Week 1: 'Crowing' with delight

Welcome to the 2021 edition of the RPBO blog! As in past years, we (the banders) will be updating this page weekly with highlights, totals, and general goings-on at the two migration monitoring stations that we operate: Rocky Point (restricted access) and Pedder Bay. This year we are pleased to welcome back Rebecca Golat as our senior bander and myself, David Bell, as our bander-in-charge. We'd also like to give a warm welcome to Samuelle Simard-Provençal (our third bander) and our two interns, who many of you will recognize: Rebecca Reader-Lee and Liam Singh. We are all excited to see what this season has to offer! I'd also like to thank all of the volunteers who came out this week to help with running the stations - we had a good turnout and some nice birds for those who joined us!

Adult male Western Tanager (David Bell)

Rocky started the week off hot, with 73 birds on the 21st (second-highest opening day), while Pedder started with a new opening-day record low of 53. This trend continued, with Rocky setting a new first-week high of 322 new birds banded (average 230, previous record 305 in 2008). This was a bit of a surprise as strong winds kept the front nets closed most of the week! Pedder finished the week at 260, below the nine-year first week average of 279. As usual, Wilson’s Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher and “Puget Sound” White-crowned Sparrows led the way for birds banded this week, with Song Sparrow and Swainson's Thrush not far behind. Although it had lower numbers, Pedder had slightly better diversity than Rocky this week.

Cedar Waxwing (Liam Singh)

ID quiz! Answer at the end of the post (David Bell)

Despite the relatively slow start, Pedder had a few highlights in the nets. On the 26^th, Sam and Rebecca were treated to two Belted Kingfishers in nets 10 and 11, and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow in net 8. On the 27^th, Sam added a new species to the RPBO banding list when a young American Crow paid a visit to the station! Rocky was a little lighter on the highlights, but Sam was excited to have not one, but two Olive-sided Flycatchers in one day on the 23^rd; a hatch-year and a second-year bird allowing for a nice comparison. A Red-breasted Sapsucker on the same day was the 5^th banding record for the site; although we see them regularly at both stations, for some reason only Pedder typically catches this species.

Sam and Rebecca with their Belted Kingfishers (Robyn Byrne)

Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Rebecca Golat)

Sam banding the American Crow (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Although no rarities were seen this week, and fog on the strait hampered seawatch, we had a good diversity of species at both sites. Shorebird numbers are picking up, with Surfbird, Whimbrel, and Semipalmated Plover seen at Rocky along with numbers of the more common species. Warblers and flycatchers are also starting to move, with the first flyovers and small flocks making their rounds in the census areas. Many swallows have already cleared out, and small flocks were making their way south over the strait through the week.

Hatch-year Olive-sided Flycatcher (David Bell)

Other wildlife sightings in the past week have included a few Black Bears at Rocky among the commoner species like Eastern Cottontail, Black-tailed Deer, garter snakes, Blue-eyed and Common Green darners, etc. A family of Mink provided some entertainment at Rocky as they hopped around and wrestled near the station - we are hoping they don't get too familiar with the nets though!

Northwestern Garter Snake (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

On the 24^th, we had a special visitor at our Pedder Bay station, when the Honourable Janet Austin (Lieutenant Governor of BC) came for a tour of the census area and a banding demonstration. She quite enjoyed her visit, and thankfully we had some birds to show her; a good variety of sparrows, warblers, flycatchers and even two Anna’s Hummingbirds (one an adult male)! We are looking forward to her returning to see the owl program in action later this fall.

Our banding crew with the Honourable Janet Austin! (Jerymy Brownridge)

Pedder Bay	Jul 21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	53	57	45	23	28	24	30	260
Species banded	22	23	16	11	16	12	18	35
Recap	2	5	5	6	6	10	4	38
Species recap	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	10

Rocky Point	Jul 21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	Total
Banded	73	58	50	45	36	39	21	322
Species banded	20	18	18	17	17	14	9	32
Recap	3	9	6	8	3	4	4	37
Species recap	2	4	4	5	3	4	2	12

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https://www.instagram.com/rockypointbird/
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Also check out the Bird Babble Podcast! https://birdbabblerpbo.podbean.com/

(click to enlarge)

Quiz Answer: hatch-year Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon subspecies group)