Week 10: The hawkwatch game is strong

Week 10

Hawks, Vultures, Pigeons, Robins, Yellow rumps...

The skies are full of birds at Rocky Point!

Female Cooper's Hawk banded at Pedder Bay, September 25th (Photo: David Bell)

We're nearing the end of September and bird migration is in full swing at Rocky Point and Pedder Bay. Though we had 3 closure days at Rocky Point for military activities, both stations are on par for birds banded.

We're gearing up for the home-stretch with just under 3 weeks to go for passerine migration. Sign up for your last few weeks of shifts, you won't want to miss it!

Follow our new instagram account @rockypointbird  and on Twitter for photos and updates from the field. 

Banding recap:

What a week! We had some of the slowest and busiest days of the season here at RPBO. The weekend was slow due to intermittent rain with Pedder Bay starting the week out with only 4 new birds banded and 7 recaps. Rocky didn't do much better with only 19 new bands and both stations were skunked for owls in the evening on September 22nd. 

Fortunately, the rain cleared and the birds were on the move the following day with Rocky banding 99 new birds and Pedder 60! Numbers have dramatically increased for both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets and "Audubon's" and "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warblers at both stations.

"Myrtle" (left) and "Audubon's" (right) (Photo: David Bell)

RCKI (left) GCKI (right) (Photo: David Bell)

And the nets continued to flood with birds. Rocky Point had another huge day on Monday with 124 new bands and Pedder with 50. We're proud of our bander Donna Talluto for managing to band so many as the only bander for Rocky's biggest day of the season! 

Female Cooper's Hawk banded by Siobhan Darlington
 (With David Bell's help, really it was a team effort)

On Tuesday BIC David Bell got lucky with his second Cooper's Hawk caught at Pedder Bay. This time, he let me band it  (it was my day off and I literally jumped out of bed and ran to the station for this opportunity). If a Cooper's Hawk isn't worth getting up for, I don't know what is.

The numbers remained steady through Tuesday with 81 birds banded at Pedder and 68 at Rocky Point. The rest of the week Rocky was closed for Passerines though the owl program continued.

Pedder Bay had a few more steady days of banding with the help of some new volunteers Wylie and Phillip. We also had the pleasure of hosting Chris Sukha, BIC at the McKenzie station, for the week as an extra bander, extractor, and census person. Needless to say, Chris was thrilled to see west coast birds in the hand, and I've never seen someone so excited to band a Spotted Towhee or Golden-crowned Sparrow! Funnily enough, Chris requested to band a Hutton's vireo and an Anna's Hummingbird and we caught both in one day for him :)

The owls are back!

I want to give a shout out to the owl banders and all of the dedicated volunteers that have spent long hours waiting for the northern saw-whets to arrive. Finally, they're here and we've had some busy nights for owls recently. To date, Rocky has banded 100 saw-whets and Pedder over 50! 

Owl Bander Rebecca Golat at Pedder Bay
 (Photo R.Golat)

BIC David Bell got his NSWO for the year
(Photo: S. Darlington)

How could anyone resist this face?
NSWO banded at Pedder Friday
 September 29th (Photo: S.Darlington)

Census & Obs

Census and obs were on fire with huge numbers of birds flying over Rocky and Pedder. We've seen upward of 400 Turkey Vultures kettling on several days, with as many as 700 Band-tailed Pigeons, hundreds of American Robin,  and hundreds of Yellow-rumped Warblers. We've also had good numbers of Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Broad-winged Hawk flying overhead in the late-morning, especially when the sun is out.

Red-tailed hawk at Rocky Point (Photo: S Darlington)

Sea lion at Rocky Point (S. Darlington)

Seawatching is getting better and better with Pacific and Common Loon, Red-necked, Western and Horned Grebe, Red-necked Phalaropes, Parasitic Jaegers, Iceland, Western and Herring Gull sightings to name just a few!

The trees have been crawling with Red-shafted Flickers and both species of kinglet this past week, with increasing numbers of Fox, Song, and Golden-crowned Sparrows around. One of the highlight sightings from this week is a Townsend's Solitaire at Rocky Point and a Palm Warbler at Pedder Bay.

Thanks for a great week everyone, and remember to sign up soon for shifts with both passerines and owls - our numbers are increasing and we could use your help!

