Week 10: A varie h-owly week

Hatch year male Varied Thrush. Photo S. Darlington.

The Varied Thrush are here and so are the owls! Despite an ever so slight dip in numbers since last week, we've had excellent birds in the nets and near daily sightings of coastal wolves - we couldn't be happier.

We still have 3 weeks of passerines to go and owls is really rolling now. Time to sign-up for those volunteer slots! We are short-handed for extractors during owl banding at Rocky Point, and are wide-open for passerine spots for all of next week. Historically, we are due for one more northern pygmy owl this season at Pedder Bay that you won't want to miss.

Banding and Obs Recap

Chestnut-sided warbler. Photo D. Bell.

The star of this week's banding has to be the 2nd record for Chestnut-sided Warbler, banded by Blair Dudeck at Rocky on Friday! 

But let's not overlook some of our other captures - including mass numbers of Hermit Thrushes moving through Pedder Bay. We banded 30 in one day.

Varied Thrush were banded at both stations this week, so all of our banders got their banding ticks as well as some eager volunteers! Our Steller's Jay captures have been high as well, with 2-4 banded every day at Rocky Point. We're now up to 40 STJA banded this year.

Liam with a male Varied Thrush. Photo D. Talluto.

Rocky Point is finally catching up to Pedder at the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding, with 26 banded on two nights and 93 total banded at Rocky, and Pedder with a solid 70. It seems like this will be a great owl year!

Two saw-whets were even banded at Pedder Bay on Saturday morning during passerines.

We've also had a string of Barred Owl captures, with 3 different owls captured between Thursday and Friday morning. That's 5 Barred Owls banded so far this year.

If you would like to bring a group to visit owl banding, e-mail us at visits@rpbo.org.

Rae-Ann with a NSWO. Photo D. Talluto

  

We had several groups visiting Pedder Bay this week, including a wildlife tour group and a school group!

School group visiting Pedder Bay. Photo D. Talluto.

The Hawk Watch is on now at Rocky, with up to 800 Turkey Vultures spotted from both stations, 30 + Red-tailed hawks, Cooper's hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, and several sightings of Broadwing hawk. It's only a matter of time before we catch some raptors in the nets.

What should you do when you find a large bird in the nets? Bag it! If you are a helper or extractor and find a raptor caught in the nets, run if you can, and "bag" the raptor to keep it contained until a qualified extractor can come and safely remove it. To bag a bird that is stuck in the pocket, pinch the net mesh on either side of the bird at the trammel of the pocket to prevent it from escaping. Call on your radio or yell for assistance.


Other wildlife sightings:

Six coastal wolves at Rocky. Photo S. Darlington.

We've had great luck spotting the coastal wolves at first light all week, with up to 6 seen at once. Your best chance at spotting them is to open the front nets at Rocky first thing, and do obs by the beach for a few net runs. Don't dismay if you're stuck at the back nets - the wolves are also often seen in the back meadow by the ponds!

Orcas passed through the channel at Rocky Point on Wednesday and were seen distantly on Thursday.


Remember we have our live stream event October 3rd in Downtown Victoria.

More info here: https://streamofconsciousness.ca/event/2020-vision-rpbo/?fbclid=IwAR2sGICL6SDN5ddG0XR8qHfVhx4QVg3hBvN5njGkDmndS154pWVSINwbx30


As always, thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers! We hope to see you at the end-of-season wrap-up on October 20th. Stay tuned for the details on When to Help.

- Siobhan Darlington, RPBO Passerine Bander

Barred owl banded by me on Thursday. Photo D. Talluto. 

Passerine Weekly summaries

Rocky Point	22-Sep	23-Sep	24-Sep	25-Sep	26-Sep	27-Sep	28-Sep	Total
Banded	38	63	29	102	37	64	115	448
Species banded	14	19	13	23	13	16	24	30
Recap	9	11	12	9	6	12	11	70
Species recap	9	7	7	8	5	8	6	21

Pedder Bay	22-Sep	23-Sep	24-Sep	25-Sep	26-Sep	27-Sep	28-Sep	Total
Banded	20	37	22	46	21	52	67	265
Species banded	12	12	9	16	11	12	18	27
Recap	14	24	10	9	19	10	11	97
Species recap	5	14	6	7	10	5	6	17

Owl Weekly Summary
Rocky Point 22-Sep 23-Sep 24-Sep 25-Sep 26-Sep 27-Sep 28-Sep           Total BDOW 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2        NSWO 3 2 4 12 26 20 26 93      Pedder Bay BDOW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0       NSWO 1 3 10 10 14 14 18 70

*Season totals to come*

Week 9: Fallout!

