Old faces

 CAPTAIN SAMS

For the last 6 years we have been in a cycle of high Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers in even years. Last year we only banded 540 of them but so far this year we have banded 345 and we still have 25 days left in the season. In 2022 and 2024, 1047 and 1013, were banded, respectively, while in 2021 and 2023 only 688 and 525 were banded. If this trend continues, 2026 should be a good fall for Yellow-rumped Warblers.

-Aaron

LITTLE BEAR

Still slow going out at Little Bear. There was more bird activity in general with flocks of blackbirds, grackles, and yellow-rumps flying back and forth. At times it sounded like there was quite a lot of yellow-rump chipping throughout the right side of the station. Groups of 2-3 of the warblers would occasionally find our nets today and we were surprised to catch a handful of new catbirds as well. We ended up with 18 new birds and 6 recaps of just 6 species. We captured a couple of notable recaps today; a Swamp Sparrow banded as an after hatch year in 2024 and a yellow-rump banded as a hatch year in 2023. 

Featured below is our recaptured Swamp Sparrow, which is at least 3 years old, compared to a hatch year Swamp Sparrow banded this year. Hatch years tend to have buffier coloring around the face and eye stripe, compared to the solid, bright gray coloring of after hatch years. Our older bird from today also had a very red crown and fairly bright white throat, which really stood out. 

-Liz

Swamp Sparrow (after hatch year, unknown sex)

Swamp Sparrow (left: after hatch year, right: hatch year)

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	1	-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1	-	-
Northern House Wren	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	-	1
Hermit Thrush	-	1	-	-
Gray Catbird	-	2	6	1
Eastern Towhee	1	-	-	-
Song Sparrow	1	1	-	-
Swamp Sparrow	-	-	1	1
House Finch	3	-	-	-
Common Yellowthroat	-	1	-	-
Myrtle (yellow-rumped) Warbler	41	7	10	1
Northern Cardinal	-	1	-	2
	-	-	-	-

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	47	18	65
# of Recaptures	15	6	21
# of Species	10	6	13
Effort (net-hours)	170.6	119	289.6
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	36.3	20.2	29.7
# of Nets	33	28	-

2026 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	4,565	2,650	7,215
# of Recaptures	706	459	1,165
# of Species	85	76	99
Effort (net-hours)	12,070.6	8,548.8	20,619.4
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	43.7	36.4	40.6
# of Days	80	73

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Liz Held (LB)

Olivia DeMarchi (CS)

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.