Week 1: The Beginning

 Rocky Point Bird Observatory is back in action for the 2026 Fall Migration monitoring season! From July 21st to October 18th, we will be operating both Rocky Point (RP, no public access) and Pedder Bay (PB, open to the public). This blog is where you can check in weekly for updates on our captures as well as general goings-on around the stations. For other updates, check us out on socials @rockypointbird.  More information including sign up for visitors is available on our website: https://rpbo.org/ !

Our crew this year is a great blend of experience and new ideas and we are all super excited to be out working with the countless volunteers in the coming months! The team is comprised of our Bander-In-Charge Carter Strope, returning Banders Rebecca Reader-Lee and Sonja Futehally. Gaelin Armstrong will also be coming back for another season in mid August when he returns from other banding forays. This year we are exceptionally excited to welcome new staff member Alessandra Kite who will be both Volunteer Trainer and Program Coordinator. Finally, myself (Adam Ross) am filling in the Assistant Bander role before Gaelin returns as a Bander soon! We are all excited for this season and look forward to a great year!

Female Red Crossbill (Adam Ross)

As always, the first week of the season started with a bang and this year, that bang came in the form of a female Red Crossbill netted at our Rocky Point station on the first day! Red Crossbill, although often detected in the area, seldom venture low enough to run (or fly) into our mist nets. This crossbill is only the 8th caught by Rocky Point Bird Observatory and the first since a pair were banded at Pedder Bay in 2020! On the first day of the season there was decent bird activity at both stations with 31 new birds banded at Pedder Bay and 52 at Rocky Point. Another highlight from the first day was a recapture Swainson's Thrush. This bird was originally banded in 2019 as a second year! The bird was recaptured twice in 2024 and now in 2026 making the bird now 8 years old! Interestingly, each time this bird has been caught, it has always been in the first week, showing how consistent individual birds can be in their migration timing! 

Bushtit (Alessandra Kite)

The first week was a good start to the season at our Pedder Bay station with 194 banded in the first week! As for highlights at Pedder Bay, many interesting birds in and around the nets include a juvenile Red-Breasted Sapsucker banded on the first day. Later in the week, the crew was treated to a bird some may consider common: a House Sparrow! Despite being common near buildings as their name suggests, we rarely catch these invasive birds at any of our stations. Thanks to our Pedder Bay station being open to the public, we were happy to welcome many visitors to the station! It is always nice to be able to educate and share about what we do in person! The most numerous bird banded at Pedder Bay this week was Swainson's Thrush (24), followed by Wilson's Warbler (20).  

BIC Carter Strope banding in front of visitors (Robyn Byrne)

Pedder Bay from "the hill" (Adam Ross)

House Sparrow banded at PB (Sonja Futehally)

The first week produced some great birds at Rocky Point with 325 new birds banded in the first week. Highlights include an adult female Red Crossbill banded on the first day and adult male Nashville Warbler banded on July 22. On July 26th, a stunning Western Tanager was caught in net 4 at Rocky. Despite this being a somewhat regularly-caught species, their bright plumage is always jaw-dropping! The crews at Rocky Point were also treated to some great recaptures including a Swainson's Thrush originally banded in 2019 and a fantastic recapture on July 27th when the team "recapped" an adult Olive-Sided Flycatcher originally banded last year as a Second Year, meaning the bird is now three years old! It is always incredible to recapture birds but even cooler when it is a species of which we catch very few. The most-banded bird at Rocky Point for the first week was Wilson's Warbler (38), followed closely by Western Flycatcher (37). Tied in third place were American Goldfinch and Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrow with 33 new birds respectively.

Adult Male Western Tanager (Adam Ross)

Nashville Warbler (Sonja Futehally)

3rd Year Olive-Sided Flycatcher (Carter Strope)

Both stations were treated to some nice naturalizing in the first week with the wolves making multiple appearances at Rocky Point and many deer with fawns at both sites. Red-Breasted Nuthatch have been very numerous at Rocky Point with many family groups around the site. Two Long-Billed Dowichers were observed at Rocky Point on July 26th along with both Least and Western Sandpipers, all in the "front pond". On July 24th, Volunteer Walter Thorne spotted and photographed a Sora with two chicks in the front pond along side a Lesser Yellowlegs! After the capture of a Red Crossbill on July 21st, many other Crossbills taunted the volunteers and staff, often feeding just above our nets. Here's hoping we get lucky again so that more of our volunteers and staff get the chance to observe this special species up close! As for Pedder Bay, on July 25th, two flyover Common Loons along with a pair of Common Mergansers provided some excitement on a slow day. Here's hoping the observations will continue to be this good over the inevitable "August doldrums"!

A coastal wolf sauntering along the road at Rocky Point (Adam Ross)

As always, huge thanks to all of the volunteers who came out in the first week! The banding team is excited to continue working alongside the volunteers in the coming months! Check out the table below for this week's banding totals for each station and stay tuned for next week's instalment of the blog!