Welcome to the 2022 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 (public). This year we’d like to give a warm welcome to our new bander, Julian Powers, who is joining us from Ontario! Past banders Emma Radziul and Siobhan Darlington will be joining us for short stints in August, and past intern Ashlea Veldhoen will be joining us in September as a bander. We’d also like to welcome our interns for this season: Aiva Noringseth and Evan Lewis, who will be with us for July and August, and Sonja Futehally, who will be joining us in September. I (David Bell) am returning for my fifth season as our bander-in-charge. We’d also like to thank all of the volunteers who came out to help for our opening week! We had a good turnout and some good numbers for those who were able to make it out. There are still plenty of shifts available in the coming weeks; if you haven’t yet, please sign up for some shifts!
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| Bird number one of the season was a Pacific-slope Flycatcher at 5:33am, 21 July, Pedder Bay (not this particular individual though! -David Bell) |
This week was the opposite of our opening week last year, with Pedder taking top spot and setting a new record-high first day of 91 new bands and five recaptures! Rocky was a little slower off the mark, with 51 new bands and two recaptures the first day. This trend continued through the week, and Pedder ended week one with 330 new bands, good for second-highest all time (highest 364, average 280). Rocky ended the week at 256, right about at the week one average of 250. As usual, Wilson’s Warblers (Cardellina pusilla, in case the blog title was confusing) featured heavily in our first week, coming in at number one with 113 banded this week between the stations! Other top captures were Orange-crowned Warbler (52), Swainson's Thrush (50), and Rufous Hummingbird (44). Our other usual first week 'Top 3' of Pacific-slope Flycatcher and White-crowned Sparrow were relegated to fifth and sixth place this year (with 39 and 38 banded, respectively). Other notable trends in the nets this week were the large numbers of Brown-headed Cowbirds at Rocky Point, and Chipping Sparrows at Pedder Bay. With 19 cowbirds banded, we are already tied for the third-highest season total at Rocky Point in just the first week! Still 12 weeks to go to catch another 8 and break the record. The Chipping Sparrows (21 banded this week) still have a ways to go to beat the Pedder season total of 35, but it is notable that we have caught more this year so far than in the past three seasons combined at Pedder Bay.
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| Wilson's Warblers were our top capture of Week 1 (Aiva Noringseth) |
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| An after-hatch-year Wilson's Warbler in heavy molt! (Julian Powers) |
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| A nice example of a 'fault bar' (Ann Nightingale) |
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| An old female Red-winged Blackbird (Evan Lewis) |
Our “oldest recap of the week” award went to a male Willow Flycatcher captured at Rocky Point on the 27th; originally banded as a hatch-year in 2015, he is now seven years old! Only four and a bit more years to go until he breaks the longevity record for the species. Runner-up was a Swainson’s Thrush from Pedder Bay, originally banded in 2017 as an after-hatch-year, making it at least six years old.
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| A seven-year-old Willow Flycatcher (David Bell) |
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| What a seven-year-old Willow Flycatcher's wing looks like! (Jannaca Chick) |
No rare species were seen this week at either station, but migration is definitely under way with a steady stream of Rufous Hummingbirds and small flocks of swallows going across the Strait from Rocky Point, and a decent diversity of shorebirds seen at both stations. Nocturnal migration is also starting to pick up, as visible on the local radar (check out https://atmos.uw.edu/current-weather/northwest-radar/ after sunset or before sunrise), so hopefully some goodies will move in during the coming weeks! An Olive-sided Flycatcher is sitting on eggs behind the station at Rocky Point - quite late in the year for this, but it does provide entertainment between net rounds. A few ‘obs highlights’ were a couple of Caspian Terns and, surprisingly, a House Sparrow at Rocky Point – neither species is seen very often there! Fog in the strait hampered seawatch efforts this week, but our first flock of Red-necked Phalaropes of the season were seen after the fog burned off on the 27th. The Nazca Booby that was drifting around the Salish Sea unfortunately has not paid us a visit...yet!
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| Olive-sided Flycatcher on her nest (David Bell) |
On the wildlife front, some lucky folks were treated to sightings of Orcas and Humpback Whales this week at Rocky Point! Other furry creatures around included the usual Black-tailed Deer (one with twin fawns is frequenting Pedder Bay), Mink, and Eastern Cottontails. In the non-furry category, a few Rough-skinned Newts, an interesting Nudibranch, and some Spreadwing damselflies were at Rocky Point, while a few Elegant Rein Orchids have sprung up on the hill at Pedder Bay.
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| Elegant Rein Orchid (David Bell) |
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| Twin fawns (Aiva Noringseth) |
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| Spreadwing damsel (David Bell) |
Our volunteers that have not been out to Pedder Bay yet this year may be happy to hear that the low-hanging Douglas Fir branch on the route up to the hill has been cut! It apparently gushed litres and litres of sap immediately afterward. The route is now much more enjoyable without the danger of hitting one's head.
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| Douglas Fir 'sapcicles' (David Bell) |
Pedder Bay
| 21 Jul | 22 Jul | 23 Jul | 24 Jul | 25 Jul | 26 Jul | 27 Jul | Total |
Banded
| 91 | 41 | 64 | 43 | 33 | 29 | 29 | 330 |
Species banded
| 20 | 15 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 30 |
Recap
| 5 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 55 |
Species recap
| 5 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
Rocky Point
| 21 Jul | 22 Jul | 23 Jul | 24 Jul | 25 Jul | 26 Jul | 27 Jul | Total |
Banded
| 51 | 45 | 31 | 37 | 24 | 32 | 36 | 256 |
Species banded
| 15 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 27 |
Recap
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 28 |
Species recap
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
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| Week 1 and season totals (click to enlarge) |
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| A sunny morning on the Rocky Point census route (Evan Lewis) |
