2023 Kiawah Conservancy - Bird Banding Program

Published in the October issue of Trilogy Outdoors

The crew of science-driven bird banders at Kiawah Island are very committed to establishing patterns regarding migratory warblers and other songbirds. Every morning from August 15 to November 30 they set up nets to capture birds during migration, and then they handle them in order to record size data and to add a leg band with an ID Number. The Kiawah effort bands almost 8,000-birds each Fall with up to 1500 of those being recaptures from a past year. All banding data collected is submitted to the Bird Banding Laboratory administered by the United State Geological Survey.

Aaron Given is a wildlife biologist with the Town of Kiawah Island, and is the Master Bander in charge of the Kiawah Island Banding Station. The Town and the Kiawah Conservancy both sponsor the banding efforts that began in 2009. Each year Given hires a team of six technicians to help with the physical labor of setting up nets, catching birds and recording data. Many of these assisting banders are graduate students that want experience in the field, that can go towards getting a career job. They are two sites on either end of Kiawah Island, one with 32-nets on 8-acres, and one with 25-nets on 5-acres. Both sites are scrub shrub habitat, favored by migrants, located behind beach dunes.

            

“Our most frequent warbler capture is the Common Yellowthroat,” said Given. “We tag roughly 1200 of these birds here each Fall. Gray catbird is our second most frequent capture, followed by yellow-rump warblers.  One neat factoid is that we have recaptured the same yellow-rump for nine straight years, which tells me that this bird is getting old, and it speaks to the fact that birds have site fidelity and follow the same path each year during migration. The Eastern Bird Banding Association has a banding station network from Canada to Florida, and this is their South Carolina-based study area.”

            

“Besides placing a numbered leg band, we record wing length and try to age the birds with a molt limit observation,” said Given. “Birds put on weight in order to withstand the rigors of migration, so we also record Fat Level observations, with a 1 being not much fat and a 5 being fat bulging across the bird’s breast. These birds can become eating machines before they migrate and can put on weight very quickly. Bird banding is a good tool to assess bird health, demographics and survivorship besides tracking movements.”

            

The bird species encountered on September 26 included Common Yellowthroat, Painted bunting, Overnbrid, White-eyed Vireo, Prairie warbler, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, Northern waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, Mockingbird and Swainson’s Thrush. Some of the smallest birds they handle are the Blue-gray gnatcatcher and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Givens is the iron-man of the Kiawah Banding Site, having headed it up from the beginning. When not in warbler season, Given does a saltmarsh survey regrading three sparrow species that call Kiawah home.

To view past blog entries from Kiawah Island click on Roots Magazine -  2023 Sea Islands Shorebird Festival - 2023 Earth Day -  2019 Record Turtle Nests - 2018 2.0 Expansion Plan - 2017 Shorebird Symposium - 2012 PGA Championship - 2011 Sea Turtle Release with S.C. Aquarium

To view past blog entries from Trilogy Outdoors click on 2023 Crappie Camp -  Early Birds of September -  SCDNR Salt Fishing Clinics -  Silver King Makes Big Splash - S.C. Mahi Series - 2023 Yawkey Wildlife Center - 2023 Hammock Coast Birding Festival - 2023 Lowcountry Oyster Festival - 2022 Sea Turtle Season - Navigating an S.C. Public Draw Deer Hunt - Crappie Camp - Blessings of a Sporting Father