Week 5: Murmurings of Fall

With the continued shut-down at Rocky Point for military operations we missed the first two days of the week but Saturday (Aug. 20) morning we were back out for our usual full morning sessions. In the meantime Pedder continued to be fairly slow so we didn’t feel like we were losing too much by our absence. Our first day back in at Rocky turned out to be a busy one with 44 birds banded the highest we have had in weeks. Willow Flycatcher lead the charge that day with 8 banded as they seem to have taken over from the previously ubiquitous Pacific-slope Flycatchers.

After a very windy day Sunday (we had only 1/3 of our normal net hours at Pedder!) with few birds, things picked up for the latter half of the week as both stations had catches in the 30’s rather than the 20’s that had dominated the past few weeks.

Lincoln's Sparrow by Liam Singh

In addition to the number seemingly building we are also noticing a shift in species composition as we progress into fall with both stations seeing a slight decrease in Wilson’s Warblers and the berry-eating species such as Cedar Waxwing, Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak are down as well. In their place, Orange-crowned (a season high 7 banded at Pedder Aug. 22) and Yellow Warblers as well as Lincoln’s Sparrow (15 recorded at Pedder on the 24^th) are moving in with Savannah Sparrows also increasing out at Rocky Point where there is more suitable habitat.

Northern Waterthrush by Liam Singh

An ever-so-slight increase in Raptor and Turkey Vulture numbers is right on cue as their numbers should start building this coming week. Rocky’s first American Kestrel was spotted on the 22^nd and Pedder had two Cooper’s Hawks on the 20^th.

Among the birds in our nets this week were a few goodies including Rocky’s first two Hammond’s Flycatchers of the season and SECOND Olive-sided Flycatcher (we thought we were lucky to catch the first, 2 in a season is unprecedented!). Pedder was not to be outdone though as it captured the Bird of the Week honours with a Northern Waterthrush banded on the 20^th. This species is near annual it seems but is always a treat to catch and is more frequent out at Rocky.

Owls were on the menu this week, in particular at Pedder where we heard Great Horneds most mornings and one was seen on census two different days. A Barred Owl was also found on census on the 21^st and our two volunteers who were visiting from Whistler for a 5 day stint were thrilled to get great looks at both species.

Barred Owl by Beth Christopher

A few more notable sightings from the past week include:

-Pedder showing some of its shorebird potential this week with both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs recorded as well as small groups of Least Sandpiper on the 23^rd and 24^th.

-The second Sora of the season was heard at Rocky on the 20^th.

-A Ring-necked Pheasant was spotted at Rocky on the 24^th, presumably part of the feral population in the Metchosin/Saanich area.

-The 24^th also saw our first movement of Vaux’s Swift as Pedder had 6 and Rock y 9.

On the non-bird-related side of things we had a real-deal fire “drill” at Rocky on the 24^th as we heard over the radio that all personnel were to evacuate due to a fire on the property. Not seeing any smoke we figured we had time to hastily closed up nets (tossing 4 birds that were caught) and grabbed our gear before being told, just as we were arriving at our vehicles, that the fire was contained and we could go back to our business.

Never a dull moment at RPBO!

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Rocky Point	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	Total
Banded	0	0	44	18	22	32	32	148
Species Banded	0	0	15	11	13	16	15	32
Recap	0	0	9	2	7	8	6	32
Species Recap	0	0	6	2	5	8	5	15

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Pedder Bay	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	Total
Banded	18	24	21	4	37	28	32	165
Species Banded	10	8	11	3	15	13	14	26
Recap	7	3	6	3	5	4	6	32
Species Recap	7	2	5	2	5	4	5	14

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Week 4: Mid-August Lull

Black-throated Grey Warbler by Rob Gowan

Over the course of Week 4 we did not see a dramatic increase in bird movement or birds in the net, we had slow but steady days at both stations. Like last week, this lull in bird activity did provide an excellent opportunity for volunteers and banders alike to shake off some of the cobwebs and get back into the swing of things. With the warmer temperatures felt this week, slow days are to be expected. Birds will normally reduce their daily activity when the weather is hot in order to avoid using too much energy. Cooler temperatures and cold fronts are influential in migration, so it is not a big surprise that we didn’t see great increases in bird movement this past week.

