Week 9: A Butternut, but no Butterbutts?

Week 9 is typically the peak of our season at RPBO, with our Rocky Point station averaging 440 new birds banded during this week over the past 20 years! This week likely would have been no different, except for some unfortunate circumstances. The 16th, 20th and 21st were busy days at Pedder after overnight rains prevented new migrants from arriving on the 17th, 18th, and 19th. These were also all blasting training days at Rocky Point, so we could only open nets for the first hour. The 17th was also rained out at both stations. Nonetheless, in our three full days of operation (and some partial days), we managed 210 new birds at Rocky, bringing us to a season total of 2143 (average 2137). Pedder fared better, opening on six of the seven days, banding 350 new birds (average 370 for Week 9), for a season total of 1884 (average 2106). 

Tennessee Warbler (David Bell)

Pedder was the only station to add a new banded species for the season, and in fact it was a first banding record for the station overall (3rd for RPBO)! A hatch-year Tennessee Warbler dropped into net 12 on the 16th, our busiest day of the season up until then. An influx of Fox and Golden-crowned sparrows, Hermit Thrushes, Pacific Wrens and Ruby-crowned Kinglets made for our current busiest day, with 98 birds banded at Pedder and 40 at Rocky (in one hour!) on the 20th. Some other highlights in the nets were more subtle, with a merrilli Song Sparrow at Pedder on the 20th and a maculatus Spotted Towhee at Rocky on the 21st, two subspecies from the interior of the province that rarely make it to the coast. We are hoping that these are indicators that we will get more interesting interior species in the next week. Surprisingly, we had a grand total of zero Yellow-rumped Warblers (butterbutts) in the nets, and very few flying over. This week is typically the beginning of the peak for them, so hopefully they are just delayed.

Spotted Towhee, maculatus subspecies (Rebecca Golat)

Song Sparrow, most likely merrilli subspecies (Liam Singh)

gambelii White-crowned Sparrows are moving in for the winter! (David Bell)

With all this migration happening, it’s no surprise that we had a few observation highlights and new species for the season seen at the stations. A Blue Jay at Rocky on the 20th regaled us with its raucous calls – or maybe it was taunting us seeing as we had to leave and wouldn’t have an opportunity to band it! New for the season there this week were a few Iceland (Thayer’s) Gulls. Highlights at Pedder were less about regional rarities and more about station highlights, with a first station record of a Black-bellied Plover flying over on the 18th, a Black Turnstone on the 15th, Lapland Longspurs on the 18th and 20th, Heermann’s Gull and Brandt’s Cormorant on the 20th, and Pectoral Sandpiper on the 21st. Other new species for the season there included Horned Lark, Broad-winged Hawk, Black Swift, Greater White-fronted Goose, Pacific Loon, and Sandhill Crane. 

Rocky Point mood this week with all the closures (David Bell)

Black Swift - note the shape difference to the next photo (David Bell)

Vaux's Swift (David Bell)

Our other wildlife sightings this week have mostly been highlighted by Black Bears at Rocky, as they move in to fatten up on acorns. Humpback Whales continue to be seen out in the strait when the weather and birds allow for a short seawatch. Praying Mantises continue to entertain the banders, volunteers, and visitors alike, and one even tried to get in on the banding action!

Why hello there (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

How do these things work? (David Bell)

Rocky Point	Sep 15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	Total
Banded	67	17	2	32	35	40	17	210
Species banded	16	11	2	13	16	15	8	24
Recap	5	0	0	8	9	0	0	22
Species recap	5	0	0	5	6	0	0	10

Pedder Bay	Sep 15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	Total
Banded	46	88	0	39	33	98	46	350
Species banded	18	21	0	16	15	19	16	33
Recap	14	5	0	24	25	16	7	91
Species recap	10	4	0	8	12	9	5	18

 

Red-breasted Sapsucker (David Bell)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (Liam Singh)

Townsend's Warbler (hatch-year female) (Samuelle S-P)

(click to enlarge)

If you made it this far and didn't get the title, apparently "Butternut" is/was a nickname for people from Tennessee!

P.S. Still plenty of shifts open through to the end of the season, especially at Pedder Bay - we and the birds would love to have you out! Sign up here.

Week 8: Snowflake in September

Ah yes, September. The mist nets are beginning to fill with about as many leaves as there are birds. Banding days are becoming increasingly exciting as more and more birds find their way into our hands, and the hope of catching a rarity is on the rise. Since Sunday, both stations have been having fairly productive days, with our Rocky station having it's first 100+ bird day of the season!

Hatch year Black-throated Gray Warbler (Samuelle Simard-Provençal).

This week, our Pedder Bay station is below average in numbers having caught 266 new birds (average of past years being 289), putting us to a season total of 1532 new birds (average 1742). In contrast, the Rocky Point station is above average with 376 new birds for the week (average 290), putting us to a total of 1933 for the season (average 1747).  

Interesting captures at Rocky Point this week include more Sharp-shinned Hawks, another Barred Owl, several White-throated Sparrows, another Western Wood-pewee, and an Eastern Willow Flycatcher. At both sites, Steller's Jays continue to frequent our nets, and we are also seeing lots of movement of Fox Sparrows and Hermit Thrushes. It's only a matter of time before we catch something RARE!! We can feel it in our bones...

So if you want in on the hard work fun, make sure to sign up for some migration shifts here. Not a morning person? That's ok! We still have lots of open shifts for our Northern Saw-whet Owl banding program too! Our owl banders are keen and excited to see familiar faces again, and to meet new volunteers. If you are new to RPBO and haven't signed up to volunteer yet, you can fill out an application here. 

