Week 2 of the RPBO Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration Season, Wednesday, September 21 to Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rocky Point Bird Observatory is hosting a fundraising BBQ this weekend! Saturday's BBQ is almost sold out! Still spots left for Sunday. See http://rpbo.org/barbecue.html for more information.

Wed. Sept. 21 – 2 NSWO, 1 BDOW – Rocky Point

Thurs. Sept. 22 – 5 NSWO – Rocky Point

Fri. Sept. 23 – 7 NSWO – Rocky Point

Sat. Sept. 24 – 3 NSWO – Rocky Point

Sun. Sept. 25 – 5 NSWO, 1 recap – Rocky Point

Mon. Sept. 26 – 0 – base closed

Tues. Sept. 27 - 0 – base closed

Lovely Barred Owl banded by Ann N!

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week:  22, recaptures: 1, species banded: 2

Total birds banded this season: 44, recaptures: 2, species banded: 2.

-- Emily

Week 9 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, Sept 18 to Saturday, Sept 24, 2011

Where did all the birds go? This week we banded 132 birds less than last week. We had the second highest banding day of the season on Monday followed by the lowest banding day of the season on Friday. Traditionally, September 21 is the peak day at Rocky Point. Give or take a day or two. This September 21 was not our peak day. Did the birds come early or are they being held up by the rain up island? Only time will tell. My highlight of the week was banding a Northern red-shafted flicker. It was a well behaved, after second year male. Top three species banded this week were: Orange-crowned warbler (20), followed by Lincoln’s sparrow (15), and fox sparrow (14).

On Sunday, new batteries arrived for our solar power system and Ann N. brought in muffins. We banded 23 birds and recaptured 4 from 15 species.

Net 7

Monday was a livelier day with the second busiest day of the season! We banded the first varied thrush of the season and some Sandhill cranes flew over the site. We banded the 250^th Pacific-slope flycatcher today. We banded 83 birds and recaptured 3 from 18 species.

Tuesday was a tad quieter on the bird front but the larger kettles of turkey vultures kept us looking to the sky. The Motek’s brought in snacks. We banded the 100^th Lincoln’s sparrow. We banded 26 birds and recaptured 3 from 18 species.

September 21±1 day is the busiest day of the year. That was not the case this year as we only banded 35 birds and recaptured 3 from 18 species. All was not lost as our wonderful volunteers brought in treats! Coffee from Jeremy, muffins from Mary, and chocolate covered coffee beans from Margie! The 25^th Oregon junco was banded today.

 Who is this handsome fella?

The base was closed on Thursday so no banding occurred today. It was also raining so I don’t think we missed much.

On Friday we continued to eat the left-over chocolate covered coffee beans and ate cookies from Donna M. We banded the first Myrtle warbler of the season. We banded 8 birds and recaptured 5 from 11 species. This was our worst banding day of the season.

On Saturday we banded the first Northern red-shafted flicker of the season and a song sparrow from 2008. Snacks from the Motek’s and more chocolate covered coffee beans were consumed. We banded 11 birds and recaptured 6 from 10 species.

Species weekly total (Sunday, September 18 – Saturday, September 24)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), Northern red-shafted flicker (1/1), willow flycatcher (1/43), Hammond’s flycatcher (2/11), Pacific-slope flycatcher (8/253), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (0/26), bushtit (0/9), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/11), Bewick’s wren (0/37), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (11/48), marsh wren (0/1), golden-crowned kinglet (1/4), ruby-crowned kinglet (4/13), Swainson’s thrush (4/48), hermit thrush (13/36), American robin (0/8), varied thrush (1/1), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (20/166), yellow warbler (13/138), Audubon’s warbler (2/3), Myrtle’s warbler (2/2), black-throated gray warbler (0/5), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), white-throated sparrow (0/2), Macgillivray's warbler (0/48), common yellowthroat (5/47), Wilson’s warbler (11/337), Western tanager (0/2), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (6/15), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (7/23), fox sparrow (14/45), song sparrow (6/66), Lincoln’s sparrow (15/105), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (10/120), golden-crowned sparrow (3/19), Oregon junco (11/27), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (1/13), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (1/62), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (1/12), sharp-shinned hawk (0/4), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), saw-whet owl (0/1), Northern waterthrush (0/1), Western palm warbler (0/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 186, recaptures: 24, species banded: 27.

Total birds banded this season: 1892, recaptures: 233, species banded: 57.

The banding board from the beginning of the season.

The most common birds banded for the season are listed in the first 3 columns 

followed by the unusual birds.

-- Emily

Week 1 of the RPBO Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration Season, Thursday, September 15 to Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The first day of owls was on Thursday, September 15 and 3 Northern saw-whet owls were banded.

Friday, Sept. 16 – 3 banded NSWO

Saturday, Sept. 17 – 0 banded NSWO– closed early due to rain

Sunday, Sept. 18 – 4 banded NSWO

Monday, Sept. 19 – 5 banded NSWO, 1 recapture. The recapture was originally banded by Jessie in 2010!

