Week 7: Evening prayers bring morning rares

 ves·per /ˈvespər/ noun: evening prayer.

The beginning of September here usually brings with it a change in the weather, and subsequently the birds. This year was no different, as the vanguards of winter arrived and were caught in our nets, and the steady flow of early migrants has begun to dry up. September also brings with it the hope for rarities, and to the delight of us human observers, the birds are delivering!

Vesper Sparrow! One of those drab gray-brown birds at a distance that has a lot of subtle colours and patterns when seen up close (David Bell)

Last week we said goodbye (or so we thought) to our early-season intern Mara, and welcomed back Sonja as our late-season intern. Imagine our delighted surprise when it was announced Mara could continue her internship! So, welcome back to both of you, and enjoy the busy part of the season!

Sonja receiving some instruction from James (Emma Radziul)

Both stations were relatively busy this week, with Rocky Point averaging 56 new captures per day, and Pedder Bay averaging around 46, for a total of 717 birds banded this week. Top capture was Swainson's Thrush, with 123 of them banded. Not too surprising when the early morning twilight was filled with their flight calls every day! Other top captures this week were Lincoln's Sparrow (100) and White-crowned Sparrow (93). As mentioned earlier, this week also brought with it a lot of season firsts in the nets, with Barred and Northern Saw-whet owls, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, and White-throated Sparrows making their first appearances; the latter two at both stations. White-throated Sparrow is especially interesting; usually we don't catch our first one until a bit later in the month and we've already captured four this year! The standout highlight this week was a Vesper Sparrow caught in net two at Rocky Point, part of a large flock of sparrows that hit the nets. Not only was it a first banding record for the station (second for RPBO overall after a bird at Pedder Bay in 2017), but it was a first record for the site overall! It isn't easy to add a new species to the Rocky Point list these days. Our oldest recapture this week was a White-crowned Sparrow originally banded in August 2019 at Rocky Point, now four years old.

A busy net round at Pedder Bay (Emma Radziul)

This hatch-year Barred Owl provided some excitement one morning! (Emma Radziul)

A young White-throated Sparrow (Emma Radziul)

With a few days seeing over 100 species at Rocky Point this week, and Pedder Bay even cracking the 80-species mark on one or two occasions, it's no surprise that observations outside of the nets resulted in some goodies. Rocky Point had Long-tailed Jaegers on the 1st and 4th (a dark juvenile and a light adult, respectively), a Lewis's Woodpecker on the 2nd, Sabine's Gull and Pink-footed Shearwater on the 4th, and a Bobolink and a Lazuli Bunting on the 7th. The Northern Parula also continued as of the 6th, and the Gray Catbird continued as of the 7th. One other notable bird was a dark-morph Broad-winged Hawk on the 6th; our first of this species for the season and a rare dark-morph to boot! Other season firsts at Rocky included Horned Lark (including 50+ birds on one day), Black Swift, and Lapland Longspur. Pedder Bay was a little quieter for highlight birds, but did have a flyover Bobolink on the 7th (the same bird that was picked up about 15 minutes later at Rocky!). Other season firsts at Pedder Bay included both Long-billed and Short-billed dowitchers, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Horned Lark, and Sandhill Crane. 

A more subtle sign of an influx of interior birds - an interior subspecies of Spotted Towhee, an infrequent capture here on the island (David Bell)

A nice after-hatch-year male Yellow Warbler (Sonja Futehally)

A perplexing White-crowned Sparrow; this adult bird was still sporting a mostly hatch-year crown pattern (David Bell)

Wildlife sightings this week included Black Bear, Orcas, Humpback Whales, a few curious deer that wandered through the stations, and the usual squirrel antics, voles, minks, frogs, snakes, insects, etc. that make up the non-avian fauna of the sites. We are still waiting for an unusual butterfly to make an appearance this season; so far it is mostly Pine and Cabbage Whites and Woodland Skippers with the odd Red Admiral. 

This mink has been frequently catching fish at Rocky Point - here with what might be a Ribbon Prickleback? (David Bell)

As always, a big thank-you to all the volunteers who came out this week! We've been having good success filling those slots this year and those who came out got to enjoy a multitude of species and learning opportunities! Hope to see you out there. 

If you've ever wondered what we banders do in our spare time, the answer is usually 'go birding' (Evan Lewis)

Barred Owl talons up close (Melissa Anderson)

 

Weekly totals for week 7 - click to enlarge