Week 12: Drawing to a Close

We had another great week out at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, even though our Fall monitoring time is drawing to a close we are still been seeing decent movement in and out of the nets. We did have a couple of days this past week dampened by weather conditions - including the storm last weekend, but poor weather can also have it's benefits. A windy day followed by rain did the trick and on the 10th we saw a nice push of birds between the stations, with 99 new birds banded at Rocky and 60 new at Pedder. Aside from the days we were affected by the wind and rain we saw steady banding numbers throughout the rest of the week.

We had a bit of wind at Rocky this week by Beth Christopher

Ruby-crowned Kinglets continue to dominate our catch this week with 86 and 74 new individuals banded at Rocky and Pedder respectively. This past week they have surpassed Pacific-slope Flycatchers as the most banded bird at Rocky with 301 for the season so far! We’re still seeing good numbers of Hermit Thrush in with the Kinglets and Sparrows this week as well as a push of Pacific Wrens at Rocky with 39 new birds banded. Also in high abundance were Spotted Towhees at Rocky with 32 banded and Oregon Juncos at Pedder with 57 new birds banded. Sometimes it hard to believe we still have unbanded individuals of these two sparrow species hanging around the stations, but they keep turning up in our nets!

Cooper's Hawk by Rebecca Reader-Lee

Along with our higher volume late migrants, we’ve also had a couple first of the seasons this week. On the 6th over at Rocky Point, we caught the first Varied Thrush of the season. We also banded the first Cooper’s Hawk of the season at Pedder. We’ve had quite a few Cooper’s bounce out of the nets this past season so to get one back to the station to band felt like a long time coming. We also had Pedder’s first Stellar’s Jay of the season, a gorgeous adult, banded on the 12th with the first coming a couple of weeks ago at Rocky. We also added to our tally of White-throated Sparrows banded with 3 at Rocky and 1 at Pedder. A late Hammond’s Flycatcher was also banded this past week at Rocky.

Varied Thrush by Nancy Raginski

The storm this past weekend not only helped our day time passerine banding efforts, but also gave the our owl banders the first good push of the owl season. This past week’s efforts saw 53 Saw-whets banded at Rocky and 37 banded at Pedder, as well as 1 Barred Owl banded at Rocky. The 9th was our busiest night of the season thus far, with the crew out at Rocky catching 26 new owls, including the Barred, as well as 2 recaptures. The Pedder crew had a busy night as well with 13 new Saw-whets and 1 recapture. Though these numbers are lower compared to last year it is a welcome change from zero and single digit owl nights! Also interesting, our two recaptures at Rocky on the 9th were owls banded in previous years, one was banded in 2013 as a hatch year and the second was banded in 2014 as a hatch year as well! It’s always a treat to see birds from previous years return and these two owls were no exception, great to see them doing well and coming back to RPBO!

Light morph Swainson's Hawk by Ian Cruickshank

During the day this week we’ve seen our diurnal raptor numbers drop off a bit compared to the past couple of weeks. This was mostly due to a drop in Turkey Vulture movement. Observed individuals were down from last week’s count of over 2500 to 895 birds observed at Rocky and 472 to 203 at Pedder. Although it doesn't even out the drop we saw in Vulture numbers this week we did see Red-tailed and Sharp-shinned Hawk numbers pick up slightly with 71 Red-tailed's and 88 Sharpie's observed over the week at Rocky compared to the previous week’s 52 and 55. Along with our usual raptors we’ve been lucky this past week and gotten a couple of rarities mixed in out at Rocky. Starting on the 6th, a light morph Swainson’s Hawk was picked out of a kettle of Turkey Vultures. The Swainson’s was seen the next day as well, gliding over the station giving the banding crew great looks at this spectacular bird. This was followed up by a Northern Goshawk as well as a pair of Golden Eagles on the 9th. The 11th also brought the goods, with both Pedder and Rocky recording a light morph Rough-legged Hawk as well as a juvenile Golden Eagle, it is likely the same individuals were seen at both sites. Rounding out the week on the 12th, the Rough-legged was spotted again as well as a juvenile Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk. The Harlan’s was previously considered a separate species but is now lumped in as a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk, which is under contention due to differences in morphology and plumage. It is currently under consideration to be split again, along with a host of other bird species, but a decision likely will not be made as further study on genetic differences and hybridization is still needed.

