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 :