Week 5: There's nothing hawkward about it!

 Week 5 at Rocky Point Bird Observatory is coming to an end with 234 birds banded at Rocky Point and 108 at Pedder Bay. The most frequently banded bird was the White-crowned Sparrow at both stations, with 36 individuals at Rocky and 20 at Pedder. Both migration stations were treated to season firsts as well as interesting flora and fauna to keep the slower days exciting for all! 

Jannaca Chick displaying the wing of a Sharp-shinned Hawk (Emma Radziul)

Rocky Point celebrated the station's 1000th bird of 2023 - a hatch-year male MacGillivray's Warbler! This week saw the station's first Townsend's Warbler of the season and our first Sharp-shinned hawk of the year! In fact, this hawk was recaptured in the nets the following day! Other highlights were the first Red-breasted Nuthatches of the season (more on those below). We wrapped up the week with a season total of 1011, which is on par with the average of 1020. We had close calls with both Steller's Jays and Barred Owls narrowly evading the nets on several occasions. Keep your fingers crossed for next week! Sea-watch observations were notably high this week, including a flock of Sabine's Gulls and large numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes streaming through (15,000 on Wednesday alone).

The 1000th bird at Rocky Point - A male hatch-year MacGillivray's Warbler (James Kennerley)

Townsend's Warbler (Evan Lewis)

Pedder Bay experienced a slower week, reaching a season total of 744 birds - a number well below the season average of 966. However, we were still treated to some interesting birds! This season's first Intergrade Northern Flicker was banded on Monday - what is an intergrade, you may ask? It is the product of two sub-species. In this case, we are in an overlap zone where both Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers are found. When these two sub-species produce offspring they will be considered intergrade! The station was also treated to the first Hammond's Flycatcher and Black-throated Gray Warbler of the year. The slower weeks can offer opportunities for more training, observations, and general maintenance. Thanks to several volunteers the nets are now mended and ready for the busier weeks to come!

Hatch year male Black-throated Gray Warbler - our logo bird! (David Bell)

Sunrise viewed from "the hill" (Mara Hanneson)

Intergrade Northern Flicker (Emma Radziul)

Have you heard of the term "spark bird"? It's used to describe the species that sparked your interest in birding. It isn't necessarily a rare or even remotely uncommon bird, but more likely a species you've encountered many times without taking notice. For me (Intern Mara) the Red-breasted Nuthatch was my spark bird. I've always appreciated my avian encounters, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I started to pay closer attention to what I was seeing. I had marvelled at the mysterious "honking" sounds in the woods and often wondered what was making this sound (never once considering that it was a bird!). When I finally discovered what was responsible for this clown-like sound I was sold. What else had I been missing all of these years? (Spoiler - an unimaginable amount!).

A prominent fault bar made it easier to age this hatch year bird (David Bell)

Hatch year male RBNU (David Bell)

This week at Rocky Point, I was treated to two Red-breasted Nuthatches in the nets! A dream come true, and yet another highlight amongst many during my time as an intern. I want to thank each member of the RPBO team - the staff, volunteers, donors, and educators. The collective knowledge in this organization is remarkable and even more inspiring is how generous everyone is in passing on their expertise. 

For the birds! Honk-honk-honk.

A nice age comparison in California Quail (James Kennerley)

It's always a treat to view the orcas! (David Bell)

     Two encounters at Rocky Point - Great-horned Owl and Barred Owl (David Bell)

Great-blue Heron fishing at Rocky Point (Tamara Wolowicz)

Week and season totals for both stations.

Week 4: It's been a scorcher!

In Week 4, banders and volunteers alike braced soaring mercury to continue bringing you the news from Vancouver Island’s premier migration site. While the number of birds banded was similar to last week with 178 and 119 individuals banded at Rocky Point and Pedder Bay, respectively, we were treated to four species which were our first encounters in the nets this season.

Rocky Point graced us with a Hammond’s Flycatcher serving as a timely reminder to carefully check the Empids as we approach 'silly season' bringing the possibility of some cryptic goodies mixed in among the more expected species. However, Pedder Bay stole the spotlight this week with the first Lincoln’s Sparrow and Townsend’s Warbler of the year and the pièce de résistance, a Pileated Woodpecker!

Hammond's Flycatcher. (Photo: Mara Hanneson)

Townsend's Warbler. (Photo: David Bell)

The Pileated Woodpecker is named for its pointed red cap which is likened to the pointed ‘pileus’ hat worn by peoples of Ancient Greece and Rome—with more bird name changes on the horizon (a la Thick-billed Longspur), let's hope for more of these imaginative and whimsical names in the future! Pileateds are also the largest extant species of woodpecker in North America so somewhat unsurprisingly, they possess some substantial headgear that banders and extractors need to treat with particular respect! Its large size and carpentry skills make it a keystone species and they have a profound impact on their ecosystems through creating some of the largest tree cavities in the forest. Who knows, our Western Screech Owl from last week may have even been raised in a cavity created by a Pileated Woodpecker! 

