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Bird Banding
Capturing birds and banding them with a unique identifier gives biologists insight into the health and demographics of our island’s bird population. Important information on the productivity, survivorship, and movements of many species can be attained through a banding program. The Town of Kiawah has initiated several projects that use banding as the primary tool to study populations of different birds.
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Fall Migration Monitoring
Banding is conducted each fall to monitor songbird populations during their migration. Kiawah Island provides important stop-over habitat that migrating birds rely on to rest and refuel before continuing their journey.
During our pilot season in 2009, we banded at two sites – one on each end of the island (Captain Sam’s Spit and Cougar Island). After evaluating our results, we decided that it would be more effective to concentrate our effort at Captain Sam’s Spit, located on the west end of the island.
Fall migration banding is conducted annually from mid-August to the end of November.
12-20 mist nets are operated every day (weather permitting) from sunrise to 11 am.
Winter Banding
Banding is conducted during the winter months to monitor wintering songbirds. A large population of Yellow-rumped Warblers spend the winter on Kiawah Island which allows a unique opportunity to study many aspects of their wintering ecology.
Winter banding is conducted annually from December to mid-March at the west end of the island on Captain Sam’s Spit. The nets are operated about once every 10 days from sunrise until 12:00pm.
Spring Migration Monitoring
Banding was conducted during the spring in 2010 and 2011 at Captain Sam’s Spit. The nets were operated 1-2 times per week from mid-March to the end of May. Banding in the spring was relatively unproductive despite a lot of effort. We have decided to discontinue spring migration banding.
As a general rule, migration along the east coast is much stronger in the fall as the prevailing winds tend to push birds towards the coast.
Painted Bunting Banding
In 2011, we started intensely trapping and banding Painted Buntings for a long-term project studying their movements, distribution, and site fidelity. The eastern population of Painted Buntings have shown steady, long-term declines over the past several decades. Much of these declines can be attributed to the loss of coastal habitat for development. Painted Buntings readily come to feeders offering white millet and the birds are easily captured in a specially designed cage with a feeder placed inside. Banding occurs from May-September at Kiawah Island’s resident’s homes. If you are a resident of Kiawah Island and want to participate in this study please contact Town Biologist, Aaron Given.
Marsh Sparrow Banding
Three species of coastal “marsh” sparrows winter in the salt marshes of Kiawah Island: Seaside Sparrow, Nelson’s Sparrow, and Saltmarsh Sparrow. This group is 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 sea-level rise and loss of saltmarsh habitat along their wintering grounds along the southeast United States. The sparrows will be captured in mist nets placed in suitable saltmarsh habitat. The nets will be deployed to coincide with high tide which will concentrate the sparrows into smaller patches of habitat. Each sparrow will be identified to species, banded, and a series of morphological measurements will be taken. The project began during the winter of 2011 and is ongoing. The project’s objectives are to determine habitat requirements, site fidelity, relative abundance, and distribution of these 3 species.