See you in the field,

Siobhan Darlington - Passerine Bander RPBO


Week 10 Numbers:

Rocky Point	Sept 22nd	Sept 23rd	Sept 24th	Sept 25th	Sept 26th	Sept 27th	Sept 28th	Total
Banded	19	99	124	68	0	0	0	310
Species banded	13	23	24	22	0	0	0	30
Recap	6	3	12	6	0	0	0	27
Species recap	5	3	8	4	0	0	0	14

Pedder Bay	Sept 22nd	Sept 23rd	Sept 24th	Sept 25th	Sept 26th	Sept 27th	Sept 28th	Total
Banded	4	60	50	81	41	28	50	314
Species banded	4	13	14	19	15	16	15	31
Recap	7	7	4	22	8	12	12	72
Species recap	4	6	2	11	4	6	8	17

Week 9: Oh! Canada

Northern Pygmy-Owl (Donna Talluto)

As the season progresses we are starting to see an influx of late migrants, while the early-season birds are trailing off. This has made for some big days for both banding and observation, with Rocky tallying over 100 species on several days. A few species should still have some big pushes coming down the pipes, so keep signing up for those shifts!

Banding highlights

The week started off slow at both stations, with relatively low numbers of birds in the nets due to the fog and rain. This didn't stop our owl banders, who stuck it out for a full shift on September 15th (opening night) and managed to catch a single Northern Saw-whet Owl at Rocky. By the end of the week that number had been upped to 30 between the two stations. On the 16th, Donna was left alone at Pedder Bay while Blair and I went on a boat off Ucluelet, and she got our first Northern Pygmy-Owl of the season - a painful miss for the two of us but a great bird for her!

Donna with her Pygmy-Owl

On the 17th, the weather broke and the birds started passing through again, with 175 birds banded between the two stations, including our first White-throated Sparrow of the year at Rocky. A recap Dark-eyed Junco at Pedder was especially interesting as it had an orange colour band on it - we've sent the band number to the banding office to see where it came from. The 18th also yielded good numbers of birds in the nets, with slightly higher diversity, but the day was more notable for having most of our banding highlights for the week! First and foremost was Rocky's first-ever Canada Warbler, a hatch-year male banded by Blair (the rest of us have banded them out east), quickly followed by a Virginia Rail.

Canada Warbler (Blair Dudeck)

Virginia Rail (Blair Dudeck)

The Pedder crew was feeling slightly left out after all this excitement, until a young male Cooper's Hawk got stuck in net 4, providing my only banding tick of the week. Rocky also got our first "Myrtle" Warblers of the year on the 18th, and Pedder finally got its first Black-headed Grosbeak with a rather late individual. The 19th through 21st were steady at both stations, with Pedder picking up its first "Myrtle" Warblers, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Red-breasted Sapsucker, the latter providing another banding tick for Donna. The week finished off with Pedder creeping past the 2000-mark, and Rocky sitting just shy of it at 1997.

Cooper's Hawk (Siobhan Darlington)

Colour-banded Dark-eyed Junco (Blair Dudeck)

New Arrivals, Census & Obs

New arrivals this week at Rocky were Greater Scaup, Iceland Gull (Thayer's) and Pectoral Sandpiper, while Pedder added White-throated Sparrow and Black Swift to its year total. Observation highlights included Nashville Warbler on the 18th, 13 Broad-winged Hawks on the 19th, and two Marbled Godwits and another sighting of the Canada Warbler on the 20th, all at Rocky. The action in the Strait and in the skies is also heating up, with big movements of Band-tailed Pigeons, Vaux's Swifts and Turkey Vultures above, and late season gulls arriving in numbers. A few lucky observers saw flocks of Sandhill Cranes migrating over, while some mornings had decent warbler flights as well - mostly Yellow-rumps, with a good mix of Audubon's and Myrtle. Seabirds in general increased this week, with sightings of all three Jaeger species and big numbers of alcids (mostly Common Murres).

Band-tailed Pigeons (David Bell)

Marbled Godwits (David Bell)

Wildlife Sightings

Rocky put on quite the show this week in terms of other wildlife, with a lone wolf sighted on the 19th, and two together on the 20th! We also heard them howling on several occasions. Orcas were seen almost daily in groups up to 9, with Minke and Humpback Whales also putting in appearances. Combined with the regular seals, sea lions, deer and sporadic sightings of the resident Black Bear, the mammal watching was nearly as exciting as the birds.

Coastal Wolf (David Bell)

Orca off Edye Point (Siobhan Darlington)

Volunteer Appreciation

We'd like to congratulate two of our helpers who were upgraded to extractor status this week - Connel Bradwell and Ivy Doak! We'd also like to thank everyone for their dedication in coming out, even on the slow days, to help us out at both stations - especially the owl folks who have had to put up with their share of slow nights this last week!