Bander-in-charge, David Bell, carefully extracting the Pileated Woodpecker under the watchful eye of long-time volunteer Ann Scarfe who initially discovered the giant in our midst. (Photo: Lauren Wiegel)

Ann's Pileated earrings were clearly a good omen! Please leave a comment if you know where to find Little Bunting jewellery... 

The striking underwing of the Pileated Woodpecker.  We can age this bird as a hatch year based on its state of moult and mix of juvenile and formative feathers. (Photo: James Kennerley)

We can tell this Pileated is a male by its scarlet malar stripe. (Photo: James Kennerley)

This Pileated Woodpecker represented the third individual ever captured at Pedder Bay and 11th during migration monitoring. Not to be left behind with the woodpecker action, Rocky Point had its first Red-breasted Sapsucker banded this year which was only the 10th captured here during migration monitoring.

Everyday with our logo bird, the Black-throated Grey Warbler, is a treat! (Photo: Evan Lewis)

The first Hutton's Vireo captured at Pedder Bay this year was a nice way to start a Thursday morning (Photo: David Bell)

American Goldfinches continue to be one of our most frequently captured species. Flocks of this sociable species often fly into the nets together keeping our extractors on their toes! (Photo: Mara Hanneson)

Away from the mist nets, the Northern Parula and Grey Catbird continued to put in appearances at Rocky Point and we enjoyed increases in the numbers of warblers around with mixed flocks getting the adrenaline pumping. Being by the nutrient-rich Salish Sea, we are also incredibly lucky to be constantly left in awe by the marine fauna on our doorstep and we enjoyed our first sighting of a Sea Otter this season, still a somewhat unusual sight at the southern end of Vancouver Island, along with multiple sightings of Orcas and Humpback Whales. These are, of course, in addition to the daily Harbour Seals, Steller and California Sea Lions, River Otters and much more!

Sea Otter at dawn. (Photo: Mara Hanneson)

This week’s heatwave again broke local temperature records and is a constant reminder why collecting consistent long-term data on our bird populations is so important for understanding how they are responding and adapting to our rapidly changing world. This week, RPBO launched a new fundraising campaign, Every Feather Counts, to support this vital research using the data collected by our staff and volunteers over the past 29 years; please consider supporting us and help RPBO continue to advocate for the conservation of our threatened avifauna.

Week 3: We Owl Screeched For Joy

Week three of migration has come to a close with 184 new birds banded at Rocky Point and 122 at Pedder Bay. The gloomy weather this week kept the birds at bay, putting us about 25% behind the week three average for Pedder Bay and about 20% behind for Rocky Point.  But fear not, we're all looking forward to the big pushes of migration in the weeks to come. One of our earlier migrants, Western Flycatchers, stole the show at Rocky Point with 38 individuals banded. White-crowned Sparrows and American Goldfinches followed closely behind with 28 and 23 individuals banded, respectively. Pedder Bay didn't see quite the same push of migrants this week, with 10 Wilson's Warblers taking the top spot, followed by 9 Purple Finches while Bushtits, Western Flycatchers, Swainson's Thrushes and Spotted Towhees ended the week with 8 individuals each. 

We banded the 500th bird of the season for both stations this week, ending the week with 599 birds for the season at Rocky Point and 517 at Pedder Bay. This year, the 500th bird was a Western Flycatcher for both stations! Any guesses for #1000?

Observations around the stations have been interesting as always, with Roosevelt Elk greeting us in the front field of Rocky a few times this week, and Black Bears seen at both stations. The Big Backyard Bioblitz was this weekend and the banders spend much of their downtime observing the biodiversity around the stations. One of which was the Locust Sawfly, a first observation for western Canada!

A Locust Sawfly photographed by David Bell.

A Roosevelt Elk at Rocky Point photographed by James Kennerley.

One of our earliest migrants, the Rufous Hummingbird, has mostly passed through at this point in the season, but we're still catching the occasional Anna's Hummingbird. This young male is just starting to grow in its brilliant gorget feathers. Next year, this individual will have a full throat and head covered in bright pinks and purples. 

A young male Anna's Hummingbird photographed by James Kennerley.

We had no season's first for banding this week, but both Purple Finches and Western Tanagers are having a good season so far, and this week was no exception. We banded our second Cassin's Vireo of the season, this time an after hatch year individual. Note the more defined "spectacles" than the hatch year bird banded last week that you can see in the previous blog post.

An after hatch year Cassin's Vireo photographed by Emma Radziul.

However, the star of the show this week was far and away a bird banded by Emma on August 7th. A first record for the migration program at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, and the inspiration for this week's blog title... A Western Screech-Owl! This individual is very young, still mostly in its very fluffy juvenile plumage. This elusive species is hard to come by on Vancouver Island, and even Rocky Point's owl banding program has only one banding record of the species, so you can imagine the surprise when we found this one in the net just after sunrise!

A Juvenile Western Screech Owl photographed by Emma Radziul.

