It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Migration...

Halfway through the season already! This week the general trends of both stations continued, with Pedder Bay banding 182 new birds, slightly below the week 6 average of 208.  So far this year the total is 1048 birds, slightly below the average of 1255.  The Rocky Point station has continued to run slightly above the week 6 average of 246, banding 312 new birds this week.  The year-to-date total is 1929, well above the average of 1255.

Sunrise at Rocky Point (David Bell)

On the subject of numbers, Pedder Bay reached the 1000th birds banded! Said bird was a Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow, one of the most common species caught at this station. Rocky Point is also only 71 birds away from the 2000 bird milestone.

A hatch year White-crowned Sparrow in the spotlight (Heather Tocher)

This new week brought the first of many first of the season birds for both stations. At Pedder, the first Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Black-throated Gray Warbler and Oregon Junco were caught this week. Rocky Point had some first of the season birds as well, including a Cooper’s Hawk, Barred Owl, "Traill’s" Flycatcher, Hutton’s Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Fox Sparrow, and Townsend’s Warbler. It seems many common winter birds have begun their trip down south (or to lower elevations at least), and soon many will appear in full force. Stay tuned for next week’s blog to find out how many decide to make the flight.

The first Hermit Thrush of the season at Pedder (Evan Lewis)

The first Fox Sparrow of the season at Rocky (Heather Tocher)

Rocky's first Golden-crowned Kinglet (Heather Tocher)

The female Cooper’s Hawk (caught in net 1) and the Barred Owl (caught in net 8) were both banded on August 29th at Rocky Point! Both were hatch year birds. Since these were the first large raptors of season, we all got a bit of review on how to safely handle and extract these birds. When large birds fly into the net, they usually just bounce off, so if anyone notices a large bird in a net, they “bag it” as fast as safely possible to prevent escape.  “Bagging” a bird entails pulling the net’s trammel line that is below the pocket with the bird up to the next line, creating an enclosed pocket until safe extraction of the bird can begin. While handling these birds, the most important things to consider are the talons and wings.  One way to contain both the legs and wings is to hold the bird close to your body with a firm grip on both legs without crossing them, as can be see in the one of the photos below.  This hold is called reverse bander's grip. To keep the encounter as low stress as possible (for both the bird and us), a bag is placed over the head when possible.

 Cooper's Hawk being held in reverse bander's grip (Heather Tocher)

Mara in the process of banding her first COHA (Heather Tocher)

Our art board getting decorated (Emma Radziul)

Inspiration for the art board- Barred Owl being weighed safely in a wrap (Heather Tocher)

Wing spread of Barred Owl, showing its namesake barred feathers (Mara Hanneson)

Some other notable birds at Rocky Point included two Red-winged Blackbirds (HY male and AHY female), and a Brown-headed Cowbird.  The Red-winged Blackbirds showed a great example of sexual dimorphism. The most obvious example of this is the plumage difference in adult males and females, but this young male had not yet grown in its red wings.  Despite this, there still was a significant differences in their size. The male weighed in at 63.1g, while the female was only 40.6g!

Comparison between hatch year male (left) and after hatch year female (right) RWBL (Evan Lewis) 

The influx of pelagic birds has continued through to week 6. Some species observed from Rocky Point were Red-necked Phalaropes, Jaegers (Parasitic and Pomarine), Sabine’s Gulls, a Franklin's Gull, and  Shearwaters (Sooty and Pink-footed). On top of these great birds, the same fish and krill that attracts birds brings other wildlife. On August 29^th, many of us were able to see a pod of three orcas as well as a humpback whale.  As with previous weeks, there was one large male (large, straighter dorsal fin) with other female and young orcas (smaller, more curved fins).

Female/ immature (left) and male (right) orcas (Heather Tocher)

At Pedder Bay, Golden-crowned Sparrows and Steller’s Jays, both of which are commonly seen during winter and fall, have been observed near the station. They have not yet hit the nets, but they have certainly started to arrive. One interesting bird that was caught at Pedder this week was a hatch year Wilson’s Warbler with a single leucistic tail feather. This strange characteristic can occur due to a genetic mutation causing little to no pigment to color the feather.

HY Wilson's Warbler with leucistic feather at Pedder (Heather Tocher)

Now, a little bit of background on myself. I am one of the three interns working at RPBO this season, and despite my internship coming to an end, I look forward to volunteering in the future to continue this journey in banding.  Currently, I am going into my second year at UVIC, pursuing a combined major in Biology and Earth Science.  Prior to joining the station as an intern, I had been birding for about 5 years, but was only introduced to the wonderful world of banding last year through a banding workshop for youth in Alberta.  My time here has been packed with amazing experiences, and I have learned more than I could have ever imagined about the basics of bird banding.  I hope to continue pursuing my passion for field biology after completing my degree, and this experience will no doubt be an invaluable steppingstone for my future. I have vastly enjoyed my time at RPBO, and would like to thank everyone who made this such an amazing, and educational, experience!

This was a great week, made possible by the many wonderful volunteers that spend their time helping protect and advocate for these amazing animals. If you are interested in volunteering, please find more information on our website, https://rpbo.org/

Grand totals of week six (click to enlarge)