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)