Week 13: Get in my (Buff-)belly!

 13-18 October

 

American (Buff-bellied) Pipit, Rocky Point, 17 October 2025 (David M Bell). The Austin Powers fans among you may appreciate this week’s blog title.

 

Well, that’s a wrap! The week started well at both stations. It was evident mid-October was upon us as a drop in temperature was felt, with hats and gloves being cracked out while shorts and t-shirts were folded away for the foreseeable. Monday saw 90 birds banded at Rocky Point, including 23 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and 21 Pacific Wrens. Two hatch year Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrows also visited the nets, as did a recapture Golden-crowned Sparrow who had been banded in 2021. Pedder Bay boasted 70 birds banded on the same day.

Adult Golden-crowned Sparrow at Rocky Point who had been banded there in 2021 – nice to see you again!

Pacific Wren by Rocky Point’s very own Banksy (anonymous)

Tuesday was off to a Rocky-er start, with a Roosevelt Elk charging through one of the nets. It was swiftly replaced, and 40 birds were banded there, while a first year Franklin’s Gull was observed, which would go on to linger through the week. The Bay of Pedder produced 31 new birds, including a stunning male Anna’s Hummingbird, a late Wilson’s Warbler and a Pacific Wren recaptured from last year.

A late Wilson’s Warbler with an odd colour shift in the primaries – the outer five being yellow-fringed and the inner five being greyish-fringed. This was mirrored in the primary coverts. (Max Hellicar)

 

Wednesday saw 37 birds banded at Rocky Point and 26 at Pedder Bay. Rocky’s haul included a Steller’s Jay; the 9^th individual to be banded there this season.

Max inspecting the age of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Pedder Bay while spectators observe (Liam Seward-Ragan)

 

Thursday morning was a chilly one but that didn’t stop RPBO’s first-ever American Pipit (to be banded) from going into the nets. Separate to our standardised operations, this bird was captured as part of an attempt in a different area, in order to assess the feasibility of instigating a long-term project on the species. Data from the Bird Banding Lab (https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/Bander_Portal/login/bbl_data_request_summary.php) show only 37 prior individuals to have been banded in British Columbia (1960-2025), so it is a species we really could do with learning more about here! American Pipits are a long-distance migrant which move from breeding grounds as far north as the Arctic circle to wintering grounds as far south as central America. They occupy a continuous distribution across North America, breeding across the north and wintering across the south. There is a massive gap across the centre of the continent which they only use to pass through during migration. Banding pipits can help unravel the picture of where migrating pipits, such as those passing through Rocky Point, breed and spend their winters. Two Hutton’s Vireos were also trapped at Rocky Point on Thursday; one new hatch year and a recapture from last year. Pedder Bay banded 26, including another Anna’s Hummingbird.

Hatch year American Pipit

 

Friday was another nice day at Rocky Point. Banding totalled 28 birds and included a juvenile male Sharp-shinned Hawk, the third Swamp Sparrow of the season and RPBO’s second-ever banding record of American Pipit (both hatch years). The lingering Franklin’s Gull remained, and good views were had by all! 6 Black Bears were sighted on the way out of the site; a fitting end to the penultimate day of the season. On the theme of large mammals, Roosevelt Elk have been reliably seen through the week and are always a welcome site (apart from in the net lanes!). 20 birds were banded at Pedder, where a Red-breasted Sapsucker was recaptured.

First year Franklin’s Gull (Max Hellicar)

Swamp Sparrow (Max Hellicar)

Saturday morning produced a third-ever banding record for Rocky Point in the form of a Tennessee Warbler. Previous records were in 2006 and 2019. Meanwhile at Pedder Bay, a juvenile female Sharp-shinned Hawk was captured. The end of the season was determined by rain at the latter site, with nets closed 20 minutes early as a result, ending the day on a total of 32 birds banded. Rocky Point fared mildly better, with 40 new birds captured, including a Marsh Wren. A Townsend’s Solitaire was a good observation for those on site. The last bird of the season at Pedder Bay was an adult female Ruby-crowned Kinglet, while Rocky Point’s final bird was a hatch year Pacific Wren.

