With the Fall Equinox falling on the first day of Week 10 this year, the autumn feeling has certainly settled in at the stations. Fog blanketed both stations in the early mornings this week, and the Turkey Vultures have been riding the afternoon thermals. Warbler migration has slowed down and the Kinglets have arrived in earnest, bringing many falling leaves with them!
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| A foggy morning at Rocky Point (Mara Hanneson) |
This week Rocky Point banded 343 new birds, bringing the season total to 3114. Ruby-crowned Kinglets were far and away the most banded bird this week, with 61 new birds banded. Purple Finch was next, with 31 new bands, and Spotted Towhee rounded out the top three with 29 new bands. Bird #3000 for Rocky Point was a Yellow Warbler, and funnily enough, back in Week 7 a Yellow Warbler was also the 2000th bird for Rocky Point. A lucky species!
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| Bird #3000 for Rocky Point (Gaelin Armstrong) |
Pedder Bay wasn't too far behind Rocky Point this week, banding 267 new birds, bringing the season total to 1972. Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the most banded bird at Pedder as well, with 36 new birds banded. Fox Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) tied for second, with 28 new bands each, and Spotted Towhee came in third with 25 new bands. An honourable mention goes out to Golden-crowned Kinglets, with 9 banded at Rocky Point and 23 banded at Pedder Bay. Together with the Ruby-crowned Kinglets, over 20% of our new birds this week were Kinglets!
Usually recapture of the week goes to the oldest bird, but this week we had a particularly interesting recapture. This Anna's Hummingbird was banded as an after-hatch-year in 2021, making it at least 4 years old! Multi-year recaptures of any hummingbird are rare for the migration monitoring project, and one this old is particularly special. The oldest recapture of the week was a Purple Finch banded as a hatch year in 2019, making it 5 years old.
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| An after-hatch-year recaptured male Anna's Hummingbird. This individual was at least 4 years old! (David Bell) |
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| A nicely plumaged White-throated Sparrow. (David Bell) |
Further highlights at the stations this week were an after-hatch-year female Red-winged Blackbird, and two Marsh Wrens. Both of these marsh-dwelling birds are often heard around the ponds at Rocky Point, but are seldom caught. The brown streaky plumage of the Red-winged Blackbird indicates this bird is a female, and the red shoulder suggests that it is likely an after-second-year bird, but we can't know for sure!
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| An after-hatch-year female Red-winged Blackbird (Evan Lewis) |
The bird activity outside of the net lanes has also been great this week! An incredible push of Shearwaters into the strait has been entertaining us all, and getting lots of people out on boats after the nets close. The majority of the individuals seem to be Short-tailed Shearwaters, a more infrequent species in the strait. the more expected Sooty Shearwaters are in the mix as well, and a couple of Pink-footed Shearwaters have been spotted from shore during seawatch at Rocky Point.
Equally as entertaining has been the beginnings of the Turkey Vulture kettles in the afternoons, with a high count of approximately 800 individuals so far this season. As always, there have been plenty of hawks mixed in as well. Good numbers of Red-tailed Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Cooper's Hawks are a daily sight soaring with the Turkey Vultures. Additionally, this year seems to be a particularly good one for Broad-winged Hawks. They have been seen in the kettles almost daily, with a single high count so far of 7 individuals.
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| It hasn't been all fog this week! A beautiful sunrise over the Pedder Bay hill. (David Bell) |
The season is beginning to wind down, but the busiest days are likely still to come. We appreciate all the work our volunteers have put in, and we look forward to seeing you out there for the last few weeks of migration monitoring.
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| The week by the numbers! |
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