Week 5: Partial Eclipse of the Heart

Fox Sparrow - Avery Bartels

The August doldrums continue at the banding stations this week. Unfavorable winds forced us to close some of the more productive nets at both banding sites for several days this week. Though the remaining nets didn’t seem to do much better at catching birds,  so we can assume that the influx of fall migrants has yet to fall upon either station. However, signs that more bountiful days are just around the corner arrived in the form of a bird of particular interest to the observatory. Any Guesses?? .. A Fox Sparrow was banded at Rocky Point on August 23rd! These skulky sparrows do not breed in the Greater Victoria region, but do spend their winters here. RPBO has invested a lot of time and effort into researching where “our” Fox Sparrows breed through the use of geolocators, and has produced some fascinating discoveries (stay tuned for more information). FOSP typically show up at the banding sites around the first week of September, which coincided with some of our busiest banding days during the 2016 migration season. Fingers crossed that this chunky sparrow will usher in a new era of productivity for both sites.

Black-throated Grey Warbler
- Christian Kelly

Cooper's Hawk - Christian Kelly

Pedder Bay had a particularly slow start to the week with only 39 birds banded in the first three days. Again, this was in part due to nets 7 and 8 being closed due to strong winds. Things picked up by mid week as the winds died down, and we had a couple of productive days on Monday and Tuesday with 22 and 28 birds banded respectively. Spotted Towhee (12), Oregon Junco (14), and White-crowned Sparrow (20) made up the bulk of the birds banded at Pedder this week. Peddar Bay typically catches more sparrows between our two stations. We are not entirely sure why this is, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that many of the nets at Pedder are nestled in the middle of a huge Blackberry thicket. In total, 115 birds were banded this week. A bit lower then last week, but not by much... Other highlights from the station included a pair of Black-throated Grey Warblers banded on the 21st, and our second Cooper’s Hawk of the season! This young COHA was found trying to escape from net 8, and is likely part of the pair that have been observed flying around the station recently.

Trees acting as pinhole cameras to create mini eclipse shadow

Visitors and volunteers to this station this week may not have been dazzled by bird numbers, but those who joined us on Monday the 21st were definitely kept occupied by the celestial spectacular that was the solar eclipse. There was a lot of hype for this event as it was the first time a total solar eclipse could be seen from Canada or the U.S. since 1979! Though Southern Vancouver Island was not on the path of “totality” we still had spectacular views of the “near totality” from both stations. Probably the only time during the week that anyone was truly happy to have clear skies. Interestingly enough the eclipse coincided with the arrival of large numbers of migrating Steller’s Jays (STJA). As the eclipse began, several flocks of STJA were observed flying over both stations. Even better, was right around the time the eclipse peaked, 3 STJA were caught and banded at Rocky Point! This was likely a coincidence, but it's fun to speculate if there was some sort of correlation. This was not an isolated event as a total of 7 STJA were banded at Rocky this week, and the number of Jays observed flying over continues to increase as well. All but one of the Jays banded were HY birds. The way we determine this by looking for molt limits between the Primary and Greater Coverts on the wing. If you notice in the photo, the primary coverts of this HY STJA the blue edging is a much duller when compared to the blue in the greater coverts. Also, the primary coverts lack the dark barring that you see in the greater coverts. In Adult STJA the primary coverts will resemble the greater coverts in both colour and barring. STJA numbers were way down last year so it's good to see them back in full force.

Open Wing of Steller's Jay - Christian Kelly

Overall Rocky Point had a much better week in terms of total number of birds banded. 158 new birds this week, up from 123 during week 4. Pacific-slope Flycatcher (30), Willow’s Flycatcher (18), Wilson’s Warbler (13), and White-crowned Sparrow (15) were among the top birds banded. Warbling Vireos seem to be having a bit of a bumper year with 11 banded this week for a total of 18 at Rocky (8 at Pedder). I’ll have to check my sources, but this may be our best year to date for banding this species. Our other two Vireo species (Cassin’s and Hutton’s) are also regularly seen or heard at both banding sites, so it is possible this bumper year isn’t restricted to just WAVIs. Unfortunately for us, we are not seeing the Cassin’s or Hutton’s in the net as often.

Blair with a Barred - Blair Dudeck

Rocky Point added 5 new species to the station list this week! As I mentioned earlier the Fox Sparrow and Steller’s Jay were new this week, but also Oregon Junco, Hairy Woodpecker, and Barred Owl were also added. Though we do not particularly enjoy seeing a Barred Owl in the net, as it was likely trying to predate another bird that was caught, it is always exciting when it happens. These birds are undeniably stunning, and almost seem as interested in us as we are of them.

The Numbers:

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Rocky Point	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	Total
Banded	19	21	27	26	25	17	23	158
Species Banded	9	10	9	16	13	9	13	24
Recap	6	9	8	5	9	6	10	53
Species Recap	3	5	5	4	5	4	7	14

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Pedder Bay	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	Total
Banded	13	16	10	22	28	19	7	115
Species Banded	9	11	7	13	10	11	7	26
Recap	6	6	7	11	12	0	13	55
Species Recap	5	4	6	7	5	0	5	15

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Species	Rocky Week 5 Totals	Rocky Season Totals	Pedder Week 5 Totals	Pedder Season Totals
Virginia Rail	0	1	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	0	0	1	2
Barred Owl	1	1	0	0
Anna's Hummingbird	0	1	2	10
Rufous Hummingbird	0	28	2	46
Belted Kingfisher	0	0	0	1
Red-breasted Sapsucker	0	0	0	1
Downy Woodpecker	0	3	0	3
Hairy Woodpecker	1	1	0	2
Olive-sided Flycatcher	0	4	0	0
Willow Flycatcher	18	44	10	24
Least Flycatcher	0	1	0	0
Hammond's Flycatcher	5	10	1	3
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	30	118	7	40
Cassin's Vireo	0	0	0	2
Hutton's Vireo	0	3	0	0
Warbling Vireo	11	18	2	8
Steller's Jay	7	7	0	0
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	0	2	0	0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	4	30	3	64
Bushtit	2	14	3	34
Red-breasted Nuthatch	0	2	0	0
Brown Creeper	0	13	1	7
Bewick's Wren	6	30	2	22
House Wren	1	13	2	31
Pacific Wren	1	2	1	2
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0	1	1	3
Swainson's Thrush	9	33	8	40
American Robin	0	5	0	11
Varied Thrush	0	1	0	0
European Starling	0	2	0	0
Cedar Waxwing	0	13	0	8
Orange-crowned Warbler	11	38	4	35
Yellow Warbler	3	23	0	3
"Audubon's" YR Warbler	0	1	0	0
Black-throated Gray Warbler	0	1	2	3
Townsend's Warbler	1	2	0	2
MacGillivray's Warbler	1	23	4	37
Common Yellowthroat	1	21	4	7
Wilson's Warbler	13	118	4	85
Western Tanager	1	3	0	1
Black-headed Grosbeak	1	3	0	3
Spotted Towhee	4	16	12	65
Chipping Sparrow	0	16	1	35
Savannah Sparrow	0	2	0	0
Fox Sparrow	1	1	0	0
Song Sparrow	3	41	2	39
White-crowned Sparrow	15	77	20	138
Dark-eyed Junco	1	1	14	42
Red-winged Blackbird	0	7	0	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	0	17	0	0
Purple Finch	0	14	2	8
House Finch	0	1	0	1
Pine Siskin	0	3	0	0
American Goldfinch	6	37	0	7
TOTALS	158	867	115	875

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