This week RPBO was happy to document a second-year female Black-and-white Warbler at Rocky Point.
On July 22nd, an unusually postured, contrastingly-colored warbler was tentatively spotted but without sufficient viewability to confirm the bird's identification. But on July 31st the bird was refound, and positively identified, photographed and viewed by many on site. The Black-and-white Warbler creeps along tree trunks or branches in a style more typical of a nuthatch foraging for insects. It's a common eastern warbler, but only rarely makes its way past the Rocky Mountains into western British Columbia. It has a high, thin "weesa weesa weesa..." (with five to ten repetitions) song and a lower pitched sharp, dry chip call. This individual was seen foraging on trunks of alders between our banding station and Net 10, and continued on August 2nd.
Rocky Point's only other observation record of Black-and-white Warbler was from September 27th, 2009.
Keeping on the "black" theme, a Merlin (suckleyi or "Black" subspecies) was mist-netted on July 29th at Rocky Point. This represents a second banding record for RPBO, and it was wonderful to observe this after-second-year male's intricate plumage markings in the hand.
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| "Black" Merlin (photo: David Bell) |
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| Head-on Merlin (photo: David Bell) |
In the nets, Rocky Point banded 234 new birds this week which is more birds than the Week 2 average (197). Its current year-to-date total at the end of Week 2 is on par with the average end of Week 3 numbers. Averaging 33 birds banded per 6-hour monitoring day, Rocky Point's most numerous captures this week were Wilson's Warbler (39), Western Flycatcher (34) and White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis ssp.) (17). Down by the ocean, the thistle has gone to seed bringing American Goldfinch (12) to our front nets, and MacGillivray's Warblers were also caught in good numbers this week (16).
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Hatch-year Wilson's Warbler (photo: Emma Radziul)
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Often flocking in July and early August, but rarely mist-netted, Rocky Point caught six (!) swallows (four Barn and two Violet-green) in Nets 1 and 2 this week.
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| Juvenile Violet-green Swallow (photo: Emma Radziul) |
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| Wing morphology of above Violet-green swallow (photo: Emma Radziul) |
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Young Barn Swallow with gape (photo: David Bell)
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Other less-commonly banded birds in the nets at Rocky Point included three Red-winged Blackbirds (two juveniles and one adult female).
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3 photos showing plumage details on a Hatch-year Red-winged Blackbird (photos: David Bell)
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We continued to observe several Olive-sided Flycatchers, which is a Species at Risk in Canada, and banded two more individuals (a breeding female and a hatch-year juvenile; likely mother and child). This brings us to five of these large flycatchers banded at our Rocky Point station this season, for a new season record.
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| Hatch-year juvenile Olive-sided Flycatcher (on left) and adult female (on right) (photo: David Bell) |
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Dignified definitive-plumaged Olive-sided Flycatcher (photo: Mara Hanneson)
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Pedder Bay banded 161 new birds this week, which is a bit below average for Week 2 (177), but the year-to-date numbers were almost right on par with the long-term average (456). Averaging 23 birds per 6-hour monitoring day, Pedder Bay's most numerous captures were Chestnut-backed Chickadee (18), Purple Finch (17), and Wilson's Warbler (16).
Pedder Bay saw five hatch-year Rufous Hummingbirds in the nets, who were readying themselves for their first extreme migration (the longest migration of any avian species relative to the bird's body length).
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| Hatch-year male Rufous Hummingbird, just molting in some iridescent orange-red gorget feathers (photo: David Bell) |
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Chestnut-backed Chickadee in the hand (photo: Emma Radziul)
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Also caught was this beautiful specimen of an adult male Anna's hummingbird with a full, shimmering gorget.
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After hatch-year Male Anna's Hummingbird (photo: David Bell)
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This week, Pedder Bay caught 3 Downy Woodpeckers. First-catch-of-the-year Black-headed Grosbeaks (1), and Hairy Woodpeckers (1) were also highlights. Everyone is pleased to see two individuals of one of our most colorful species, the beautiful Western Tanager, in the hand.
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Colorful Western Tanager (photo: David Bell)
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Every day at either Pedder Bay or Rocky Point is a pleasure. Wildlife continues to abound. Photographed this week was evidence of wolves in the south inlet at Pedder Bay (fresh tracks, soon to be washed away by the advancing tide). Both Northern red-legged frogs and Pacific tree frogs were photographed at Rocky Point in the light rain of early week. This week, a little bat was also caught early morning. It was expertly removed from the net and released flew off to roost for the day.
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| Accidental capture of Myotis sp. in the mistnets (photo: Mara Hanneson) |
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| A Northern red-legged frog from Rocky Point (photo: David Bell) |
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Wolves in the estuary (photo: David Bell)
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Please consider joining us at our Pedder Bay (public access) or Rocky Point (restricted access) on a volunteer or guest basis. Find out more about volunteering here (https://rpbo.org/how-you-can-help/volunteer/) and help Rocky Point achieve its goals of study, education and advocacy for birds and wildlife.
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| The team at work (photo: David Bell) |
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| Sunrise with sunbeams over Pedder Bay (photo: Evan Larson) |
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