Bander in Training by Cathy Reader

Both sites continue to be inundated with Robins, with high numbers counted again this week. At Rocky more Lapland Longspurs are being heard and seen at the front, with a season high of 4 being observed on the 6th and 11th. American Pipits also had a little wave move through this week, with singles as well as small flocks heard flying over head. Finch numbers continue to drop off, with the odd Siskin and Crossbill being heard at the stations. Most dramatically this drop can be seen in Purple Finch numbers, only 5 were caught this week at Pedder. Quite the change from a couple of weeks ago when we caught almost ten times the number! This past week, we also had two school groups visit Pedder as part of RPBO’s education program, a group of 3rd and 4th graders visited the station on the 7th as well as a group of homeschoolers on the 11th. We expect some rainy weather this coming weekend but are hopeful we’ll get one last big push of birds following the storms to end our season with a bang next week.


Other notable sightings:

• Ancient Murrelets: first observed of the season at Rocky this past week with 1 on the 6th and 5 on the 9th
• Red-throated Loon: first of season, flyby at Rocky on the 6th
• Sooty Shearwater seen off the front at Rocky on the 7th
• Vaux’s Swift: two late individuals seen on the 11th at Rocky
• Northern Shrike: first of the season was spotted on census on the 11th at Rocky

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Rocky Point	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	Total
Banded	69	14	0	99	63	34	30	309
Species Banded	14	6	0	12	13	12	6	22
Recap	5	3	0	8	8	7	9	40
Species Recap	5	2	0	7	4	2	3	10

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Pedder Bay	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	Total
Banded	78	2	0	60	43	36	40	259
Species Banded	12	2	0	11	14	11	12	22
Recap	19	0	0	4	8	7	10	48
Species Recap	10	0	0	4	5	5	7	14

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Week 11: Full Skies

We had another excellent week here at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, despite some rather inclement weather in the last couple days. It is now officially late fall (by migration standards) as our nets are now dominated by Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a variety of Sparrows with hardly a Warbler or Flycatcher to be found. The skies are full of Robins and Red-tailed Hawks are increasingly common among the kettles of Vultures. Band-tailed Pigeons and Cedar Waxwings are becoming much less frequent with only double digits recorded this week, compared to the many hundreds of a couple weeks ago.

Processing the Flicker Integrade by Fallon Nagy

The week started off well at both stations with Pedder banding 68 birds last Thursday and Rocky banding 36 in just 1hr 20mins of operations (our last day of military closures for the season!), as well as recapping a Barred Owl originally banded during the owl banding session of Sept. 20!

Avery with Recap Barred Owl by Beth Christopher

Speaking of Owls, the owling this week was hampered significantly by the poor weather with Rocky banding 27 Northern Saw-whet Owls and Pedder just 9! The night of Oct. 2 was the one exception as Rocky banded 8 that night. Hopefully the coming week will see more clear nights and better conditions as the owl migration picks up.

Back to our day time monitoring, the nets this week were dominated by Ruby-crowned Kinglets at both sites with Oregon Junco also being abundant at Pedder Bay (a season high of 19 Juncos were banded on Oct. 3^rd). The Kinglet numbers were actually down a bit from last week though that may be a reflection more of the poor conditions than an actual waning of their migration. On the not-so-common side of things Rocky banded 2 more White-throated Sparrows to bring the season total up to 5. This “eastern boreal” species has been increasing in northern BC over the past few decades as it spilt over the northern Rockies and moved west with a subsection of the population now seeming to prefer to migrate south through BC instead of following their ancestral migratory route back across the Rockies and east of the Prairies.

Flicker Intergrade by Fallon Nagy

Also in our nets was the second Swamp Sparrow of the season, banded at Rocky on Sept. 30. The same day we banded the first Flicker Intergrade of the season (Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted) at Pedder. The majority of the Flickers here are Red-shafted but every now and again one with Yellow-shafted genes can be found. This particular bird had only red in the flight feathers (typical of Red-shafted) but had features of both races on the head (a mostly red moustache typical of the Red-shafted, partial red crescent on nape and brownish face – characteristics of Yellow-shafted). 

A late Warbling Vireo was banded on Oct. 3 and 3 Hutton’s Vireos were also banded over the week at Rocky, doubling our season total for the latter species!

It was a good week for raptors, excluding the past couple damp days, With Turkey Vultures (2591 at Rocky, 472 at Pedder) and Red-tailed (52 at Rocky, 69 at Pedder) and Sharp-shinned Hawks (55 at Rocky, 18 at Pedder) all peaking this week. Sept. 29^th was the best day for raptors at Pedder with 181 Turkey Vultures tallied along with 36 Red-tails, 2 Broad-winged Hawks and a Peregrine Falcon. The following day was exceptional at Rocky with a season high 1050 Vultures recorded! The full stats for raptors that day are in the following table:

Species	Total
Turkey Vulture	1050
Osprey	2
Bald Eagle	4
Northern Harrier	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	21
Cooper's Hawk	3
Broad-winged Hawk	3
Red-tailed Hawk	32
American Kestrel	1
Peregrine Falcon	2
Total Raptors	1120

