Monthly Banding Summary, September and October 2024

December 21, 2024

This summary was compiled by Point Blue’s Palomarin banding interns Adlai Herrera, Jackie Quinones, and Ariana Vélez with help from Mike Mahoney, Banding Supervisor.

Exciting Captures and Observations:

September and October were exciting months for the apprentices at Palomarin Field Station who banded birds migrating south and welcomed wintering species to the station and their offsite banding location, Muddy Hollow (in the Point Reyes National Seashore).

The Western Flycatcher, a migrant heading south for the winter, was a fan favorite, with the field station banding a total of 112 in September. On September 14th, we recorded our highest number of the species, with an impressive total of 16. This day was particularly memorable as it coincided with a Stewards of Palomarin event. We were excited to host our stewards, whose support is vital to the station’s operations. It was an honor to share our work with them and give them a firsthand look at the banding process. On this day, we also caught a subspecies of Wilson’s Warbler that wasn’t our usual Chryseola subspecies, as well as a female Sharp-shinned Hawk. Please consider becoming a Steward of Palomarin here!

 

The month held many more surprises for the fall banding apprentices. On September 4th, they caught a Yellow-breasted Chat. These birds are bigger in size and hold larger singing repertoires compared to Wood-warblers, whom they once shared a taxonomic family with (Dussourd and Ritchison 2003).

 

Throughout the month, the banders also caught warbling migrants such as Orange-crowned Warbler, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Hermit Warbler, and Black-throated Gray Warbler. During this time, we also said goodbye to our resident Wilson’s Warblers who are making their journey to Mexico and Central America (Ruiz-Sanchez et al 2015). We wished them good luck as we released the last Wilson’s Warbler caught in our nets on September 21st.

 

 

October truly felt like the first month of winter. Our highest captures included the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, and Townsend’s Warbler, all of which are wintering residents here at Palomarin. Woodpeckers also made their way into our nets, and we banded Red-breasted Sapsuckers (another wintering species) and Hairy Woodpeckers and one Downy Woodpecker (both year-round residents).

 

Many notable captures this month happened to be sparrows. On October 23rd, we caught our first two Golden-crowned Sparrows at Palomarin Field Station. This was particularly exciting, as the captures came shortly after Palo’s annual welcoming party for the species – the first time we’ve never caught any before our annual party in their honor! The station caught many Fox Sparrows, a species that winters in the area. Other exciting sparrow captures included Lincoln’s Sparrows and a Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow, a subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow that winters in the area.

 

 

 

The banders were thrilled to catch their first Varied Thrush of the season on October 24th. This species is known for their striking plumage and unusual calls.

 

Let’s Do the Numbers:

In 23 days (2706.46 net hours) of mist-netting at Palomarin in September, we captured 201 new birds and recaptured 53 previously banded birds. A total of 254 birds of 27 species were caught. October had 24 banding days (2715.0 net hours), capturing 226 new birds and recapturing 56 previously banded birds. The total 282 birds captured consisted of 31 different species. Both months had an average of capturing approximately 11 birds per banding day.

At Muddy Hollow, one of our other banding sites in West Marin, we captured 90 new birds and recaptured 26 previously banded birds in September for a total of 116 birds of 20 species caught over 5 banding days (290.42 net hours), averaging approximately 23 birds per day. We banded 4 days in October (214.50 net hours), capturing 43 new birds and 9 previously banded birds for a total of 52 birds of 16 different species.

September’s highest capture rates occurred on the 5th at Palomarin and the 16th at Muddy Hollow, with 23 and 41 birds caught, respectively. October’s highest capture rates at Palomarin occurred both on the 15th and 31st, tying with 23 birds each; and at Muddy Hollow, where 20 birds were caught on its busiest day, which was on the 21st.

At Palomarin, in September we captured the following species in the highest numbers: Western Flycatcher (112), Oregon Junco (23), Townsend’s Warbler (17), and Song Sparrow (12). The most captured species at Muddy Hollow were as follows: Western Flycatcher (32), Song Sparrow (26), Pacific Wren (11), and Swainson’s Thrush (10).

Palomarin’s most commonly captured species in October included: Ruby-crowned Kinglet (51), Hermit Thrush (47), Townsend’s Warbler (41), Golden-crowned Kinglet (22), and Wrentit (16). Muddy Hollow’s most caught species were as follows: Hermit Thrush (12), Pacific Wren (6), and Bewick’s Wren (6).

About these Summaries:

Point Blue apprentices and staff at our Palomarin Field Station share these blog posts in an effort to further engage the public in our science. We are grateful to our partners at the Point Reyes National Seashore and to our surrounding Bolinas and West Marin County community for their support of our work.

Our Palomarin Field Station is open to the public. Consider visiting us! Learn how on our contact & visit us web page.