Unfortunately, we were also unable to access our Rocky Point site during the second half of the week due to military activities. We do expect to be able to have access this week and are all looking forward to getting back out there. Based on our Pedder Bay station numbers, we don’t think bird activity was particularly busy over at Rocky, so it’s a relief we’re getting these days early in migration.

Wilson's Warbler by Sharlene James

This week, Pedder Bay we banded 166 birds of 28 species and at Rocky Point we managed 77 birds of 20 species. We continued to see high numbers of White-crowned Sparrows banded with 35 at Pedder and 12 at Rocky Point, but did notice Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Wilson’s Warbler numbers were down, with only 13 of both species banded at Pedder and 5 Pacific-slope and 9 Wilson’s banded this week at Rocky Point. Along with our regulars we were also fortunate to get some nice first of the season species this week. We were lucky to get a Marsh Wren out at Rocky Point, not surprisingly it was first caught in one of the front two nets near the marsh. At Pedder we had a couple first of the seasons as well, including a Northern Flicker and what was probably this week’s banding highlight, a Barred Owl!

Barred Owl by Liam Singh

The owl was caught on the 15th, during net opening, it seems like this bird was determined to find its way to the banding station as it was in and out of the net twice before it was finally caught a third time. While it is unusual for an owl to repeatedly hit the net (especially when there are no other birds in the net!) it was determined that this was a juvenile bird, which may provide some explanation as why it flew into the net so many times - it just doesn’t know any better yet. Over the past week or so we have seen a Barred Owl hanging around the banding station, even sitting on our net poles, so it's nice to finally get one in the net.

Out of the nets we continued to see increases in American Robins and Cedar Waxwings in the berries at Pedder, as well as small mixed flocks of warblers, flycatchers and vireos hanging around. Unfortunately they're just not hitting the nets! Shorebird numbers continue to pick up ever so slightly, but no real substantial movements yet. We’ve also had the pleasure of hearing Common Nighthawks and a Northern Pygmy Owl calling at Pedder on a couple of mornings, as well as a good look at the latter during census on the 16th. An unexpected surprise on census was a Green Heron on the 14th! Green Herons are fairly uncommon on the Island and in British Columbia as it is on the northern limit of this species’ range, making it a great bird to get in BC.

Adult Male Purple Finch by Marilyn Lambert

Despite the slow days and warm weather we managed to get some interesting birds this week, but hopefully migration picks up in and out of the nets next week.

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Rocky Point	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	Total
Banded	25	16	18	18	0	0	0	77
Species banded	10	9	8	12	0	0	0	20
Recapped	2	1	8	3	0	0	0	14
Species recapped	2	1	6	3	0	0	0	10

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Pedder Bay	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	Total
Banded	32	21	21	27	20	25	20	166
Species banded	12	11	11	13	13	10	12	28
Recapped	8	6	6	8	1	8	7	44
Species recapped	6	4	5	5	1	6	5	14

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Week 3: The Beginning of Migration

Volunteer Rebecca with a Pacific-slope Flycatcher by Cathy Reader-lee

Week 3 started off much like the end of last week with slow days at both stations. Luckily most days were punctuated by some nice catches and the lower volume provided a good atmosphere for training our volunteers, new and experienced alike, in the art of handling birds and the finer points of extracting them from our mistnets. For returning volunteers and banders this is a welcome opportunity to ease back into the season after potentially up to nine months off and to get their touch back. 

The Chestnut-sided Warbler was recaught! by Marilyn Lambert

By the end of the week migration was noticeably starting to pick up as warblers and flycatchers, the earliest migrants, increased significantly. Rocky Point seems to be the better of the two stations for both these insectivorous families (Pedder Bay’s bread and butter are berry eating birds such as Sparrows and Thrushes, both later migrants) and this was reflected in the numbers of Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Wilson’s Warbler from each. While Rocky Point caught 69 Pacific-slope Flycatchers and 46 Wilson’s Warblers for the week, Pedder Bay caught just 26 and 29 of the two respectively.

