Week 8: The Ascent

 As we transitioned into week 8 of migration monitoring, both stations maintained the moderate volume of passerines that we have been accustomed to throughout these rainless weeks. Though our numbers have been climbing gradually, we have been lacking in weather systems to stall migration movements and produce days of high volume when the skies clear up. That is, until the smoke arrived. As the north-east winds dragged with them billows of smoke from interior wildfires, many migrating birds put a halt on their journey to wait out the smoke cover. And when the skies finally cleared on the night of the 13th, a massive push in migration was reflected in our net lanes!

A smoke-tinged sunrise at Rocky Point. (Ashlea Veldhoen)

On the 14th of September, the Rocky Point (RP) and Pedder Bay (PB) stations both produced their highest volume days this season with 167 and 129 new birds, respectively. This week RP yielded a total of 454 new birds, with PB bringing in a solid 413. The average for Week 8s at these stations are 295 and 287, respectively. With the bustling week past, we’re on pace for our 2nd busiest season of all time! Top captures at RP included Pacific-slope Flycatcher (70), Lincoln’s Sparrow (64), and White-crowned Sparrow (54). PB’s most common species banded were Lincoln’s Sparrow (98), Swainson’s Thrush (52), and Fox Sparrow (44). Not only did this week yield us large days but also some new species for the season! RP saw its FOY Sharp-shinned Hawk, Audubon’s Warbler, Hutton’s Vireo, and Hermit Thrush. PB was reacquainted with its first Golden-crowned Kinglet and Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season, and both stations shared in their first Golden-crowned Sparrow and Gambel’s subspecies of the White-crowned Sparrow.

FOY Audubon's Warbler (David Bell)

FOY Hutton's Vireo! (David Bell)

The Pacific-slope Flycatcher that broke our season record! (David Bell)

As I'm sure most of you know, volunteering at Rocky Point Bird Observatory is rewarding, enlightening, and exciting! We are always glad to share knowledge and create memories with our large team of dedicated scribes, extractors, census-takers, and bird-bag-makers. Some volunteer highlights from this week include long-time member Rebecca Reader-Lee banding her first Sharp-shinned Hawk, our visiting volunteer Louis Driver banding a Townsend's Warbler as his 100th species banded, and brand new volunteer Lauren Wiegel releasing her first Anna's Hummingbird! I'm sure their facial expressions get the point across!

Rebecca banding a SSHA (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Louis' 100th banded species, a Townsend's Warbler (David Bell)

Lauren releasing an Anna's Hummingbird (Ashlea Veldhoen)

In other news, some construction has been happening at the Rocky Point station this week! Our hard working volunteers spent some quiet net rounds assembling an impermanent MOTUS tower for the remainder of the passerine and owl migration season. If you are unfamiliar, MOTUS towers are receivers for radio telemetry tags that are small transmitters applied to some owls and passerines. If a bird carrying this tag passes through a tower's range, it will recognize the unique frequency of that tag and record its date, time and location. With this technology we are learning more about the migration paths of many different species. Learn more at motus.org

Dedicated volunteers hoisting the MOTUS tower! (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Observations at the stations can include an incredible amount of species of birds, but we all know that the presence of wildlife does not stop there. Every now and then we are greeted by a bumbling bear or a curious mink (who force us to keep a close eye on our nets!). The preliminary flocks of Sandhill Cranes have been giving us incredible views of their lanky profiles and sharing their dinosaur-like calls with our ears. The diversity, grace, and curiosity of these animals remind us of the beauty and importance of the area we occupy, and to share it with our non-human relatives as if they were our own family.

A large (and likely in-charge) American black bear perusing the shore (David Bell)

A resident mink slinking around the rocky beach (David Bell)

Sandhill Cranes displaying their impressive wingspan (David Bell)

As migration climbs to its crescendo, we are excited to see more birds in the nets and welcome back our winter-species! Mid-September also means it's time for owl banding to commence, so if you're keen on being apart of a nighttime banding experience sign up as a visitor or volunteer before all the spots are taken up! We are very excited to see some new and returning faces to our owl program.

A smoky census at the Rocky Point station (David Bell)

Weekly and season species totals

Details of Week 8's banding totals