Week 1: A Chestnut-sided Surprise

Welcome to the first edition of the 2016 fall banding season weekly update. Each week I will endeavour to provide a synopsis of the migration and highlights of the past week at our two stations: Rocky Point and Pedder Bay. I will also try to include the odd educational piece covering an aspect (or aspects) of interest with regards to the banding process such as how we age or sex a particular species/ group of birds or a particular age class. Right off the bat I would like to thank all the volunteers that come out to help at the two stations. As with any bird observatory, we could not operate without your assistance and with only a week gone I can already see that there is an army of people out there willing and keen to roll out of bed at 4am to join us in making our contribution to bird conservation.

In addition to our volunteers the banding crew this year is comprised of Serena Johnson and Sharlene James (interim) as Assistant Banders and Rick Schortinghuis and myself, Avery Bartels, as Banders-in-charge.

Sunrise at Rocky point by Sharlene James

The season could not have got off to a better start last Thursday (Jul. 21) as both stations kicked things off with a bang. The critters, both feathered and furry, of Rocky Point certainly made me feel welcome on my first mornings banding here starting with a family of River Otters playing on the rocks as we stepping out of the car at Edye Point. From there it just kept getting better!

The morning proceeded at a comfortable pace, just as you hope for on a first day as we worked out the kinks and I got myself acquainted with the quirks that make RPBO unique. We had a nice diversity of birds in the nets with Bewick’s Wrens and Wilson’s Warblers being our top catches. Three gorgeous, though feisty, Black-headed Grosbeaks also graced us with their presence while grazing on any flesh presented.

Chestnut-sided Warbler! by Sharlene James

 It took only a few net rounds for me to witness firsthand why Rocky Point has the extraordinary reputation it does amongst birders. As I was making my way down towards net three I put my binos on a warbler flitting at the top of a tree and what was I fixed on but a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER! It appeared to be an adult female, which was corroborated a few days later (more on that below). This is just the 4^th record for the south Vancouver Island and the second at Rocky Point!

While we at Rocky Point were easing in to the new season, over at Pedder Bay, Rick and co were going full steam ahead. On their second net round they caught 25 birds (over half our daily total at Rocky Point!), mostly White-crowned Sparrows in the two hilltop nets. While the pace slackened somewhat they still ended the day with 71 birds banded (including a nice Western Tanager) and 5 recaps (three originally banded in 2015 and two from 2014).

Western Tanager by Sharlene James

As the week progressed things slowed down a bit at both stations. Most days were in the 30-45 birds banded range with each station having one or two very slow days (16 banded July 22 at Pedder and 15 banded July  27 at Rocky). The undoubted banding highlight of the week was when Serena pulled the CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER out of net 7 at Rocky. Interestingly, the bird was undergoing a full moult which not only indicated it was an adult (micro-aged to Second-year by presence of some retained juvenile feathers) but that it had been in the area for at least a week or two, and  likely all summer meaning it could have even bred with who knows what other warbler species.

In total for week 1 Rocky Point banded 223 birds of 33 species including Rufous Hummingbird (5), Hairy Woodpecker (1), Cassin’s Vireo (1) and Pine Siskin (2). As is typical for the early season at Rocky Point Pacific-slope Flycatcher (38) and Wilson’s Warbler (34) were the most frequently caught birds. It has been a good start of the season for finches in general with Pine Siskins particularly common and American Goldfinch, Red Crossbill and Purple Finch all being recorded in varying numbers at both stations daily.

Juvenile Hairy Woodpecker by Ivy Doak

Pedder Bay banded 264 birds of 31 species for the week including a whopping 71 White-crowned Sparrows. Also amongst the top catch were Spotted Towhee (27) and Wilson’s Warbler (24). Some of the other goodies caught at Pedder Bay were Anna’s Hummingbird (1), Rufous Hummingbird (10!), Cedar Waxwing (1), Western Tanager (1) and Black-headed Grosbeak (2). Band-tailed Pigeons were seen almost daily in small numbers flying overhead. Among the recaps at Pedder on July 22 were a Wilson’s Warbler banded in 2013 and a 4-year old  Bewick’s Wren, banded in 2012!

July 27 may have been a slow day banding-wise at Rocky but it was our best day for diversity (81 species) and we had 7 species of shorebird including our first Long-billed Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs of the season. A Barred Owl spent some time around the banding lab and we were treated to the spectacle of it eating a squirrel before the hive of Bushtits chattering around its head drove it off.

All in all an excellent start to the season, bring on Week 2!
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Rocky Point	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	45	43	32	25	28	35	15	223
Species banded	16	15	19	8	13	14	13	33
Recapped	1	2	4	5	8	2	1	26
Species recapped	1	2	3	4	6	2	1	9

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Pedder Bay	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	71	16	40	46	40	31	20	264
Species banded	18	10	15	21	12	12	13	31
Recapped	6	3	8	6	10	12	6	51
Species recapped	5	3	6	4	6	5	4	12

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Species	Rocky Point Banded	Pedder Bay Banded	Total
Anna's Hummingbird		1	1
Rufous Hummingbird	5	10	15
Downy Woodpecker	3	2	5
Hairy Woodpecker	1		1
Red-breasted Sapsucker		1	1
Willow Flycactcher	2	2	4
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	39	14	53
Cassin's Vireo	1		1
Warbling Vireo	5	3	8
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	12	8	20
Bushtit	2	7	9
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	1	2
Brown Creeper	10	3	13
Bewick's Wren	11	6	17
House Wren	5	4	9
Pacific Wren	4		4
Golden-crowned Kingliet	1		1
Cedar Waxwing		1	1
Swainson's Thrush	13	11	24
American Robin	5	8	13
Orange-crowned Warbler	6	6	12
Yellow Warbler	2		2
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1		1
MacGillivray's Warbler	6	8	14
Common Yellowthroat	6	1	7
Wilson's Warbler	36	24	60
Western Tanager		1	1
Spotted Towhee	7	27	34
Chipping Sparrow	18	5	23
Song Sparrow	12	11	23
White-crowned Sparrow	13	71	84
Dark-eyed Junco	1	14	15
Black-headed Grosbeak	3	2	5
Red-winged Blackbird	1		1
Purple Finch	3	3	6
House Finch		3	3
Pine Siskin	4	3	7
American Goldfinch	4	3	7
	243	264	507

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