Week 8 - "Is that a bird?"
Trying to see through the smoke. A weekly RPBO summary from Sept 8 to 14, 2020
Smoke drifting north from wildfires in Washington and Oregon started
to affect us at the beginning of our banding week, dissipated mid-week, and
returned at the end of the week.
From Sept 8th to Sept 14th, we banded on average 52
new birds per day at Pedder Bay, and we banded on average 33 new birds per day
at Rocky Point.
Compared to the historical average (from 2012 to 2019) of numbers
of new birds banded per day, this is exactly on average for Rocky Point, and is
30% more than average for Pedder Bay.
Our year to date totals at the end of the week were 1727
birds for Pedder Bay, and 1929 at Rocky Point. This represents a 15% increase
over the average (from 2012-2019) year to date at this point at Pedder Bay, and
a 12% increased over the average at Rocky Point.
Tuesday
This was our first day of smoke. Confusion was afoot – what
was going on?! Visibility was reduced from our normal >5km to 0.5km to 1km.
Normally There’s Water Out Here (photo credit: Rebecca Reader-Lee)
Into the Smoke (photo credit: Rebecca Reader-Lee)
Emma got to continue her hummingbird banding – banding both a
late-migration Rufous Hummingbird (HY male), and an Anna’s Hummingbird (HY
male). A HY Red-breasted Sapsucker was found in the net and was banded then
returned to the nets for a second time.
Red-breasted Sapsucker (photo credit: Rebecca Golat)
A Mute Swan was observed at Pedder bay this day, then this probably this individual was seen by David Bell at Witty's Lagoon booking it north along the shore.
On Tuesday, only ONE Lincoln’s Sparrow was banded at RP, and 5
at PB, readying us for the explosion of numbers of LISP around and in the nets
that would hit later in the week.
Our ET numbers were boosted by incoming kinglets and sparrows,
while some migratory warblers were still around. Very reduced numbers of
flycatchers were present.
A Sabine’s Gull was seen while sea-watching at Rocky Point by
Mike McGrenere on Tuesday.
Wednesday
The smoke was largely gone. Rocky Point had an excellent ET of
112 species on this day! Highlights
observed include: Lapland Longspur (2), Bank Swallow (1), Ruffed Grouse, Bonaparte’s, Iceland, and Sabine’s Gulls. The Grey Catbird continues in the front meadow.
Banding highlights include: a Sharp-shinned Hawk banded by
Rebecca at Pedder Bay.
Sharp-Shinned Hawk (photo credit: Rebecca Golat)
A good variety of raptors low to the ground (9 different
species between the two sites) were seen this day, including at least 9 individual
Northern Harriers in the area, 7 were seen hunting in the meadows at RP (and
two on the hill at Pedder during the same time).
Thursday
Barely visibly detectable smoke and mostly clear weather
continued for Thursday. We enjoyed a clear birdy day.
Emma banded her first raptors ever – luckily with the experienced
help of Jannaca and Ann N who were volunteering that day. A HY female Cooper’s
Hawk was found by Michael N in net 2 after two juveniles were hunting together
(making interested juvenile vocalizations) in the front field, then Jannaca
found a Barred Owl in net 6 *on the same net round* when she checked the net.
Collaboratively Banding a Cooper’s Hawk (photo credit: Jannaca Chick)
Holding a Barred Owl like a Baby (photo credit: Jannaca
Chick)
Lincoln’s Sparrow numbers banded increased a lot – this was
the most commonly banded bird today at RP (22) and PB (34)
Lot’s of Vaux’s Swifts continued to be observing flying over –
312 individuals were ET’d at PB.
Friday & Saturday
Smoke unfortunately returned both days, reducing visibility.
Harrier in the Smoke (photo credit: Ann Nightingale)
All banders and volunteers became excited, the disappointed,
when multiple times per day Northern Harriers were seen awfully close to the
front nets, even bouncing out of net 2 as observed by Rebecca G and team!!! NOHA
has moved to the top of the list for most wanted bird by some banders.
Our first Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler was banded by Rebecca G.
Audubon's Yellow-Rumped Warbler (photo credit: Rebecca Golat)
Increased numbers of Golden-crowned Sparrows, Fox Sparrows,
and kinglets started to hit the nets. We banded our first Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow of the season. David took these photos to illustrate the difference
between Gambel’s White-crowned (first), and our Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow
(second)
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow (photo credit: David Bell)
Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow (photo credit: David Bell)"Notice the grey face of the GWCS, it's pink-orange bill, reddish back streaks, and more reddish/light colored crown, plus lack of bold dark malar stripes. The PSWS has a brown face, yellow-orange bill, darker brown back streaking and crown, plus a dark malar." - David Bell describes. Well put! We will keep our eyes out for GWCS.
Another QUIZ to keep you learning! Whose feather is this?
Mystery feather (photo credit: Rebecca G)
Answer: Sandhill Crane. Sandhill Cranes were seen in the
front and back meadows on Friday, and they left a gift of one of their
feathers, found on Saturday.
Sunday & Monday
Continued dense smoke surrounded us
at both sites, although perhaps a little less on Monday than the past three day.
Horrible
visibility was created especially on Sunday, with a combination of smoke and
fog coming off the water making visibility go from 0.5km to 0.1km to 0.2km as
the day progressed.
Ann N and Rebecca
R-L amused us by taking photos then trying to get us to ID the birds in them.
Can you do it?
What bird is
this? (photo credit: Ann Nightingale and Rebecca Reader-Lee)
Answers (in
order): Kingfisher, Pileated Woodpecker, American Robin, Turkey Vulture, and Common Raven.
RCKI and
GCKI’s have started to trickle into the nets in small numbers – more to come in
the coming weeks.
Golden-crowned Sparrows were finally present in good numbers in the nets at with 5, 4, and 4 the final days of the week at
Rocky Point, and 5, 10, and 17 at Pedder Bay.
Comparison
of an AHY GCSP (first picture) and a HY individual (second picture) (photo
credit: Emma Radziul)
Comparison
of an AHY SPTO (first picture) and a HY individual (second picture). (photo credit: Emma
Radziul)
On the Spotted Towhee, note the increased contrast between the brown flight feathers/primary coverts and the dark greater covers in the HY individual, and the more uniformly dark flight feathers, primary coverts and greater covers in the AHY individual
A note about the smoke:
Rocky Point Bird observatory wants to prioritize the health
and safety of our volunteers and banders. We thank all the volunteers and
banders who have been with us this smoky week and understand about those who
cannot be out with us.
On certain days with very poor air quality and extremely
increased risk for health complications, RPBO Banders will cancel banding. This
will occur after meeting together in the morning on site.
Thank you all! Stay safe and keep your eyes on the birds!
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Pedder Bay
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08-Sep
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09-Sep
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10-Sep
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11-Sep
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12-Sep
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13-Sep
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14-Sep
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Banded
|
29
|
29
|
77
|
37
|
59
|
66
|
69
|
|
Species
|
18
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14
|
17
|
14
|
19
|
18
|
16
|
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Recap
|
13
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1
|
6
|
8
|
14
|
19
|
26
|
|
Species
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
8
|
8
|
10
|
8
|
|
Rocky Point
|
|
|
|
|
|
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08-Sep
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09-Sep
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10-Sep
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11-Sep
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12-Sep
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13-Sep
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14-Sep
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Banded
|
14
|
41
|
46
|
34
|
75
|
21
|
16
|
|
Species
|
7
|
9
|
13
|
18
|
20
|
13
|
8
|
|
Recap
|
2
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
6
|
8
|
4
|
|
Species
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4
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6
|
3
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