Tennessee Warbler (Andrew Jacobs)

Juvenile female Sharp-shinned Hawk (Max Hellicar)

 

This week’s top five species at Rocky Point were Ruby-crowned Kinglet (88), Pacific Wren (43), Golden-crowned Kinglet (31) and Sparrow (26), followed by Spotted Towhee (19). At Pedder Bay, the top five for the week were Ruby-crowned Kinglet (49), Hermit Thrush (30), Pacific Wren (22), Fox and Golden-crowned Sparrows (20 each).

In taxonomic order, all birds banded per species during week 13 at Rocky Point (above)

In taxonomic order, all birds banded per species during week 13 at Pedder Bay (above)

 

That’s the breakdown of the week done, now let’s take a broader look at the season as a whole…

Rocky Point ended the season with a total of 4442 birds banded, comprising 72 species. This constitutes the second-best-ever autumn (since standardisation in 2000), overtaking 2019’s total of 4378 in the last few days and just pipping it to the post. 2005 still holds the title, however, with 4619 new birds. This year is well above the annual average (2000-2024) of 3296 birds banded. Totals per year fluctuate greatly, with the worst-ever year for totals being 2001 (2596 birds banded), and this is often driven by good or bad years for a select few, or even a single, species. Such fluctuations highlight the importance of long-term monitoring for the recording of population trends.

The banding totals board after the season finale at Rocky Point

In 2025, there were 886 records of recaptured birds at Rocky Point, involving 34 species and constituting a mix of those banded during this season (many of whom were repeat offenders) and those from previous years. Our primary goal is monitoring migration, many aspects of which can be achieved purely by comparing numbers of new birds per year to monitor population trends. However, recaptures build a picture of site fidelity across different years and within the same season, providing valuable results with implications for conservation. While we recapture a number of individuals of our resident species, adding to the picture of the importance of our monitoring sites to them, we have also recaptured a number of migrant individuals recently who were banded in previous years, and this multi-season site fidelity shows the importance of the area in their migratory flyway.

The final passerine to be banded this season at Rocky Point: a Pacific Wren (Adam Ross)

During our standardised migration monitoring (21 July to 18 October), Rocky Point saw its best ever year for White-crowned Sparrow (537 individuals banded), Spotted Towhee (438), American Goldfinch (260), Black-headed Grosbeak (9), Olive-sided Flycatcher (6), Palm Warbler (2) and Brewer’s Sparrow (1 – a first for Rocky Point so an automatic record year). That was a lot of White-crowned Sparrows and Spotted Towhees! Joint record years were seen for Clay-coloured Sparrow (3), Cooper’s Hawk (2), Ovenbird (1) and Tennessee Warbler (1).

Over at Pedder Bay, the season ended with 2864 birds banded, comprising 61 species. 714 recapture records were processed, involving 36 species. This marks RPBO’s fourth-worst year at Pedder Bay (or eleventh-best, depending on whether your glass is half empty or half full), falling below the 2012-2024 average of 3147 birds per season.

The banding totals board after the season finale at Pedder Bay

  

The bulk five species banded at Rocky Point this season were White-crowned Sparrow (537), Spotted Towhee (438), American Goldfinch (260), Wilson’s Warbler (242) and Western Flycatcher (226).

The bulk five species banded this season at Pedder Bay were Fox Sparrow (246), White-crowned Sparrow (222), Swainson’s Thrush (219), Hermit Thrush (215), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (211).

Male Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Andrew Jacobs). This was the final species of passerine to be banded at Pedder Bay this season.

 

As ever, sincere thanks go out to our fantastic crew of staff and volunteers who made this season possible! Many volunteers have given large sums of their own time to ensure the continued running of operations at RPBO and this never goes unnoticed. If you're interested in checking us out, do head over to rpbo.org. We hope you’ve enjoyed these weekly blogs. Stay tuned for next season’s!

 

Written by: Max Hellicar, 2025 Bander-in-Charge