Unusual and Rare Birds
banded during 2012 fall migration
Bird Monitoring
Another year of bird research on Kiawah is in the books and 2012 proved to be a
Bell’s Vireo
successful one. Currently, there are five major long-term projects underway: fall migration
Swainson’s Warbler
banding, winter banding, marsh sparrow banding, painted bunting banding and breeding bird
Wilson’s Warbler
survey.
Nashville Warbler
Clay-colored Sparrow
Spit. With exception to 10 days due to bad weather, we banded every day from before sunrise until
Canada Warbler
around noon. We banded 4,719 new birds and had 879 recaptures of 89 different species. We
Virginia Rail
banded several species that have never been banded before on Kiawah including a couple that have
Brown Creeper
probably never been seen on Kiawah before. Additionally, we captured a yellow-rumped warbler
Red-breasted Nuthatch
that was banded in Rochester, New York just a month before.
Winter Wren
Fall Migration Banding took place from August 15 – November 30 on Captain Sam’s
Winter Songbird Banding took place from December 2011 – March 2012 on Captain Sam’s
Spit. Banding occurred on nine days with 210 new birds banded and 65 recaptures of 18 different
species. yellow-rumped warblers make up over 90% of everything we catch in the winter and we
have found, based on their recaptures, that many of them return to Kiawah every winter.
Marsh Sparrow Banding took place from January – April at 21 sites in the salt marsh
around Kiawah. This was the first year of this project and we banded 308 new birds. Amazingly, we
captured a saltmarsh sparrow that was previously banded. It turned out that this bird was banded
the previous August in Massachusetts.
Painted Bunting Banding took place from May – August in the backyards of several
Kiawah Island residents. A total of 156 painted buntings were banded along with 56 recaptures.
Many of the recaptures were birds that were banded in previous years.
Breeding Bird Survey took place from May 23 – June 4 at 238 locations across the entire
Island. Over the past four seasons, the overall numbers have remained surprisingly consistent.
No major increases or decreases have been noted for any species. In 2012, 3,413 individuals of 74
different species were counted.
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