We had a couple of older recaps this week, including this pair of Spotted Towhees caught at Pedder Bay on August 10th. Recapturing birds year after year provides us with valuable data on the survivor rate and life-span of these species. These two were banded in 2019 and 2020, both as hatch year birds. Can you tell which is which?

    

Two adult Spotted Towhees photographed by David Bell

Trick question! We can't tell which is which just from these photos either. However, these photos show a great example of what moult looks like in the flight feathers of birds. In the first image, the Spotted Towhee is just starting to grow in some new feathers in the centre of the wing. In the second image, we can see this bird has replaced a couple of feathers in the centre of the wing (the darker feathers) that contrast heavily with the worn, browner feathers. This is called a moult limit. Birds generally replace their flight feathers once a year, so since we can see two generations of feathers in the wing we know these birds are at least 2 years old. In a lot of cases, thats the best we can do, which is why you often see us refer to birds as "after hatch year". Without banding, we would never be able to know exactly how old these birds are!

It's always nice to get multiple ages of a species on the same net round, as it makes it much easier to see the differences! Here we have a hatch year (left) and after hatch year (right) bushtit! 

A hatch year male (left) and an after hatch year female (right) bushtit. Photographed by Evan Lewis.

A fiery sunrise at Rocky Point photographed by Evan Lewis.

One of the many hatch year White-crowned Sparrows we have banded this year. Photographed by Mara Hanneson.

A hatch year Common Yellowthroat male, with just enough black coming in to the face to sex it. Photographed by Mara Hanneson.

Our season and weekly totals so far (click to enlarge).

Week 2: White Gold, and Turquoise Jewels

The second week  of migration monitoring with Rocky Point has flown by. Warm clear evenings, giving way to seasonal mid 20s blue sky days have filled the week. Volunteers and staff have enjoyed banding 226 new birds at Rocky Point and 145 at Pedder Bay this week.

Common Yellowthroat (photo: D. Bell)

 At Rocky Point, we saw a push of migrating Western (formerly known as Pacific-slope) Flycatchers, along with large flocks of American Goldfinches and White-crowed Sparrows from the nets. If you were at Pedder Bay, you would likely have seen our most numerous bird banded, the Rufous Hummingbird -- which is always a treat to see up close and personal. The next most numerous bird at PB this week was the gangly-legged, large-eyed Swainson's Thrush.  

Year-to-date we have banded 339 new birds at Rocky Point and 343 at Pedder Bay.  

 The rare birds are rolling in early, and this featured sightings of the continuing Northern Parula (Jul 27-Aug 1, & Aug 3), and Gray Catbird (July 30). Both of these adult birds have been seen molting their flight feathers, and likely will remain on site until completion of their molt, but we will see! A brilliant adult male Lazuli Bunting was spotted by Robyn and Mark Byrne, and came close to (but not quite) the nets (seen July 30-31). A wayward juvenile White-winged Crossbill was detected by Joachim Bertrands (Aug 1), which is the third record of this species for Rocky Point!

 

Top: Northern Parula, Bottom: Lazuli Bunting (photo: M. Byrne)

 

White-winged Crossbill (photo: J. Bertrands)

Mixed flocks of warblers adorn our trees, families of wrens scramble in our bushes, and flycatchers are on the snags and treetops. The full moon has caused spring tides, exposing shoreline for shorebirds. A few duck species have been seen in small numbers in the bay. Solitary or familial groups of raptors are seen overhead or using the land. 

Comparison of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (photo: J. Bertrands)

 

This week's notable banded birds include Rocky Point's first detection (July 27) then banding (Aug 2) of Savannah Sparrow. This species will become more numerous as the season progresses. A Cassin's Vireo was banded at Pedder Bay -- we only get a few of this species in the nets each season. 

Cassin's Vireo (photo: D. Bell)

 

If you've been thinking this year's program is off to a slow start, you'd be correct. Pedder Bay is having the all-time lowest season to date, and is 43 birds below the next lowest year (2012). We are currently 29.6% below average at that site. Rocky Point is 20.2% below average and the 4th lowest year to date. (However, the lowest year saw Rocky Point not open the first few days, and the current year is only 9 and 1 higher than the 2nd and 3rd lowest years). Our Rocky Point site has run standardized protocols since 2000, and Pedder Bay has been open since 2012.  

Red-breasted Sapsucker (photo: D. Bell)

During this slower period, volunteers have taken the opportunity to upgrade or learn new skills. This week saw several folks band their first bird, practice bird identification skills, hone auditory bird detecting, get bird handling experience or learn to extract birds from nets. Rocky Point Bird Observatory collaborates with volunteers from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of skill sets, and we are happy to meet you where you are and lift up your field birding skills. Volunteers, please let your bander-in-charge know of your learning goals. We are happy to help you meet these goals, and no question is a bad question!!

 Thank you to all volunteers and staff who have come out and made this week of monitoring possible. Here's to a successful ongoing 2023 season.