Week 11: The Winds of Change

Turkey Vultures kettling at Rocky Point (David Bell)

 

Warm, dry and breezy weather this week has continued to stir up tornadoes of turkey vultures preparing to make the journey across the Salish Sea towards their southern winter destinations. Vultures were seen in numbers upwards of 2300 at one time at the tip of Rocky Point and could be seen in a towering kettle from kilometres away at East Sooke Regional Park. The species diversity of captured birds began to change this week. Notable changes included an apparent disappearance of the flycatchers, vireos, thrushes and warblers, while numbers of Pacific Wren, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned kinglets, and Fox and Golden-crowned Sparrows beginning to increase.

Week 11 saw a total of 355 birds caught at Rocky Point and 406 at Pedder Bay. If the numbers keep up this way for the next week, we may be hitting record high numbers at Pedder Bay by the end of the season. Top species banded were Ruby-crowned Kinglet (85) at Rocky Point and Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) (60) at Pedder Bay. This week both Rocky Point and Pedder Bay surpassed 3000 birds each for the season. At RP, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet took the cake as our 3000th bird of the year, while at Pedder, a gorgeous Orange-crowned Warbler got the prize.

At Rocky Point, we had a unique Dark-eyed Junco (Cassiar) captured that was apparently of the cismontanus subspecies which breeds in the interior of the southern Yukon to central British Columbia and western central Alberta, wintering in California to Texas. An after hatch-year White-throated sparrow was among the highlights this week as was another (late) season-first with one Black-throated Gray Warbler banded this week.

Dark-eyed Junco (Cassiar) (David Bell)

White-throated Sparrow (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Black-throated Gray Warbler (David Bell)

Exciting captures this week at Pedder Bay included a Red x Sooty Fox Sparrow, a total of three Red-breasted Sapsuckers, two Northern Flickers including one Red-shafted and one Intergrade, and a beautiful hatch-year Northern Shrike, caught on top of the hill in Net 8 as it was flying through. This is only the fourth record of a capture of Northern Shrike in this history of RPBO as typically Northern Shrike migrate after Rocky's season ends, so it was a quite special bird for more reasons than one! You can occasionally see NSHR during the winter on Vancouver Island in farm fields along fencelines and powerlines in areas with open fields dotted with shrubs and bushes.

Red x Sooty Fox Sparrow (David Bell)

Red-breasted Sapsucker (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Northern Flicker (David Bell) 

Northern Shrike (Julian Powers)

As mentioned in the introduction, Turkey Vultures were really numerous this week, with a top count of 2375 vultures in view at once on October 5th. Radar from Oct 5th picked up the movement of these vultures as they crossed the Salish Sea in the afternoon, leading to some really incredible insights into the movements of these gentle and mysterious birds. A Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk was a highlight this week, with one sighted along the coast at Rocky earlier in the week.

Turkey Vultures streaming across the strait (David Bell)

Click to view live radar

Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk (David Bell)

Pacific Tree Frog (Ashlea Veldhoen)

Other species observed included a very special insect - Pedder Bay's first record of an Orange Sulphur butterfly! This tiny little butterfly was spotted by Dave Bell after banding was finished for the day. Further observations include a Pacific Tree Frog at RP, Pacific Lion's Mane Jelly (Cyanea ferruginea) on the shores of Rocky Point, a striped sweat bee (exact species unknown), praying mantis and a darkly furred mink.

Orange Sulphur butterfly (David Bell)

Pacific Lion's Mane Jelly (David Bell)

Striped Sweat Bee (David Bell)

Mink (David Bell)

One final interesting sighting included one that was heard long before seen - that of a Coast Guard Hovercraft travelling through the channel in front of the station. This huge craft was so loud that the it was difficult to hear each other on the radios while it was passing by!

Coast Guard Hovercraft (David Bell)

As the leaves fell in greater numbers this week, so the number of visitors to the station climbed. Three student groups totalling approximately 90 students ranging in age from 6 - 10 years old visited Pedder Bay station during the week to learn all about Rocky Point Bird Observatory, bird banding, migration and why we study birds. Inspiring a love of birds in the next generation brings all of us at RPBO so much joy and gives us hope that the kids of today will become the scientists, conservationists and advocates for the protection of birds in the future. 

David Bell with students at Pedder Bay Station

All in all it has been a wonderfully exciting week with so many changes in the local species to note. We still have two weeks remaining in the season, so if you'd like to join us (even for a day) as a new volunteer, please contact volunteer@rpbo.org and let us know!

 

Weekly & Season Species Totals

Week 11: Banding Totals (Click to enlarge)