Amongst the flocks of these two species were often a nice assortment of others such as Yellow and Townsend’s Warbler, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo and the odd Cassin’s Vireo and Black-throated Grey Warbler. These latter two both made their season debuts in our nets as Pedder caught two Cassin’s Vireo together on Aug. 8 and Rocky caught a svelte female of RPBOs emblem bird the day after.

Cassin's Vireos by Liam Singh

Barn Swallow by Sharlene James

On the topic of first of seasons, those present at Pedder Bay on Aug. 8 were very fortunate to get to see  a young Barn Swallow up close and personal as one flew into net 8 (one of the two nets located on top of the hill above the banding lab). Swallows of any type are infrequent catches as their excellent eyesight usually keeps them out of the nets and their streamlined proportions (long wings and short shoulders and feet) often allow them to free themselves when they do hit a net.

Olive-sided Flycatcher by Ann Nightingale

Not to be outdone, on Aug.10 Rocky Point caught a young Olive-sided Flycatcher. Though they breed around the station and are frequently seen catching insects around nets 3, 4 and 5 like the swallows they too are very keen of eye and over the years RPBO has only banded a handful during migration monitoring. This species is one of our longest distance migrants, breeding as far north as Alaska and wintering in the northern half of South America as far south as Bolivia.

A few other first of seasons this week included singles of Pacific Wren at Pedder Bay on Aug. 5, Lincoln’s Sparrow at Pedder Bay Aug. 10 and Savannah Sparrow at Rocky Point Aug.9.

Adult male Western Tanager by Rob Gowan

Outside of our nets we started noticing the beginnings of the American Robin flocks that will become commonplace as fall progresses. Shorebird numbers picked a little bit as well at Rocky Point with higher numbers of Least and Western Sandpipers along with Killdeer and Black Turnstone in the latter half of the week.  Aug. 10 saw the first Brewer’s Blackbirds for Rocky Point for the fall and at least two Virginia Rails are now present in the pond there. At Pedder the Robin flocks are joined by 50+ Cedar Waxwings and other berry eating species such as Black-headed Grosbeak and Western Tanager, both of which continue to hit our nets at Pedder in low numbers. Indeed the star of the show at Pedder on Aug. 4 was a stunning adult male Tanager.

Pacific Chorus Frog by Kim Beardmore

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Rocky Point	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Totals
Banded	20	21	23	36	24	44	50	218
Species banded	12	9	10	6	9	12	12	28
Recapped	4	1	8	1	5	6	9	34
Species recapped	4	1	6	1	4	6	6	15

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Pedder Bay	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Totals
Banded	32	22	22	20	46	31	47	220
Species banded	18	13	13	10	21	10	18	32
Recapped	10	4	8	11	11	4	10	58
Species recapped	5	3	5	7	7	3	6	13

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Week 2: Dispersing Birds

Townsend's Warbler

Week 2 saw a drop in the number of birds banded at both stations as the period colloquially known as the “august doldrums” started. This lull in bird activity corresponds with the stage in their life history where hatch year birds are undergoing post-fledging dispersal and adults are doing their pre-basic moult. The dispersal period is interesting as it is relatively poorly understood and there are many theories as to why birds undergo it. For many species these movements seem to be fairly local as they range within a few kilometers of their natal grounds. There are several reasons/theories as to why birds might make these movements and these include:

-Prospecting:  the search for appropriate territories for the following breeding season

-Navigation:  more extensive and random movements over an area to create a “target” to aid in navigation during their return trip the following breeding season.