Offshore at Rocky, numbers of Surf Scoters are increasing rapidly with 356 detections for the week, 112 of those on Oct. 4, along with a smattering of their White-winged cousins. Mew Gull numbers are climbing as well and there are still plenty of Heerman’s Gulls around with a season high of 255 of the latter tallied Sept. 30. The first Bonaparte’s Gulls are finally arriving as well with a high of 8 seen Oct. 3. A Heerman’s Gull even found its way into the bay at Pedder to be recorded on census on Sept. 30. A surprise on the 5^th was a Parasitic Jaeger that was spotted flying over the station by one of our volunteers. This is the second Jaeger, following the Long-tailed seen a few weeks back, that we have had coming over land, curious behaviour for a normally pelagic group of birds.

American Robins have increased in a big way with the big flocks moving overhead that typify this time of year not failing to disappoint. Both station saw big numbers with 864 recorded at Rocky and 567 at Pedder over the course of the week. Also in the skies in the latter half of the week were Lapland Longspurs! We recorded singles on the 3^rd and 4^th and 2 on the 5^th. Always a treat to hear their little rattle and soft “teww” calls.

One of 3 Hutton's Vireo's banded this week by Thomas Barbin

A few other highlights from the week include:

-          Northern Shoveler, 1 at Rocky Oct. 3

-          Sandhill Crane, 8 spotted at Rocky Oct. 2

-          Mew Gull, uncommon at Pedder, 1 was censused Oct. 3

-          Marsh Wren, Pedder’s first of the season was seen Oct. 3

-          White-throated Sparrow, 3 detected at Pedder over the course of the week

-          Brewer’s Blackbird, uncommon at Rocky, a flock of 12 were seen overhead Sept. 30

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Rocky Point	29th	30th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Total
Banded	36	68	35	16	39	19	9	222
Species Banded	12	16	13	6	12	10	5	25
Recap	2	10	11	2	6	6	3	40
Species Recap	2	7	7	2	4	5	3	13

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Pedder Bay	29th	30th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Total
Banded	68	30	37	20	44	28	6	233
Species Banded	14	12	11	8	10	11	3	20
Recap	9	8	9	14	13	10	9	72
Species Recap	8	5	7	8	8	6	8	17

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Week 10: A Flurry of Firsts

Our tenth week of banding started off on a high note with three new species banded. Both Pedder Bay and Rocky Point both caught their first White-throated sparrow of the season on September 24^th. These are low volume, late fall migrants at Rocky Point. Since the 24^th both stations have caught one more White-throated Sparrow with several others being observed around each station. 

White-throated Sparrow by Serena Johnston 

On the 24^th Rocky Point also banded the first Swamp Sparrow of the season along with a Dusky Flycatcher! Dusky Flycatchers occur in central and eastern British Columbia and are rare visitors on Vancouver Island. This is the sixth Dusky Flycatcher banded at Rocky Point, the last one being banded in 2009.

Dusky Flycatcher by Rick Hardy

More and more of the fall migrants are flooding in with a few standout species at each station. Ruby-crowned Kinglets are becoming a dominant presence at both sites. In the past week there have been 89 banded at Rocky Point, previously 66, and 77 banded at Pedder Bay, previously 34. Hermit Thrush

An adult male Purple Finch, banded at Pedder Bay by Rick Hardy

almost doubled the number banded at both sites as well. Pedder Bay has continued to see a huge influx of Purple Finch with 29 banded bringing the total to a whopping 95, primarily young birds. Other standouts include 28 Pacific Wren banded at Rocky Point and large numbers of Spotted Towhees that dominate the nets at both sites.

Raptor numbers continued to be high from the 22^nd through the 24^th, particularly at Rocky Point. In the late morning kettles of over 500 Turkey Vultures have been seen kettling in the skies over the Rocky Point banding station.  Turkey Vultures were also observed moving through Pedder Bay, but in lower numbers. September 24^th was a great day for raptors at Rocky Point, along with 500+ Turkey Vultures, 10 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 10 Cooper’s Hawks, 11 Red-tailed Hawks and a rare treat, a Swainson’s Hawk, were seen in the kettles! The Swainson’s Hawk, usually found in the interior of B.C. and Alberta, was seen again the next day by Nancy Raginski. Pedder Bay was not to be outdone this week however. Ann Nightingale was lucky to spy a Northern Goshawk overhead on the 24^th.

On the 22^nd a single Northern Saw-whet Owl was discovered roosting in the shrubs along the path. These small owls, while seemingly numerous during banding operations at night are rarely seen during the day and was a great surprise for the team at Rocky Point.

