Week 9: Warblers and Sparrows and Jays Oh My!

 Week 9 (September 14th-20th) of Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s migration monitoring season has come to a close, bringing us into the final month of fall songbird banding. Even with the finish line creeping closer, migration remains in full swing.

In total 484 birds were banded at Rocky Point with an additional 353 at Pedder Bay, almost identical numbers to last week. While the numbers didn’t offer a change of pace, the mix of species we caught changed in several notable ways. Last week’s arrival of our first Yellow-rumped Warblers led nicely into a larger push of the species at both stations over the last several days. The “Audubon’s” subspecies that we catch was joined by the eastern and northern-breeding “Myrtle” subspecies and we caught more than four times as many of this hardy species this week as we did the week prior. While many of our other warbler species are dwindling or absent by this time we are still seeing a few Common Yellowthroat and Northern Yellow Warbler work their way south in addition to our second Townsend’s Warbler of the season at Pedder Bay.

A "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler banded at Pedder Bay (Carter Strope)

An adult male Common Yellowthroat (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

The second Townsend's Warbler banded at RPBO this year (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Fox and Golden-crowned Sparrows were among our most caught birds this week with 83 and 99 individuals, respectively, having been banded between the two sites. Swamp Sparrow was a new addition this week meaning we have now banded all three species in the genus Melospiza, which also includes Song Sparrow and Lincoln’s Sparrow.

The first and, thus far, only Swamp Sparrow banded at RPBO this year (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

A Golden-crowned Sparrow covered in blackberry juice (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Other banding highlights from this week included our first, and so far only, Cassin’s Vireo of the season, several White-throated Sparrow, and increased numbers of Steller’s Jay, Pacific Wren, and both Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

One of seven Steller's Jays banded at Pedder Bay so far this season (Carter Strope)

A White-throated Sparrow recently banded at Rocky Point (Carter Strope)

The crews of course enjoyed plenty of naturalizing at both sites including several swallowtail caterpillars and a brief glimpse at the Red-footed Booby that has been frequenting Race Rocks.

A Swallowtail Caterpillar in the cattails at Rocky Point (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Thank you all for your support and for reading another installment of our weekly blog. Our updated season totals can be found below and for more updates and highlights check out our socials @rockypointbird and check back in next week for another blog!

Week 8: Familiar Faces

    As we enter the peak of fall migration some long-awaited migrant and winter species have begun to arrive in large numbers, both in our nets and around the stations...

    It is officially Sparrow September! This week we welcomed back a wave of Oregon Juncos, Fox Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrows, Song Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows.

Fox Sparrow (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Golden-crowned Sparrow (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Female Oregon Junco (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

White-throated Sparrow (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

    Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Hammond's Flycatchers, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Pacific Wrens also made a strong appearance, bringing some small-bird representation to our nets.

Myrtle x Audubon's (intergrade) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Male Golden-crowned Kinglet (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

    Some other fun species arriving include Hermit Thrushes, Steller's Jays, and Varied Thrushes! Thus far the Steller's Jays and Varied Thrushes haven't been caught in large numbers, but we were happy to catch 4 STJA and 1 VATH this week.

Varied Thrush (Alessandra Kite)

    We were also lucky enough to catch another Northern Pygmy-Owl at Rocky, making this the first year since 2018 (2 banded at Pedder) where multiple have been banded in a season.

Northern Pygmy-Owl (Gaelin Armstrong)

    Another familiar face this week was Wilson's Warbler #2950-06806, the 6+ year old female (banded as an AHY in 2021) that was mentioned in the blog for week 2. She has almost fully completed her prebasic molt for the fall, and is now looking much more put-together than she did in August!

Wilson's Warbler #2950-06806 in her beautiful basic plumage (Rebecca Reader-Lee) 

A better look at her magnificent black cap (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

    In terms of observations we've been treated to some amazing raptor movement in the skies with large groups of hawks (including multiple Broad-winged Hawks), falcons and vultures. On the ocean both seabirds and marine mammals have been quite prevalent, with Humpback Whales, Orcas, thousands of birds (mainly gulls, alcids, loons and cormorants) taking advantage of the Pacific herring bait balls forming in the straight. We've also had a number of reptile and amphibian visitors, including Northwestern and Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes, Red-legged Frogs, and Pacific Chorus Frogs.

Kiah Jasper scoping a raptor "kettle" (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

A young Northwestern Garter Snake (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Gary the Gutter Frog, a notably loud Pacific Chorus Frog that has taken up residence in the apparently quite resonant gutter and drainpipe of our Rocky Point banding shelter (Rebecca Reader-Lee)

    Thanks as always for your interest and support for our Fall Migration Monitoring Project! For more information on the organization, how to get involved, and other RPBO projects (including our Northern Saw-Whet Owl banding which is beginning the first night of the season as I type this!), please visit our website.

