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)