In the past week we hosted our first two education programs at Pedder Bay, a group of grade 5 girls from SMUS on the 21^st and a group of seniors on the 27^th. Both were a great success and everyone seemed to enjoy their day at the banding station. We will have several more education programs over the next few weeks and hope that all goes well!

The 'first of the year' Swamp Sparrow by Rick Hardy 

Rocky Point lost banding hours one 3 days this week from the 27^th to 29^th due to military activity. This means nets were closed at 8 am. During the first day of closures the crew at Rocky Point still banded 34 new birds, but numbers were down the next day with only 12 banded.

Owls continue to trickle in slow and steady. While there have not yet been any nights with high numbers, a few owls have been caught most nights with good weather. Each site more than doubled the number of owls banded this week. Rocky Point now has a total of 25 Northern Saw-whet Owls and Pedder Bay has a total of 18.

Other notable observations from the week include:

- A Cassin’s Auklet observed at Rocky Point on September 26th

-  Two Western Meadowlarks were observed on the September 24^th

- Another Horned Lark was observed at Rocky Point in September 24^th

- A total of 114 Cackling Geese were observed flying overhead at Pedder Bay on September 27^th

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Species	Rocky Week 10 Totals	Rocky Season Totals	Pedder Week 10 Totals	Pedder Season Totals
Northern Harrier	0	1	0	0
Barred Owl	0	2	0	1
Anna's Hummingbird	0	0	2	14
Rufous Hummingbird	0	14	0	21
Red-breasted Sapsucker	0	0	1	4
Hairy Woodpecker	0	3	0	2
Downy Wodpecker	0	3	0	4
Northern Flicker	1	2	2	5
Olive-sided Flycatcher	0	2	0	0
"Traill's" Flycatcher	0	1	0	0
Willow Flycatcher	0	65	0	48
Dusky Flycatcher	1	1	0	0
Hammond's Flycatcher	3	16	1	12
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	6	290	4	114
Cassin's Vireo	0	1	0	3
Hutton's Vireo	1	3	0	2
Warbling Vireo	0	15	0	11
Steller's Jay	0	1	0	0
Barn Swallow	0	0	0	1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	6	39	1	20
Bushtit	0	3	3	30
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	5	0	3
Brown Creeper	0	24	0	10
Bewick's Wren	0	24	0	35
House Wren	0	17	0	20
Pacific Wren	28	105	13	23
Marsh Wren	1	2	0	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	13	44	10	64
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	89	155	77	111
Swainson's Thrush	7	69	4	85
Hermit Thrush	24	53	29	75
American Robin	0	18	1	33
Cedar Waxwing	0	4	0	4
Orange-crowned Warbler	16	119	2	134
Yellow Warbler	4	75	0	65
Chestnut-sided Warbler	0	1	0	0
"Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler	2	6	3	19
"Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler	11	13	1	3
"Unknown/hybrid" Yellow-r. Warbler	0	0	1	2
Black-throated Gray Warbler	0	3	0	5
Townsend's Warbler	0	3	0	2
Northern Waterthrush	0	0	0	1
MacGillivray's Warbler	0	31	0	28
Common Yellowthroat	3	48	2	47
Wilson's Warbler	1	162	0	153
Western Tanager	0	1	0	20
Black-headed Grosbeak	0	4	0	10
Spotted Towhee	47	117	21	122
Chipping Sparrow	0	21	0	15
Savannah Sparrow	3	49	1	11
Fox Sparrow	19	95	23	111
Song Sparrow	12	54	20	70
Lincoln's Sparrow	6	76	9	131
Swamp Sparrow	1	1	0	0
White-throated Sparrow	3	3	3	3
White-crowned Sparrow	6	116	9	297
Golden-crowned Sparrow	9	63	11	100
Oregon Junco	12	27	40	121
Red-winged Backbird	0	1	0	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	0		0	2
Purple Finch	1	52	29	95
House Finch	0		0	12
Pine Siskin	0	11	0	10
American Goldfinch	0	20	0	7
TOTALS	337	2154	323	2350

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Species	Rocky Week 10 Owl Totals	Rocky Season Owl Totals	Pedder Week 10 Owl Totals	Pedder Season Owl Totals
Barred Owl	0	1	0	0
Northern Saw-whet Owl	14	25	10	18
TOTALS	14	26	10	18

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Rocky Point	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	28th	Total
Banded	56	61	96	46	32	34	12	337
Species Banded	15	14	23	12	12	10	8	27
Recap	6	7	12	14	5	2	2	48
Species Recap	4	7	7	8	3	2	2	6
Pedder Bay	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	28th	Total
Banded	52	41	66	39	28	66	31	323
Species Banded	12	10	15	11	12	19	15	28
Recap	8	13	13	15	13	13	10	85
Species Recap	5	7	7	10	7	10	8	17