Week 7: Down in the Bayou

The beginning of September usually marks a turning point in the season for us, as our early season migrants are mostly gone, our late season migrants begin to arrive, the weather begins to change, and the hopes for vagrant birds increase. It also marks a change in our staffing, as our summer interns Evan and Heather head back to school (along with some of our volunteers!), and our fall intern Gaelin begins his time with us. Good luck to all of you, and welcome Gaelin!

The bird of the week! Can you ID it? (David Bell)

Despite the heat and high pressure that persisted through the week, and the smoke haze from fires burning well to the south of us, the birds were moving, and our most exciting bird of the week likely felt right at home in the heat! Although some nights showed good movements of migrants on the nocturnal radar, the nets were fairly slow this week, as seems to be typical on hot, sunny days during fall migration. It seems that the birds mostly either keep going or land farther inland on these days, and likely don’t move around as much when they are on site. This gave us plenty of time for observations and keeping up with our station chores such as maintenance and data entry, though! If you are interested in seeing how many birds move each night, check out BirdCast for Clallam County, WA, here: https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-WA-009.

The month began with quite the sunrise at Rocky Point! (Mara Hanneson)

Rocky Point sunrise (David Bell)

We just couldn't get enough! (David Bell)

Our top capture this week was Lincoln's Sparrow, with 71 individuals banded between the two stations. Rocky Point banded a total of 269 birds, only a little below the Week 7 average of 289. This put Rocky Point over the 2000 mark for birds banded this season, a full six days earlier than the previous earliest date to reach this milestone! Pedder Bay was a bit slower, as has been the norm this season, with 185 birds banded, a fair bit below the average of 281 for this week. The only new species captured this week was a Sharp-shinned Hawk at Rocky Point; hopefully we will catch more of these tiny raptors in the coming weeks! While no rare species were captured at either station this week, some uncommonly-banded birds included two Barred Owls, two Hutton's Vireos, a Cassin's Vireo, and a Black-throated Gray Warbler at Rocky Point, while Pedder Bay caught a Black-throated Gray Warbler, three Townsend's Warblers, and a Black-headed Grosbeak. 

This Yellow Warbler was the 2000th bird banded at Rocky Point this season (David Bell)

Townsend's Warblers (Mara Hanneson)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Mara Hanneson)

Brown Creeper (David Bell)

A nice male Oregon Junco (Heather Tocher)

Our “oldest bird of the week” award this week went to a Spotted Towhee originally banded at Rocky Point in 2017 as a hatch-year, making it seven years old now. As it was in the process of completing its prebasic molt, it was looking a little rough, missing most of its head feathers. We hope it will finish molting soon and get back to looking its best! The runner-up at Rocky Point was a Chestnut-backed Chickadee banded in 2019; surprisingly it was caught twice this week (on the 5^th and 7^th), and both times in Net 8 – you’d think it would learn! Pedder Bay's contender was a White-crowned Sparrow originally banded in 2018; it was also caught last week, and both captures this season have been in the same net as well (Net 14)!

A very old Spotted Towhee, in very heavy molt (David Bell)

With migration shifting, and several days passing the 100-species mark at Rocky Point, it’s no surprise that we had a number of new birds seen at the stations on ‘obs’ this week and a few highlights. New arrivals at Rocky Point included Short-billed Dowitcher, Hermit Thrush, Gadwall, and Broad-winged Hawk, while new arrivals at Pedder Bay included Ring-billed Gull and American Pipit. The highlight of the week at Pedder Bay was a Dusky Flycatcher observed on the 5th, marking a first record for the site. Highlights at Rocky Point included flocks of Sabine's Gulls on the 1st, a Cassin's Auklet on the 2nd, and a Lewis’s Woodpecker and three Arctic Terns on the 6th. The biggest highlight of the week also occurred on the 6th, and rather outshone those other species, any of which could normally be the bird of the week! I've copied the story from my eBird report here:

"Kate and I (DB) did the 11:50 net run to the front as I was going to retrieve my scope and do some last-minute obs before closing time. I was only a few steps ahead of her and focused more on the ocean, when I heard Kate say "uhhhh, Dave?! Raptor? Pale?! What is this?!". As soon as she said my name I turned around and looked where she was looking, to see a medium-sized raptor with narrow, pointed wings circling above the front ponds. As I got my bins up it was turning away from us, and I thought "huh that Peregrine looks a bit weird". As it turned back toward us it clicked first that it was a Kite, and then as it fully swung around it was clear that it was a MIKI! I yelled on the radio for everyone to come up to the front, and luckily the bird stuck around circling for a few minutes, allowing everyone to get good views and photos. After a few minutes it made a beeline out toward Bentinck, and seeing the coast over that way, it turned around and zoomed back inland toward Pedder Bay. We alerted the team there but unfortunately it must have passed by too far for them to see.

First record for BC, a new Canada bird for me, and coincidentally my 500th species photographed in Canada!! What a day."

Incredibly, after this sighting I remembered that I had sent a note to our group chat about a Mississippi Kite seen in Sitka, Alaska back on 28 July of this year, where I had hoped we would catch it on its journey south. I looked up the eBird record, and was simultaneously shocked but also not really surprised (it was a first record for Alaska, and is almost 2000 km away from its nearest usual range!) to see that it looked very similar to our bird! After comparing photos, it shows a lot of the same plumage characteristics and is almost certainly the same bird, six weeks and 1250 km away from where it was first seen! That record can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S189309547, with more information on the species here: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/miskit/cur/introduction. It's not every day you get to add a species to a provincial list! Now we just have to hope it makes another appearance so more people can see it!

Mississippi Kite!!! (David Bell)

Lewis's Woodpecker (David Bell)

Wildlife this week included Black Bear, Humpback Whales, bats, mink, the usual curious deer around the stations, the family of Eastern Gray Squirrels at Pedder which has now moved up the hill, and various interesting insects. The Black Saddlebags made their first appearance of the season this week, and the European Mantis have been out in numbers with the sunny days, while some brilliant blue-green cuckoo wasps (unknown species) have been out as well. Another invertebrate highlight was a squid species that floated by Rocky Point one day this week.

Black Saddlebags (David Bell)

European Mantis (David Bell)

As always, a big thank-you to all of the volunteers who came out this week to help out! There are still plenty of available slots on the schedule, and with migration picking up (and owls starting on the 15th), it's a great time to be at the stations!

Week 7 totals - click to enlarge

Smoky sunrise at Rocky Point (David Bell)