Week 9 Numbers:

Rocky Point	Sep 15th	Sep 16th	Sep 17th	Sep 18th	Sep 19th	Sep 20th	Sep 21st	Total
Banded	19	13	107	79	47	55	37	357
Species banded	9	10	20	25	18	18	14	33
Recap	2	5	8	6	5	5	2	33
Species recap	2	5	6	5	3	3	1	12

Pedder Bay	Sep 15th	Sep 16th	Sep 17th	Sep 18th	Sep 19th	Sep 20th	Sep 21st	Total
Banded	33	16	68	56	42	40	43	298
Species banded	13	10	16	16	19	16	15	33
Recap	9	11	8	10	5	6	9	56
Species recap	7	7	7	8	4	4	7	16

Week 9 totals (click to enlarge)

Coastal Wolves (David Bell)

Week 8 : Migration peak

Lincoln's sparrow - Mark Byrne

Banding recap :

Here we are! We've finally had a big day this Wednesday September 12th at Rocky Point with 119 birds banded of 28 species including 45 warblers including Orange-crowned, Audubon, MacGillivray's, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow, Black-throated Gray, Wilson & Townsend’s ! While at Pedder the best day for banding was on Friday September 14th with 56 new bands of 18 species. 

Both stations were steady for the rest of the week apart from Tuesday at Rocky Point where we only banded five new birds. It’s a good thing that we check the nets every 20 minutes otherwise we wouldn't have much to do! 

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Jannaca Chick

This week, David got a banding tick with the first Red-breasted Sapsucker and Rebecca with the first banded Sharp-shinned Hawk of the season. We had the return of a banded hatch-year Barred Owl at Rocky on Friday – we hope it stays nice and clear of our birds. We’re seeing new arrivals of species such as Golden-crowned Sparrow, Hermit Thrush and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. So far, we have banded 1639 birds of 61 different species at Rocky Point and 1724 birds of 54 species at Pedder Bay. I'm so glad to be able to see most of those beautiful birds. On Friday, a Swainson's Thrush banded in 2014 was recaptured at Rocky Point, which means that it has migrated south four times already! That’s really amazing :)

Kettle of Turkey Vulture - Siobhan Darlington

The raptors have started to move with sighting this week including large kettles of Turkey Vulture flying in circles over the stations, Cooper's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, and falcons. On Tuesday, we had two Sandhill Cranes passing over Rocky Point. They are really fascinating birds sometimes seen in large flocks and can be very loud! I hope that we'll see more soon :) Other sightings include Hooded Merganser, Common Tern, Parasitic Jaeger, Harlequin Ducks, and Green-winged Teal.

Red breasted Sapsucker
Siobhan Darlington

Wildlife Sightings:

The wolves have been more discreet this week and the only black bear around has been minding his own business. In the ocean, humpback whales and orcas have been seen a few times with 9 orcas spotted on Thursday! We are really lucky to observe such amazing wildlife. Unfortunately, the populations of southern resident orcas are endangered with less than 75 individuals recorded. 

One of the resident orca - Siobhan Darlington

Volunteer appreciation:

Acacia Spencer-Hills
with a HY Barred Owl

We are happy to welcome many new volunteers to the crew and we have some helpers that have been upgraded to extractors recently or will be soon, congratulations! 

Rebecca Golat
with a Sharp-shinned Hawk

That's really cool as we need many more hands, especially on those busy days! In addition, owl banding is starting this Saturday so it’s great to have such dedicated people for both projects. Once again we thank all of you without whom our work wouldn't be possible ;-)

Rocky Point	Sept 8th	Sept 9th	Sept 10th	Sept 11th	Sept 12th	Sept 13th	Sept 14th	Week total	Season total
Banded	12	13	5	12	119	35	66	262	1639
Species banded	9	8	5	9	28	14	18	33	61
Recapted	8	4	3	3	2	0	11	31	322
Species recapted	6	4	3	3	2	0	9	14	28
Pedder Bay	Sept 8th	Sept 9th	Sept 10th	Sept 11th	Sept 12th	Sept 13th	Sept 14th	Week total	Season total
Banded	30	16	28	10	30	41	56	211	1724
Species banded	12	9	13	5	12	17	18	27	54
Recapted	17	7	17	5	11	7	12	76	443
Species recapted	7	6	8	5	5	4	7	15	29

Here is the list of what species we've banded this week and the season totals :