-Resources/survival: moving to areas with higher abundance of food and/or to avoid predators

Two Common Yellowthroats, caught together

Regardless of the birds’ intensions, what all this movement means for us banders is that we can still catch some young birds during this spell where the adults aren’t pulling their weight when it comes to hitting our nets and migration proper has yet to start. While the hatch-years are exploring, the adults take this time to moult all of the feathers on their body, including their flight feathers. As they are much less mobile and more prone to predation during this period, individual birds tend to stay within a very small area where they try to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

One of the few species we catch that is commencing migration at this point is the Pacific-slope Flycatcher. One reason for their early departure, at least of the adults, is the fact that they are one of the few species of North American long distance migrants that undergoes their pre-basic moult on their wintering grounds rather than as described above. This makes them nice and easy to age at this time of year as the hatch-years have fresh, buff-tipped wing coverts and the after-hatch-years (AHY) have worn, off white wing coverts. This week we had a spike in their numbers on Aug. 2 at Rocky Point where we caught 15 of them, almost half the 32 birds banded that day. While Pedder Bay always gets less of them we did get 10 over the course of the week. The other main catch at both stations for the week was Wilson’s Warbler with 28 at Pedder and 30 at Rocky.

Pacific-slope Flycatcher wings - age comparison

Both stations got several first of seasons this week. These included Townsend’s Warbler (each station got 1!), Hutton’s Vireo (Rocky), Red-breasted Sapsucker (Pedder) and Brown-headed Cowbird (both Rocky and Pedder). It continues to be a good year for Rufous Hummingbirds as Rocky Point banded 7 (3 on Jul. 29) and Pedder 4 bringing the season totals for the two stations to 12 and 14 respectively. At Pedder we also caught our second Anna’s Hummingbird of the season.

Outside of the nets we had some good birds as well:

-Common Nighthawk: singles heard at both stations July 28 and Rocky on the 31^st.

-Virginia Rail: one heard at Rocky a few times throughout the week.

-Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1 seen Jul. 31^st amongst 10 species of shorebirds recorded that day including our first Short-billed Dowitchers of the season.

A Young Brown-headed Cowbird

-Least Sandpiper: Pedder Bay is usually devoid of shorebirds despite some nice mudlats in the channel, but Aug. 1 did see us finally get one LESA!

-Tufted Puffin: 1 adult spotted flying west on Aug. 2^nd during moderate west winds.

-Northern Pygmy-owl: Heard first thing on the morning of Jul. 29 at Pedder.

-Bank Swallow: 1 was spotted on census flying over the back ponds at Rocky with a small flock of assorted Swallows.

-Chestnut-sided Warbler: still hanging around the banding lab, seen Aug. 2 in a large mixed chickadee/warbler flock. In very heavy moult now with all its tail feather’s dropped.

And the highlights weren’t confined to the avian variety as Serena, Sharlene and co. were fortunate enough to see a Wolf at Rocky on Aug. 1^st! The usual assortment of River Otters, Mink, Racoons and whatnot were also present throughout the week. My first  bat of the season, spotted at net opening on Aug. 2^nd seemed likely to be a Little Brown Bat based on size.

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Rocky Point	28th	29th	30th	31st	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Banded	20	21	29	18	29	27	32	176
Species banded	13	12	14	10	11	15	11	29
Recapped	3	3	6	5	4	4	8	33
Species recapped	2	3	4	5	3	3	6	11

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Pedder Bay	28th	29th	30th	31st	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Banded	27	20	29	22	27	12	25	162
Species banded	11	10	16	12	13	7	12	26
Recapped	9	10	2	6	11	4	2	44
Species recapped	7	6	2	4	8	3	2	13

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	Rocky Point banded	Pedder Bay banded	Total for Week 2
ANHU		1	1
RUHU	7	4	11
RBSA		1	1
WIFL	4		4
PSFL	38	10	48
HUVI	1		1
WAVI	4		4
CBCH	3	2	5
BUSH		5	5
BRCR	6		6
BEWR	3	9	12
HOWR	4	6	10
PAWR	1		1
GCKI		5	5
SWTH	5	4	9
AMRO	3	8	11
CEDW	2		2
HOFI	1	2	3
PUFI	6	5	11
PISI	5		5
AMGO	8		8
OCWA	4	1	5
MGWA	6	4	10
COYE	5	2	7
YEWA	1		1
TOWA	1	1	2
WIWA	30	28	58
SPTO	2	12	14
CHSP	4	6	10
SOSP	5	5	10
PSWS	15	25	40
ORJU	1	5	6
WETA	1	8	9
BHGR		2	2
BHCO		1	1
Total	176	162	338