The period from September 15th to about October 5th is typically our migration peak, with late-season migrants arriving en masse and early-season migrants still trickling through, and so large numbers of birds during this time are to be expected. This week, however, surpassed all expectations! After four nights in a row of rain (meaning no bird movement), the night of the 15th was clear, leading to a nice movement of birds and a busy day at Rocky on the 16th, with 117 birds banded. This was only a teaser, however, as another night of rain shut down migration once more. Then, on the night of the 17th, bird migration was in full swing when some early morning drizzle interfered, dropping huge numbers of sparrows. The next three days (with clear nights) were nothing short of amazing at the stations, with a combined total of 841 birds banded (495 at Rocky and 346 at Pedder)! The charts were led by Golden-crowned Sparrows at Rocky (117 banded), and Fox Sparrows (89) and Hermit Thrushes (83) at Pedder. This mass movement allowed us to pass our season total from last year at Rocky already, with several weeks still to go!

Joachim banding the 200th and final bird on the 19th at Rocky (Donna Talluto)

Emma banding our 2930th bird of the season at Rocky, surpassing last year! (David Bell)

Passerines weren't the only birds on the move this week. Our owl banding program started on the 15th, and had good success on the rain-free nights, with Rocky banding 47 Northern Saw-whet Owls and Pedder surprisingly leading the way at 57. Usually Rocky has about a 2:1 lead in the owl department so it will be interesting to see how the season plays out. Most of these birds were hatch-years, likely indicating that this will be a big season for them - sign up for those owl shifts!

One of the few non-hatch-year NSWO this week! This is a third-year (Rebecca Golat)

Other than the large numbers of birds in the nets, the banding highlight of the week was a Nashville Warbler at Pedder on the 18th; our second banding record for the station and around the 13th banded at RPBO. Other first-of-seasons in the nets at Pedder included "Myrtle" and "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers, along with a hybrid between the two, and a couple of White-throated Sparrows. New in the nets at Rocky were "Gambel's" White-crowned and White-throated sparrows and a couple of intergrade Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Nashville Warbler! (Siobhan Darlington)

White-throated Sparrow (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Outside of the nets, Rocky had a few highlights with Western Kingbird, Gray Catbird, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Common Tern and Cassin's Auklets all being seen this week. Other first-of-seasons there included Blue-winged Teal, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Iceland and Herring gulls, Cackling Goose and Parasitic Jaegers, while Pedder had its first Brewer's Blackbird and Northern Saw-whet Owls of the season. On the 18th, an estimated 1750+ sparrows of various species were at Rocky Point, with most of them in the newly-burned back meadow, creating quite the spectacle. We also had a wing-tagged Turkey Vulture at Rocky this week, with a red tag and white "AR" lettering. It turns out this bird was banded in Grays Harbour, Washington, on 15 June 2015! See here for more info: https://coastalraptors.com/NotesfromtheField/fieldnotes15Summer.aspx?fbclid=IwAR195WmfBgaq9I3WLfmMfQyATosEN6-QR7K2Ea2fjXQ-3lb2XqACfVVDx8A

Comparison of male Golden-crowned (left) and Ruby-crowned (right) kinglets (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Wing-tagged Turkey Vulture "AR" (Joachim Bertrands)

In the non-avian section, we had a number of interesting sightings this week. It appears the Rocky wolf pack has grown, and up to six(!) individuals were seen at once this week. A Pacific White-sided Dolphin was also seen fairly close to shore, and a Sea Otter spent some time foraging near Edye Point. On the 21st, our crew at Rocky had a great day with good looks at the wolves and then two Orcas ("Rainy" and his mom) that came right into the channel. The usual Black Bears, Humpback Whales and River Otters also provided some entertainment this week when we weren't busy checking nets.

Coastal Wolf standing guard (Joachim Bertrands)

Orca in the channel! (David Bell)

A big thank-you to all of our volunteers who came out this week - the help was very much appreciated on those busy days! Keep signing up for those shifts; there are more birds to come!