Week 7 - Should I stay or should I go

Many of the birds observed at the banding stations this week are familiar to us - Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow, Western and Willow Flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrush, Wilson’s and Orange-crowned Warblers. And most of them have built up significant fat reserves, suggesting they will be migrating very soon. But this first week of September has also brought us species that we anxiously await; Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Golden Crowned-sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Steller’s Jay have been added to our list of species banded. 

Steller's Jay (Photo: Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Their arrival signals that fall migration is gaining momentum and birds will be moving through (or above!) the area in high numbers on some nights. While most birds will continue further south to their respective overwintering sites, those that do stop here, whether briefly or for the winter, are warmly welcomed.

Pedder Bay

Our most banded species at Pedder Bay this week were Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow (36), Swainson’s Thrush (35) Lincoln’s Sparrow (28), Spotted Towhee (16) and Purple Finch (15). 

Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows have also been banded this week (Photo: Sonja Futehally)

A Clay-colored Sparrow was banded on September 1^st. It’s subtle plumage appears well suited for camouflage in the dry grasses of the Great Plains where it is numerous. The individual was caught in net #12, adjacent to the Pedder Bay estuary. 

Clay-colored Sparrow (Photo: Rebecca Reader-Lee)

A Townsend’s Warbler (HY) was also banded at Pedder Bay this week. 

Townsend's Warbler (Photo: Rebecca Reader-Lee)

Rocky Point

At Rocky Point we continue to band high numbers of Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow (44), Orange-crowned Warbler (30), Swainson’s Thrush (26) and Westen Flycatcher (25). We saw a significant increase in Northern Yellow Warbler (74), Lincoln’s Sparrow (46) and Savannah Sparrow (29) in the nets, and on our daily observations.

Our banding highlight for the week was our first Steller’s Jay of the season. They appear to have returned in high numbers with over 40 individuals recorded on a single day. Also banded this week was a Red Winged Blackbird (HY-M) and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. 

Notable observations at the station were Wilson’s Snipe, Pomarine Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, Sabine’s Gull, Red-necked Phalarope, Northern Waterthrush and Gadwall. Over 300 Band-tailed pigeons were counted on September 6^th, and hundreds of Vaux’s Swifts have been observed migrating over both stations this week.

We expect both birds observed and banded to continue to increase this month at our migration monitoring stations. Thanks to all the volunteers for their efforts contributing to daily observations, census and banding operations at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, we couldn’t do it without you! Scroll down to see more photos from the stations...

Band-tailed Pigeon (Photo: Kiah Jasper)

California Quail (Photo: Kiah Jasper)

Vaux's Swift (Photo: Kiah Jasper)

AHY-M Northern Yellow Warbler (Photo: Rebecca Reader-Lee)

A significant fault bar on a HY Northern Yellow Warbler's tail (Photo: Sonja Futehally)

Week 6: Eyes on The Horizon

Week 6 of Rocky Point Bird Observatory's Migration Monitoring Program has come to an end and we are back with another blog post. We faced some challenges this week with several staff members falling ill, but with the help of our healthy crew and many dedicated volunteers we pushed through to have a productive week of songbird banding. 

Our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season at Rocky Point! (Gaelin Armstrong)

While the last 7 days did not bring many unusual catches there are plenty of things to catch up on. 276 birds were caught at Rocky Point and 150 at Pedder Bay, a similar pace to Week 5, which brings us to a total of 1501 birds banded at Rocky and 862 at Pedder! Lincoln's Sparrow and Fox Sparrow both continued to grow in numbers at both sites providing a nice change of pace and hinting at exciting things to come as migration unfolds. Week 6 also saw the first Black-throated Grey Warbler captured at Pedder Bay and the first Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Rocky Point for the 2026 season!

A newly arrived Fox Sparrow banded at Pedder Bay (Jannaca Chick)

Notable observations from the stations included Caspian Tern and our first Horned Lark of the year at Rocky Point on August 24th. Staff and volunteers are still enjoying sporadic sightings of both Wolves and Elk at Rocky with the occasional Orca as well. Columbian Black-tailed Deer are being seen at both sites with several fawns frequenting the area right behind the banding station at Pedder!

The first and only Black-throated Grey Warbler banded at Pedder Bay so far this year (Jannaca Chick)

Staff and volunteers alike eagerly await whatever migration has in store for us in the back-half of the fall and are looking forward to what is often our “busy season” here in the coming weeks. Our up-to-date banding totals can be found in the table below and for more information and highlights check out our socials @rockypointbird. We'll be back next week with another update!