2013 Kiawah Conservancy Annual Report 2013 | Page 14

Unusual and Rare Birds banded during 2013 fall migration MacGillivray’s Warbler Bird Monitoring It was another busy year of counting, banding, and studying the birds on Kiawah Island. Currently, there are five major long-term projects underway: Fall Migration Banding, Winter Songbird Banding, Marsh Sparrow Banding, Ash-throated Flycatcher Painted Bunting Banding and Breeding Bird Survey. Collectively, these research projects complement each other by Bell’s Vireo helping us understand the needs of Kiawah’s bird species across different habitats and seasons. Alder Flycatcher Eastern Whip-poor-will southbound migration. Kiawah Island provides important stopover habitat that migrating birds rely on to rest and Bay-breasted Warbler refuel before continuing their journey. Banding occurred from August 15 - November 30 on Captain Sam’s Spit (a.k.a. Grasshopper Sparrow Kiawah Island Banding Station – KIBS). With exception of 10 days due to bad weather, we banded on 98 days including Bobolink a stretch of 82 days in a row. We banded 4,529 new birds and had 1,144 recaptures of 82 different species. Several Fall Migration Banding: Banding is conducted each fall to monitor songbird populations during their species were captured that have not been banded on Kiawah previously. A couple of outstanding birds banded included a MacGillivray’s warbler and an ash-throated flycatcher. Both of these species are considered western species with ranges that rarely extend east of the Rocky Mountains. This was the first MacGillivray’s warbler that has ever been recorded in South Carolina. Additionally, the ash-throated flycatcher represented only the fifth recorded in the state record. For the second year, the Kiawah Conservancy made it possible to hire four seasonal interns – Mattie, Claire, Josh and Vicki. They were instrumental in making this season a success. The intern program is vital to the continued long-term progress of the Fall Migration Banding project. To learn more, please visit the KIBS blog: www.kiawahislandbanding.blogspot.com Winter Songbird Banding: Banding is conducted during the winter months to monitor wintering songbirds. A large population of yellow-rumped warblers spends the winter on Kiawah Island, which allows a unique opportunity to study many aspects of their wintering ecology such as site fidelity and survival. Banding took place from December 2012 - March 2013 on Captain Sam’s Spit. Banding occurred on seven days with 353 new birds banded and 195 recaptures of 17 different species. Yellow-rumped warblers make up over 90% of everything we catch in the winter and we have found that, based on their recaptures, many of them return to Kiawah every winter. To learn more about the Winter Songbird Banding project, please visit: www.wildlifeatkiawah.com/winterbanding.html Marsh Sparrow Banding: Marsh sparrows are considered species of high conservation concern due to their specialization of habitat that is considered spatially restricted. It appears that this group may be particularly vulnerable to 10