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.