El Niño, El Niỹes

 CAPTAIN SAMS

We are in the midst of a very strong El Niño. We also experienced a relatively slow first month to the banding season. I was curious to see if these two things might be linked so I looked back at the previous 14 years of data. During that time we have had two other "strong" to "very strong" El Niño events - one in 2015-2016 and one in 2023-2024. Weaker El Niños were recorded in 2014-2015, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. Interestingly, our 2023 fall banding season was the slowest on record with a capture rate during the first month of the season of 13.6 birds/100 net-hours and a total season capture rate of 26.9. So maybe we are on to something here? Surely, (don't call me Shirley) the 2015 season was also a slow one. Nope. In fact, the 2015 fall banding season was one of the busiest with a capture rate of 39.3 birds/100 net-hours and 28.6 during the first month of the season. The 2026 season is starting out on the slow side with a capture rate of 17.3 birds/100 net-hours but it is not that far off the average of 22.1 over the last 14 years from 15 August - 15 September. 

How can El Niño affect fall migration? In the fall, a strong El Niño produces unseasonably warm temperatures, fewer strong cold fronts, and more frequent southerly winds. The warmer late-summer and early-fall temperatures may prolong insect availability and delay the seasonal triggers that cause birds to prepare for migration. As a result, some species may delay their migration and linger up north.

Under normal conditions, cold fronts and strong northwest winds push migrating birds south. Huge numbers of birds take advantage of the "tail wind" provided by theses weather systems and concentrate them along predictable migration corridors such as mountain ridges and coastlines. However, in El Niño falls when strong cold fronts are weaker and occur less often, bird migration occurs on a much broader and wider front thus coastal banding sites like KIBS might expect to catch less birds. Time will tell how on how our 2026 season will end up. I will say, that we are all ready for some cooler temperatures.

As for today, we banded 50 new birds and had 3 recaptures of 11 species. The radar last night showed a decent amount of migration along the South Carolina coast. Unfortunately, it was also windy this morning which affected our capture rate. We did get our first of many Gray Catbird and Palm Warbler of the season. 

-Aaron    

LITTLE BEAR

We were hoping for another busy day out at Little Bear after the night of good bird movement along the coast. Alas, the high winds kept the birds out of our nets. Even our little gator visitor was nowhere to be seen. We ended up with 26 new birds today and no recaps. Our top two species were Common Yellowthroats with 10 banded and Northern Waterthrush with 7 banded. We also caught our first Palm Warbler of the season! With the extra down time I was able to finish repairing a net and swap a different one in to be repaired next. I'm really looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow and while it will still be windy, hopefully the gusts won't be as strong as today and affect our capture rate quite as much.

-Liz

Species	Captain Sam's		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
White-eyed Vireo	2	1	-	-
Red-eyed Vireo	1	-	1	-
Gray Catbird	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	7	-	7	-
Common Yellowthroat	31	-	10	-
American Redstart	1	-	1	-
Northern Parula	1	-	-	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	3	-
Palm Warbler (Western)	1	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	3	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	-
Painted Bunting	2	1	2	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	50	26	76
# of Recaptures	3	0	3
# of Species	11	8	12
Effort (net-hours)	148.1	94.0	242.1
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	35.8	27.7	32.6
# of Nets	33	26	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	722	419	1,141
# of Recaptures	167	89	256
# of Species	40	40	48
Effort (net-hours)	4,171.9	2,458.4	6,630.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	21.3	20.7	21.1
# of Days	31	24

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (CS)

Jasmine Fu (LB)

Aiden Gifford (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.