Point Blue Conservation Science: Monthly Banding Summary, November 2016
May 25, 2017
This summary was compiled by Point Blue’s Palomarin banding interns Lila Fried and Kim Savides with help from Mark Dettling, Banding Supervisor.
About Point Blue: Our mission is to conserve birds, other wildlife, and ecosystems through science, partnerships, and outreach.
Our Vision: Because of the collaborative climate-smart conservation work we do today, healthy ecosystems will continue to sustain thriving wildlife and human communities well into the future.
Visit Point Blue’s website to learn more.
Exciting Captures and Observations:
Like always, November was a major transitional month at Palomarin. The fall interns began preparing for their departure, while also helping to train the new winter interns who gradually started to arrive throughout the month. Fall migration slowed down and eventually ceased (but not without a few stragglers! See below). Evening temperatures began to drop and rainfall started becoming a more frequent occurrence. When Thanksgiving rolled around, for the majority of the interns home was too far to visit, but it was a celebration nonetheless! Everyone spent the day cooking and putting together a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, generously hosted by our own Mark Dettling (who also provided the turkey!).
For the new winter interns, all captures were exciting, but a few stood out for the seasoned fall banders as well! A White-throated Sparrow capture early in the month gave the winter interns a lesson in sparrow identification. Muddy Hollow gave us some different captures than normal with a female Nashville Warbler and a California Scrub-Jay.
The most exciting capture this month happened right here at Palo, with an immature female Blackburnian Warbler. Not only was it late in the Blackburnian Warbler’s migration for a capture, but they are not usually found west of the Great Plains either! The interns were more than excited, and got to show the warbler to some lucky visitors before she was released.
With the return of the rains also came some more wildlife besides just birds around Palo. Rough-skinned Newts and California Newts have been seen patrolling the net trails in search of food. Some of the interns even found an Arboreal Salamander and an Ensatina around the banding station on a rainy evening.
Let’s Do the Numbers:
In 25 days (2644.70 net hours) of mist-netting at Palomarin in November, we captured 65 new birds and recaptured 57 previously banded birds. A total of 126 birds of 22 species were caught. Approximately 5 birds were caught per banding day.
At our other West Marin banding sites, we captured 87 new birds and recaptured 67 previously banded birds. A total of 154 birds of 23species were caught over 12 banding days in November (640.62 net hours), an average of approximately 12 birds per day.
The highest capture rates at Palomarin and our other West Marin banding sites were on November 4th at Palomarin with 10 birds and November 29th at Pine Gulch with 20 birds.
At Palomarin the highest numbers were captured for the following species: Ruby-crowned Kinglet (34),Wrentit (21), Hermit Thrush (11), Song Sparrow (7), and Fox Sparrow (7).
Across all off-sites, the highest numbers of captures by species were: Ruby-crowned Kinglet (43), Song Sparrow (22), Hermit Thrush (17), Wrentit (14), and Fox Sparrow (9).
About these Summaries:
In an effort to share our science with the public, Point Blue interns and staff at our Palomarin Field Station (Palomarin or “Palo”) in Point Reyes National Seashore near Bolinas, CA produce these monthly bird-banding summaries. Our science interns create these summaries as part of their science outreach training.
Our Palomarin Field Station is open to the public. Consider visiting us! Learn how by visiting our mist-netting demonstrations web page.