Pedder Bay	Sep 15th	Sep 16th	Sep 17th	Sep 18th	Sep 19th	Sep 20th	Sep 21st	Total
Banded	15	48	25	124	131	91	57	491
Species banded	11	15	11	16	19	22	15	31
Recap	16	8	14	14	15	20	21	106
Species recap	9	5	7	7	10	9	8	16

Rocky Point	Sep 15th	Sep 16th	Sep 17th	Sep 18th	Sep 19th	Sep 20th	Sep 21st	Total
Banded	26	117	31	167	200	128	74	743
Species banded	14	22	14	19	24	22	20	32
Recap	7	9	4	5	10	8	5	48
Species recap	5	7	4	5	8	7	4	16

Week 9 and season-to-date totals - click to enlarge

In other news, we have a livestream event coming up on October 3rd, highlighted by a visit to our owl banding - mark your calendars!

(click to enlarge)

Week 8 : Celebrating the 25th anniversary

25th Anniversary - Mitchell showing a STJA (S. Darlington)

Here we are ! Time goes by so quickly... we've already entered the second part of the season with a special day to finish the week perfectly : the 25th anniversary of RPBO ! and what a day, you were more than 100 to come celebrate it with us on Saturday. It was so great to see so many people interested in bird conservation and wanted to learn about our work. Thanks so much for the support and I'd like to thanks all the volunteers that make it happen. Ashlea did a great job of coordination as well, bravo ! Don't hesitate to contact us if you wanna come volunteer with us. Owl banding is starting on Sunday so there are a lot of shifts to fill and a lot of fun on the horizon. Wanna see more pictures of the event ? Follow us on FB or Instagram ;-)

Pacific Wren (D. Bell)

This week has started with promizing number of birds in the mistnets at both stations while we have finished the week with "ashamed" numbers. The weather is to blame as well as the controlled fires on the DND property but next week should be really good according to the prognostics. You should have seen the apocalyptic scene of trees burning in the meadow at Rocky Point on Thursday. Ann N. survived after a really smoky census that day.

Siobhan & a RBSA (R. Byrne)

Even though the low numbers to end the week, it was another good one and I'm gonna tell you why ! First, we have banded the first Anna's Hummingbird of the season at Rocky Point while there are already 49 of them wearing a beautiful piece of jewelry at Pedder Bay. We've never used to band them at RP in the past years and you must know how we enjoy their presence around the station.  On the morning of the 25th anniversary, we've banded our first Red-Breasted Sapsucker (RBSA) of the season which was a banding tick for our bander Siobhan. Good thing she was around. Another first of the year for banding was a "Myrtle" Warbler at Rocky Point. Myrtle are a subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler that you usually found in the East of Canada while in the West, the Audubon's subspecies is more abondant. A good way to distinguish them visually is to look for a black mask in the face of Myrtle male with a white throat while Audubon's got yellow in the throat. Also the Audubon's tends to get more white in the tail. On the morning of the anniversary, Mitchell got to band a Steller's Jay (STJA) which was a banding tick for him and he got to show it to some of the lucky visitors who were around at that time. 

NSWO (D. Bell)

Outside of the nets, kinglets are "flowering" in the bushes, a few Am. Pipit have been seen this week, Dark-Eyed Junco are everywhere, a lot of Am. Robin have been seen lately. Raptors are kettling but no huge number yet. Barn swallow are still in the area as well as Vaux's swifts and Black Swifts at both stations. In term of seabirds, when you come to Rocky Point (not on a smoky day!!), you could see Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot & Rhinoceros Auklet... On Sept 13th, one Sooty Shearwater has been spotted for the first time this season. Owls seems active at both stations too and I guess we'll find out soon if the Saw-whet are passing through in huge numbers this year :-)

Pedder Bay	Sept 8th	Sept 9th	Sept 10th	Sept 11th	Sept 12th	Sept 13th	Sept 14th	Total
Banded	30	56	35	56	36	20	12	245
Sp. banded	17	18	16	19	15	9	7	31
Recaped	10	13	9	10	12	13	14	81
Sp. recaped	8	7	7	5	6	8	7	17

Rocky Point	Sept 8th	Sept 9th	Sept 10th	Sept 11th	Sept 12th	Sept 13th	Sept 14th	Total
Banded	57	48	69	55	13	13	11	266
Sp. Banded	19	18	18	23	10	9	9	28
Recaped	9	3	11	8	9	4	4	48
Sp. Recaped	7	3	4	4	6	3	4	12

On Saturday, Siobhan & Jannaca demonstrated some bird banding to the visitors at Pedder Bay. They did a great job all the morning of the 25th anniversary to show them the process and answered questions while the team with myself where checking the nets and monitoring the actual banding station. Andrea has a great education table as well and many volunteers made the bird walks really successful. We had so many positive feedback from the public ! Thanks again everyone ;-)

Ashlea & an interpretative signs made by Jennifer  (J. Chick)