Week 1 - Welcome back to RPBO; Hummingbirds and so much more

Welcome back to the 2017 edition of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory blog. As in past years, we will be posting weekly updates on the on-goings at the two migration stations that we operate, Rocky Point itself (restricted access) and Pedder Bay. This year we are very pleased to welcome Christian Kelly (Owl Bander in previous years) and Blair Dudeck on board, joining Rick Schortinghuis and myself, Avery Bartels, as the 4 banders.

Bushtit Avery Bartels

Both stations flew out of the gates with busy starts on July 21.Last season Pedder Bay commenced in a similar vein, 71 birds banded, but Rocky Point was a much quieter with just 45 birds banded. This season the two stations had fairly equal numbers with Pedder edging Rocky 78 to 70 new birds banded. As was expected, after the busy first time out, subsequent days were quieter with most days in the 20s or 30s, in new birds banded. However, the volunteers who joined Christian at Pedder on Jul. 25 were treated to a 50 bird day, 18 of which were Bushtits. As usually happens with Bushtits, the bulk of them were in one net, at one time. In this case they all picked net 15, on the very first net round - they may be low in caffeine content, but the task of extracting a net full of them is guaranteed to give you a buzz!

Overall it has been an excellent start for Rufous Hummingbirds with more than double of the 2016 count for week 1 caught so far. So far virtually all have been hatch-year birds indicating a highly productive breeding season. In with the Rufous was a single Anna's Hummingbirds caught at Rocky Point on the 23rd. Despite being a common resident on much of Vancouver Is., including Pedder Bay, this represented just the 3rd banding record at Rocky Point itself!

Volunteer Liam banding a bird Jannaca Chick

Another species seemingly having a bumper year are Olive-sided Flycatchers with 2 banded already at Rocky Point and double digits recorded daily. American Goldfinch numbers should be higher this year as well as there are several large patches of seeding thistle in the fields near the front nets at Rocky Point.Unfortunately the two nets that would be most likely to catch them are also our most exposed and were closed for about half the week due to fairly strong westerly winds.

Cedar Waxwing being processed Jannaca Chick

Shorebirds are also up this season and 14 species were counted on the 24th including a small group of Red-necked Phalarope offshore, Surfbirds and Black Turnstone on the rocky islets in addition to a Black-bellied Plover, both Yellowlegs and the usual peeps on the mudflats. Both Dowitchers and a lone Semipalmated Sandpiper (Jul. 22) were also tallied this week. The lone contribution from Pedder Bay was a trio of unknown "peep" species that were seen in flight on the 23rd.

The usual crowd of Wilson's Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher and White-crowned Sparrow are topping the "most-banded" charts. While WIWA are up a little at both stations over last years totals, Pac-slopes on the other hand are down to about 75% of last season. Meanwhile White-crowned Sparrows seem to have increased somewhat at Rocky Point but are down to less than half of what we had by this date last year at Pedder Bay.

On the 27th at Rocky Point number  of birds in our nets were nothing special (31) but diversity was excellent (23 species!). Caught on the same net round were our first Black-throated Gray Warbler and Townsend's Warbler of the season. It as a treat to be able to see these two side by side, even if the former was looking rather scruffy due to the fact that she was in heavy moult!

Townsend's and Black-throated Gray Warblers Avery Bartels

A few other highlights include:
- Harlequin Duck: 5 spotted at Rocky Point Jul. 25.
- Virginia Rail: 1 heard daily in the front pond at Rocky Point.
- High numbers of Alcids Jul. 24: 395 Common Murre, 264 Rhinoceros Auklet and 46 Marbled Murrelet.
- Common Nighthawk: recorded daily, first thing in the morning at Pedder Bay with a high of 3 on Jul. 26
- Cassin's Vireo: 1 banded at Pedder Bay Jul. 25.
- Varied Thrush: 2 juveniles spotted on census at Pedder Bay Jul. 22.

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Rocky Point	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	70	27	31	16	34	35	32	245
Species Banded	21	13	13	14	18	14	23	39
Recap	2	5	11	4	7	4	7	40
Species Recap	2	4	9	2	6	4	4	12

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Pedder Bay	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	78	35	48	27	50	21	28	287
Species Banded	19	15	13	13	16	13	12	28
Recap	7	5	10	7	16	13	5	63
Species Recap	6	5	7	5	8	7	3	16

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