Between Cold Fronts

 CAPTAIN SAMS

It was a slower morning, but we are enjoying this cooler weather. We did capture 76 new birds and 12 recaptures of 14 species. The highlight of the morning was another Baltimore Oriole, which we have not captured in a couple of weeks. 

We also captured an adult male Painted Bunting that was originally banded on 8/15/2023 as a hatch-year bird. This is most likely a bird that breeds on the spit or nearby on Kiawah Island. For most of the season, we have captured adult Painted Buntings that are molting all their feathers after breeding on the island or hatch-year birds that fledged nearby. Now, as in previous years, we are starting to see migrating adult and hatch-year Painted Buntings with a lot of fat stores that have completed their molt. The peak for migrant buntings is mid-October, but we will continue to capture migrating Painted Buntings through the early part of November. 

Painted Bunting (after hatch year, male)

-Michael

LITTLE BEAR

Today was quite a bit slower than the last few days, but still a pretty good day with 72 birds overall. We banded 55 new birds and processed 17 recaptures of 12 different species. Common Yellowthroats were still our most captured species by far with 25 captured (22 new and 3 recaps). I have been comparing our numbers so far this season with a few of the totals from last year. I was surprised to see that we have already surpassed the number of American Redstarts banded last year! We have banded 120 while last year there were 116 banded at Little Bear. We are also very close to passing the number of Common Yellowthroats that were banded last year. Last year they banded 825, and we are already at 799 with hopefully some more to come. I think the most Common Yellowthroats banded in one season at Little Bear was 948 in 2017 so maybe we can come close to that record. 

For me, the highlight from today was our Brown Thrasher. It was our first one banded this season and after hearing them tease us from the nearby bushes, and even escaping our nets a couple of times, it was so nice to finally catch one! 

-Liz

Brown Thrasher, After-hatch year, unknown sex

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	2	-	-	1
House Wren	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Gray Catbird	21	4	15	3
Brown Thrasher	-	1	1	-
Swainson's Thrush	1	-	1	-
Baltimore Oriole	1	-	-	-
Ovenbird	-	1	1	-
Black-and-white Warbler	3	1	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	29	2	22	3
American Redstart	8	2	5	-
Northern Parula	2	-	-	-
Western Palm Warbler	2	-	8	-
Prairie Warbler	1	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	-	-	-	2
Indigo Bunting	-	-	1	-
Painted Bunting	4	1	1	7

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	76	55	131
# of Recaptures	12	17	29
# of Species	14	12	17
Effort (net-hours)	168	175	343
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	52.4	41.1	46.6
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	2,646	1,823	4,469
# of Recaptures	334	303	637
# of Species	61	55	71
Effort (net-hours)	7,536	5,253	12,789
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	39.5	40.1	39.9
# of Days	48	41

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Arden Schneider (LB)

Amy Nickerson (CS)

Keegan Foster (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.