
# of Recaptures	361	346	707
# of Species	61	60	73
Effort (net-hours)	7958.4	5674.6	13,633.0
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	38.9	39.9	39.3
# of Days	51	44

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (CS)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Amy Nickerson (CS)

Keegan Foster (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.

High Tides and Few Birds

CAPTAIN SAMS 

We had a soggy and slow day today, as we started off with some light right and high tides. The tides were predicted to be up to 6.5ft, but ended up reaching 7.5 feet, which brought in a lot of water to the station and left us with flooded boots and wet feet first first thing in the morning! In the next few days, we are expected to experience King Tides, which are especially high tides, as we approach a full moon and the point this month that the moon is closest to the earth; NOAA is predicting tides as high as 7.55ft, so we will be experiencing a lot more water soon! 

Today, we banded 29 new birds and had 17 recaptures, for a total of 46 birds from 12 species. We had more of the same species we have been getting, though it seems Common Yellowthroats may be starting to head out and Gray Catbirds may be starting to arrive in higher numbers. 

- Camille 

Red-eyed Vireo (hatch year, unknown sex)

We found these fun mushrooms near one of our nets today! We believe they are a type of Earthstar mushroom, from the genus Geastrum! 

 

LITTLE BEAR

Little Bear also did not escape the tide! It appears there is a breach in the direction of our rightward nets as we started the day with deep water there that gradually spread to the center and presumably, after we departed, our lefthand side. The day was also rather quiet with a 17 new bands put out and 9 recaptures for a total of 26 birds in all. 

One of the birds we had was this brave little hatch-year male Downy Woodpecker. These are our smallest woodpeckers, and I should be grateful for that as he drew blood on me a few times with precise, well-directed hammer blows of his sharp little bill on my fingers and thumb. 

Hatch-year male Downy Woodpecker

In addition to being our smallest North American woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers are the quintessential backyard woodpecker common in yards, woodlots and suburbs throughout the continent. This species shares much of its range with the very similar, but larger and longer billed, Hairy Woodpecker. Interesting these two species are not considered closely related, but according to Eliot Miller, who has studied these two species closely, believes this is an adaptation that allows the smaller Downy Woodpeckers to appear like their larger cousins making potential predators reconsider their choice in prey and give them a leg up when dealing with competitors, like chickadees and nuthatches, who might be more willing to yield and relinquish food items to a larger, more aggressive bird.

When sharing a territory as a mated pair Downy Woodpeckers typically partition the foraging habitat between each other with the females feeding in the middle canopy and the males feeding higher up on the tree. This kind of niche-partitioning  is a great way for birds to maximize their utilization of a given territory while minimizing competition between the resident pair.

Anticipating a fairly quiet next few days, but with the potential for a cold front late in the week we may have another push coming through imminently. Until then all we can do is sit tight and try to keep our feet dry.

-Jeremiah

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	-	-	1
White-eyed Vireo	1	-	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	4	1	1	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Northern House Wren	1	-	-	-
Gray Catbird	5	7	9	5
Wood Thrush	1	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	1	-
Common Yellowthroat	6	2	1	2
American Redstart	7	1	1	-
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	1	2	-	-
Indigo Bunting	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	2	3	1

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	29	17	46
# of Recaptures	17	9	26
# of Species	12	8	20
Effort (net-hours)	176.0	139.8	315.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	26.1	18.6	22.8
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,718	1,896	4,614
# of Recaptures	358	333	691
# of Species	61	58	71
Effort (net-hours)	7,852.8	5,516.6	13,369.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.2	40.4	39.7
# of Days	50	43

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (LB)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Camille Beckwith (CS)

Jeremiah Sullivan (LB)

Amy Nickerson (CS)

Keegan Foster (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.