One of the most common questions we encounter as banders is, “what happens if the band is never reported again?” My response is normally something along the lines of “no news is good news – but any news is great.”
After all, this is the ultimate goal of banding: when a bird we band is encountered at another station (or even at our own in subsequent seasons) it can tell us a lot about that individual, and even allow us to draw some conclusions about the population. But for the aspiring bander who is hoping to hear updates about their birds regularly, I’ve got disappointing news for you – it happens much more rarely than you would think.
For some perspective, during our two biggest weeks of banding in fall 2023, we encountered 614 birds. Only 3 were returns – birds banded in previous seasons or by another station. That’s less than 0.5%. While this number may seem low, it’s pretty typical for passerines, the group of species we primarily encounter at Cape Florida.
However, that just makes our returns and recoveries even sweeter! This season, we have already received reports of two of our birds that have been encountered at other stations, giving us some insight into where they are in their journeys, and a reminder that, despite all the challenges they face on their long journeys, at least some of them live to migrate another season.
On September 9th, our friends at the Kiawah Island Banding Station (KIBS) notified us that they recaptured a worm-eating warbler banded at Cape Florida on September 22, 2020! About 20 miles southeast of Charleston, SC, KIBS is one of several stations we’ve had some fun exchanges with in past seasons. They are well-positioned to our north on the Atlantic Flyway, so in the fall, watching their blog can give us some insight to what is heading our way. When we first banded this individual, it was on perhaps the most dangerous journey of its life – its first migration! It’s always exciting to learn that our hatch-year birds survived. Worm-eating warblers are believed to live about 7 years – so our little one is properly middle-aged now.
We also pride ourselves in our network of fledgeling banders who have gone on to operate their own stations elsewhere, and it’s particularly special when one of them recaptures one of our birds. This happened just this past week when Jonathan Varol of the Prairie Creek Bird Banding Lab encountered one of our chuck-will’s widows from September 26, 2023. One of the most unique birds we band at Cape Florida, “chuckies” are nocturnal insectivores that may breed as far North as New York City and winter as far South as southwestern Colombia. We have seen quite a lot of them this season as we’ve opened our nets in the mornings, but we capture relatively few of them due to their large size, which makes them escape the nets easily.
|
The Praire Creek Bird Banding Lab crew with our chuck-will’s widow. Photo provided by Jonathan Varol. |
The chuck-will’s widow we banded on 9/26/23 at the PCBBL last week. Photo provided by Jonathan Varol. |
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAPTURE | 9/8 – 9/15 TOTAL | SEASON TOTAL |
| Chuck-will’s widow | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Acadian flycatcher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-eyed vireo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Blue-gray gnatcatcher | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Northern parula | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Cape May warbler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| Yellow-throated warbler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie warbler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Black & white warbler | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| American redstart | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 40 |
| Worm-eating warbler | 9 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 39 |
| Swainson’s warbler | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| Ovenbird | 37 | 1 | 4 | 42 | 76 |
| Northern waterthrush | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
| Louisiana waterthrush | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Common yellowthroat | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Common grackle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 86 | 1 | 7 | 94 | 256 |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| TOTAL FROM 9/2 – 9/7 | 162 | 16 | 21 | 417.84 | 38.77 |
| TOTAL FROM 9/8 – 9/15 | 94 | 11 | 23 | 332.49 | 28.27 |
| Season total so far | 256 | 18 | 23 | 750.33 | 34.12 |
Post by Steffanie Munguia, Data compiled by Nicole Rita
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAPTURE | 9/8 – 9/15 TOTAL | SEASON TOTAL |
| Chuck-will’s widow | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Acadian flycatcher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-eyed vireo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Blue-gray gnatcatcher | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Northern parula | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Cape May warbler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| Yellow-throated warbler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie warbler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Black & white warbler | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| American redstart | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 40 |
| Worm-eating warbler | 9 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 39 |
| Swainson’s warbler | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| Ovenbird | 37 | 1 | 4 | 42 | 76 |
| Northern waterthrush | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
| Louisiana waterthrush | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Common yellowthroat | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Common grackle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 86 | 1 | 7 | 94 | 256 |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| TOTAL FROM 9/2 – 9/7 | 162 | 16 | 21 | 417.84 | 38.77 |
| TOTAL FROM 9/8 – 9/15 | 94 | 11 | 23 | 332.49 | 28.27 |
| Season total so far | 256 | 18 | 23 | 750.33 | 34.12 |
Post by Steffanie Munguia, Data compiled by Nicole Rita