Rocky Point Bird Observatory: 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...