Week 1 - A warm (and birdy) welcome at RPBO!

Welcome to the 2018 edition of the RPBO blog! As in years past, we will be updating this page weekly with highlights, totals, and general goings-on at the two migration monitoring stations that we operate: Rocky Point (restricted access) and Pedder Bay. This year we are pleased to welcome Donna Talluto as one of our senior banders, Siobhan Darlington as our assistant bander and myself, David Bell, as our bander-in-charge. We would also like to welcome back Blair Dudeck (our assistant bander from last year), who will be returning in another week or so as our other senior bander. I'd also like to thank all the volunteers who came out this week to help with running the stations - we had a good turnout and some good birds/birding for those who joined us!

Both stations were off to a good start on July 21; Pedder led the way at 76 individuals while Rocky was slightly less busy at 67. These numbers are very close to last year, when Pedder and Rocky caught 78 and 70 on the first day, respectively. Numbers of new individuals slowly dropped off through the week, as usual, and by the 27th Pedder was down to only 10 new individuals banded, while Rocky seemed to be holding steady at around 20 new birds/day. The weekly total was a bit behind last year for both stations, possibly on account of the continuing heat wave (I did say it was a warm welcome!).

As with last year, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Wilson's Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow are topping the 'most-banded' chart, with numbers being below, above, and about the same as last year, respectively. Other interesting birds in the nets were a bit subjective, as all three of us got a lot of banding ticks this week! Many of the common western birds were exciting for us easterners, and I think all three of us were rather enamoured with the Bushtits! A couple of Violet-green Swallows in the net were a nice treat for a few people at Rocky, and all three of us banded our first hummingbirds (both Rufous and Anna's) this week. Unfortunately the Townsend's Warbler was banded on a day when none of us were present, so we'll have to wait on that one.

One of our main highlights for the week came on Day 2, when Donna and Siobhan were banding at Rocky and pulled an adult female Northern Parula out of a bag! Luckily both of them have a lot of experience in the east and recognized her right away. This is only the second for Rocky - the last one was in 2002 - and the 20th overall for BC.

Northern Parula (Donna Talluto)

Our other main highlight of the week was only two days later, again at Rocky, when Ann found a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher foraging near the shore nets! She managed to get a few photos which seem to show that the bird is of the western subspecies. I'm not sure how many there have been previously at RPBO, but it can't be many given that this is the 21st for BC.

*** Edit: I've been informed this is the second for RPBO; coincidentally the first was banded in the same month (August 2002) as RPBO's first Northern Parula! What are the chances? ***

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Ann Nightingale)

Most of our other highlights for the week at Rocky came on July 26th, when we had a swallow, warbler, woodpecker, and almost alcid grand slam among 84 total species on ETs! This included a Bank Swallow, our first decent shorebird diversity (6 species including a Semipalmated Sandpiper) and an immature Tufted Puffin; we also had two Orcas swimming by Bentinck Island, rounding out the non-avian sightings.

Census at Rocky on our 84-species day (Donna Talluto)

Orca at Rocky (David Bell)

At Pedder things were a little slower in the birding department, but the local western birds kept the easterners entertained (seeing Hutton's Vireo in the hand was nice!), and a few rather tame Black-tailed Deer kept us company between net rounds. Our blackberry crop is just starting to ripen as well, providing a snack between rounds and dying our bird bags purple!

Black-tailed Deer visiting the Pedder Station (David Bell)

Great Blue Heron (Donna Talluto)

Olive-sided Flycatcher (Siobhan Darlington)

Hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird (David Bell)

Checking for shorebirds at Rocky (Siobhan Darlington)

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Rocky Point	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	67	41	31	35	22	20	22	238
Species Banded	21	14	13	13	13	10	13	32
Recap	1	5	5	7	4	4	6	45
Species Recap	1	4	5	5	3	4	6	15

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Pedder Bay	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	76	40	37	41	24	22	10	250
Species Banded	18	13	14	14	14	10	7	25
Recap	2	11	5	10	2	7	13	50
Species Recap	2	8	4	9	2	4	6	13

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