Western Wood-pewee (left) and Eastern Willow Flycatcher (right). Creatures of great envy!! (Dave Bell & Liam Singh). 

A beautiful Steller's Jay showing off its full array of blue shades (Liam Singh). 

Haunting eyes of the Barred Owl (Dave Bell). 

Look at those shiny lores! White-throated Sparrow (Rebecca Reader-Lee). 

LENGTH! Sharp-shinned Hawk (Samuelle Simard-Provençal).

For interesting sightings this week, our bander Rebecca spotted the first ever record of a Snow Bunting during fall migration at RPBO on the 12th. Snow Buntings are a common sight during their migration, however this is a very early sighting, so definitely one to write down in the calendar. Great find Rebecca! We've now begun seeing Broad-winged Hawks soaring with the kettles of Turkey Vultures. We also had our first Bank Swallow and Sanderling for the season on the 10th, as well as another Least Flycatcher during census on the 14th. To top it off, we've had continued sightings of Short-tailed Shearwaters right off Rocky Point! Migration in action! 

Rebecca RL getting down low to watch for vagrants (Liam Singh).

Other interesting sights for the week include continued bear sightings, many more mantids, and lots of frogs! The little bits of rain has been great for our amphibian friends, and the continued sun has been wonderful for insect diversity. Both stations have seen good numbers of European mantids of both colour morphs and both sexes. How do you tell male and female mantids apart? Males have long antennae and 8 abdominal segments, while females have short antennae and 6 abdominal segments. Not to mention that the females are noticeably larger than the males! Our volunteers have also been hard at work catching frogs. Pictured below are two common frog species - the Pacific Chorus Frog and the Northern Red-legged Frog. 

A male brown morph European Mantis reading up on his bird ID (Samuelle SP). 

Pacific Chorus Frog (AKA Pacific Tree Frog) (Samuelle SP).

Northern Red-legged Frog (Samuelle SP). 

We also had a very cool butterfly stop by long enough for our former intern Rebecca to take a photo. The photo below pictures an American Lady. This butterfly species is a rare sighting on Vancouver Island, and a very good butterfly for BC. For all those who keep their Lepidoptera life list... keep this lep on your radar! The best field mark to separate this species from other Ladies is well seen in the photo - two large eye spots on the underside of the hind wings. 

American Lady (Rebecca Reader-Lee).

For a more detailed overview of our numbers this week and throughout the season, see the below tables. We hope to see you out in the field next week!

Week 7: Back to school, keep your pencils sharp(ie)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (David Bell)

September is undoubtedly the best month here on the west coast of British Columbia. The weather is still beautiful with sunny afternoons but still enough of a chill in the morning to start bringing in our sparrows and the start of raptor migration. These are the kind of days where the heat is blasting in the car in the morning and then the AC on the way home. A few kettles are starting to form with good numbers of Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks with a few accipiters sprinkled in. Both stations had a big push of Vaux’s Swifts with hundreds flying over the station and a few getting dangerously close to net 7 and 8 at Pedder…

Sunrise at Rocky Point (Rebecca Golat)

Sadly our trusty interns are back to school just in time for migration to pick up. 

Please take a look at the volunteer schedule to sign up for a shift! We have lots of spots available at both stations.

Sign Up Now

Only one week until owl banding starts so make sure to get signed up for that as well.

Red-breasted Nuthatch Family (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

It felt like fall this week as Pedder recorded 217 new bands including the first Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Hermit Thrushes of the year. There are also higher numbers of Lincoln’s and Fox sparrows to brighten the colder mornings. It was a banner week for Swainson’s Thrushes with 32 being banded this week alone. Another highlight of the week was a visiting family of nuthatches; three Red-breasted Nuthatches were all caught in net 14. Some keen observers managed to spot a Ring-billed Gull and a Marbled murrelet which are both new observations for the season at Pedder.

Two subspecies of Orange-crowned Warbler. orestera(left) and lutescens(right) (Samuelle Simard-Provencal)

Rocky Point recorded 248 new bands including the first Steller's Jay and two of the first three Golden-crowned Sparrows of the week. Sparrow numbers in general continue to trend up with 10 Fox Sparrows and 23 Lincoln’s Sparrows banded this week alone. The real banding treat of the week was three Sharp-shinned Hawks! This is particularly remarkable as both stations combined caught a total of six Sharpies over the past three years. The record number remains for now, 10 banded at Rocky Point in 2002.

Volunteers with their Sharpies! (Rebecca Golat-David Bell)

How do you know it’s September? When Northern Saw-whet Owls appear. September 1st yielded the first Saw-whet of the year to the delight of the crew that day. That was far from all the observations from last week though; Sandhill Crane, Black Swift, Horned Lark are all new for the season and on September 4th, right on schedule a Lewis’s Woodpecker.

Seawatch has been good besides a few foggy days. When it is a clear day we can spot the occasional Short-tailed Shearwater and Sooty Shearwater. New observations for the season include Cassin’s Auklet, Western Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Caspian Tern and best of all, David Bell spotted a Leach's Storm-Petrel on the 7th. Large numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes have also been moving through the area.

Orca with kelp on its dorsal fin (Mark Byrne)

Rocky Point had the pleasure of a few sightings of Orcas over the week. On September 4th the pod attempted to swim through the channel but got a bit tangled up in the kelp and decided to turn around. Praying Mantis season is here at Rocky with daily sightings. This introduced species  is common in early to mid September on sunny days in the tall grass. Continued sightings of American Mink, Harbour Porpoises, and Humpbacks are always a treat.

Praying Mantis (Rebecca Reader-Lee)