Friday, October 21, 2016

Week 13: Typhoon Songda and the last days of Migration


The beginning of our last week of banding started not with a bang, but with a typhoon! The remnants of Typhoon Songda worked its way to the coast of Vancouver Island as a series of powerful storms. We saw the beginning of the first storm on Thursday, with heavy rain and wind most of the day, while a devoted group of volunteers and banders were able to open nets and catch a few birds at both Pedder Bay and Rocky Point late in the morning. The wind and rained continued to pound the coast over the next two days and no banding was able to take place until Sunday October 16th. 23 birds were banded at Rocky Point and Pedder Bay. The rain continued into Monday and nets were only opened for part of the day. 14 birds were banded at Rocky Point and 23 birds were banded at Pedder Bay.

Another beautiful sunrise from the banding station Ian Cruikshank

In spite of the rain we still had good numbers of Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets and American Robins at both sites on census. Greater White Fronted Geese were observed at Pedder Bay on the 17th and 18th  and the ‘Harlan’s’ Red-tailed Hawk was seen again for the second time on the 13th at Rocky Point. The vulture and raptor numbers have decreased drastically over the last week, but we are beginning to see more and more ducks and geese in the bays of Rocky Point. Some notable observations include dozens of Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Red-necked, Horned and Western Grebes, Pacific and Common Loons, Greater White Fronted Geese, and plenty of Bonaparte’s and Mew Gulls.

Gulls in flight Ian Cruikshank


Our last day of passerine migration was Tuesday the 18th, and we finally had some long awaited sun! While we still had scattered showers that resulted in us closing nets briefly. The 18th was also our last education program of the year at Pedder Bay. Unfortunately, our brief showers overlapped with our last group of kids visiting the banding station. While the kids from Hans Helgeson Elementary left a little wet, everyone seemed to enjoy their time at Pedder Bay. 


The final day of banding yielded some amazing observations after the rains at Rocky Point, making the day feel much more like a day in the middle of migration than the end. Volunteers were lucky to see a Brown Pelican circling Race Rocks, as well as two Palm Warblers, flocks of American Pipits, approximately 1200 American Robins, 116 Cedar Waxwings, more than 200 Snow Geese and a Sooty Grouse.

Our banders determining the age of a Norther Saw-whet Owl Cheryl Hoyle

While our final week of passerine banding has come to a close, Northern Saw-whet migration continues until October 31st.   Owl migration is picking up, in the last week Rocky Point has banded 18 owls and Pedder Bay banded 7, despite being rained on 3 out of the last 6 nights.








-

Rocky Point
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
Total
Banded
3
0
0
23
14
35
75
Species Banded
2
0
0
8
8
9
15
Recap
1
0
0
4
5
14
24
Species Recap
1
0
0
3
4
8
11
Pedder Bay
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
Total
Banded
10
0
0
23
23
26
82
Species Banded
4
0
0
7
9
8
13
Recap
8
0
0
10
7
14
39
Species Recap
7
0
0
7
5
7
12

-
Species
Rocky Week 13 Totals
Rocky Season Totals
Pedder Week 13 Totals
Pedder Season Totals
Cooper's Hawk

0

1
Northern Harrier

1

0
Barred Owl

2

1
Anna's Hummingbird

0

14
Rufous Hummingbird

14

21
Red-breasted Sapsucker

0
1
7
Hairy Woodpecker
1
4

2
Downy Woodpecker

3

4
Northern Flicker
1
4

8
Olive-sided Flycatcher

2

0
"Traill's" Flycatcher

1

0
Willow Flycatcher

65

48
Dusky Flycatcher

1

0
Hammond's Flycatcher

19

14
Pacific-slope Flycatcher

290

114
Cassin's Vireo

1

3
Hutton's Vireo

6

3
Warbling Vireo

16

11
Steller's Jay

1

1
Barn Swallow

0

1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
3
49
1
22
Bushtit

3

37
Red-breasted Nuthatch

5

3
Brown Creeper

24

11
Bewick's Wren
1
25

37
House Wren

17

20
Pacific Wren
7
170
4
42
Marsh Wren
1
3

0
Golden-crowned Kinglet
8
87
9
105
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
34
335
14
246
Swainson's Thrush

70

86
Hermit Thrush
1
92
7
127
American Robin

23
7
60
Varied Thrush

1

0
Cedar Waxwing

4

4
Orange-crowned Warbler

126

135
Yellow Warbler

75

66
Chestnut-sided Warbler

1

0
"Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler

10

19
"Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler

14

4
"Unknown/hybrid" Yellow-r. Warbler

1

3
Black-throated Gray Warbler

3

5
Townsend's Warbler

3

2
Northern Waterthrush

0

1
MacGillivray's Warbler

31

28
Common Yellowthroat

51

47
Wilson's Warbler

162

152
Western Tanager

1

20
Black-headed Grosbeak

4

10
Spotted Towhee
3
185
2
149
Chipping Sparrow

22

15
Savannah Sparrow

54

11
Fox Sparrow
6
123
10
151
Song Sparrow
1
71
3
88
Lincoln's Sparrow

81

139
Swamp Sparrow

2

0
White-throated Sparrow

8

4
White-crowned Sparrow
1
127

300
Golden-crowned Sparrow

89
1
126
Oregon Junco
5
68
22
265
Red-winged Blackbird

1

0
Brown-headed Cowbird

0

2
Purple Finch
2
79
1
103
House Finch

0

12
Pine Siskin

11

10
American Goldfinch

20

7





TOTALS
75
2761
82
2927

-
Species
Rocky Week 13 Totals
Rocky Season Totals
Pedder Week 12 Totals
Pedder Season Totals
NSWO - new
18
128
7
73
NSWO - recap
2
10
2
7
BDOW - new
0
2
0
0





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