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