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
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