Tuesday, Sept. 20 – 7 banded NSWO. My first owling night ever where I successfully extracted 2 females and banded 3. I managed to band these owls with my small hands!

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week (and season): 22, recaptures: 1, species banded: 1.

-- Emily

Week 8 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, Sept 11 to Saturday, Sept 17, 2011

The birds are back! The change in weather from hot sunny days to cool and overcast has resulted in a jump in birds! This was our best week of the season in terms of numbers of birds banded (318) and tied with week 3 as the highest diversity (31 species). My highlight of the week was banding a young sharp-shinned hawk while almost everyone else would probably pick the Western palm warbler. The fall migrants are also starting to arrive such as fox sparrow, ruby-crowned kinglet, and Hermit thrush, just to name a few. Our top three birds banded this week were: yellow warbler (44), orange-crowned warbler (42), and a tie for third with fox and Lincoln’s sparrow (29). Thanks to everyone who has added comments and guessed the quiz birds!

Just a quick reminder that we are hosting a fundraising owl BBQ on October 1 and 2^nd! A limited number of tickets are available so act fast to avoid disappointment. It was a lot of fun last year I hear!

On Sunday, September 11 we hit the 1400 banded bird mark! I brought in some treats and Jessie picked us some black berries. The plum trees on site are starting to produce some tasty plums. We banded 25 birds and recaptured 3 from 9 species.

On Monday we banded two new species for the season: ruby-crowned kinglet and a white-throated sparrow. These two species brought us to the 50^th species banded! I banded a sharp-shinned hawk, our second of the day! Ann N. brought in blueberries for us to snack on. We banded 28 birds and recaptured 3 from 18 species.

 Want a lick off my ice cream cone?

The weather changed on Tuesday and so did our luck with the birds. We banded the first golden-crowned sparrow of the season and heard our first varied thrush. Rick brought in some very juicy plums from his tree. We banded 54 birds and recaptured 4 from 13 species.

Quiz bird!

Mary brought us some fabulous dates on Wednesday. We banded our first marsh wren and Hermit thrush of the season. Small kettles of turkey vultures have been observed around the site. A Northern harrier was flying low around the front meadow a few times today. On one occasion, there was a turkey vulture performing an entertaining dance by flying low over the field while the harrier was searching the field for food. We banded our 1500^th bird today and the 100^th yellow warbler. We banded 51 birds and recaptured 6 from 16 different species.

On Thursday we had some light rain which cause us to shut our nets early. Brian extracted a bat from one of the back nets. We banded 38 birds and recaptured 4 from 13 species.

Friday was our busiest day of the season with 88 birds banded from 20 different species! We banded the Western palm warbler today. It was caught in one of the front nets near the pond. We recaptured a chestnut-backed chickadee from 2008 and banded 125th yellow warbler and the 200th recaptured bird.

Head shots of the Western palm warbler

We thought that Saturday was going to be busier than Friday since it rained a bit last night, but we had an ok day. Be banded 30 birds and recaptured 8 from 14 different species. The kettles of turkey vultures are progressively getting larger as we saw 60 vultures in one kettle today,  

Species weekly total (Sunday, September 11 – Saturday, September 17)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), willow flycatcher (1/42), Hammond’s flycatcher (2/9), Pacific-slope flycatcher (22/245), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (2/26), bushtit (3/9), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (1/11), Bewick’s wren (1/37), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (12/37), marsh wren (1/1), golden-crowned kinglet (2/3), ruby-crowned kinglet (9/9), Swainson’s thrush (7/44), hermit thrush (23/23), American robin (0/8), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (42/146), yellow warbler (44/125), Audubon’s warbler (0/1), black-throated gray warbler (0/5), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), white-throated sparrow (2/2), Macgillivray's warbler (0/48), common yellowthroat (4/42), Wilson’s warbler (16/326), Western tanager (1/2), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (1/9), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (9/16), fox sparrow (29/31), song sparrow (16/60), Lincoln’s sparrow (29/90), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (5/110), golden-crowned sparrow (16/16), Oregon junco (4/16), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (1/12), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (6/61), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (0/11), sharp-shinned hawk (2/4), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), saw-whet owl (0/1), Northern waterthrush (0/1), Western palm warbler (1/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 318, recaptures: 30, species banded: 31.

Total birds banded this season: 1706, recaptures: 209, species banded: 54.

-- Emily

Owl Fundraising BBQ

On Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2 Rocky Point Bird Observatory is hosting an Owl Fundraising BBQ at Pedder Bay Marina.

Dinner starts at 5 pm and includes burgers, hot dogs, salads, and desserts
There will be a slide show at 6 pm followed by an owl banding demo from 7 - 9.
Tickets are $25 for adults and kids under 14 are $10.
Advanced purchase available from www.rpbo.org

Week 7 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, Sept 4 to Saturday, Sept 10, 2011

Another week of cool, foggy mornings has resulted in a pretty slow week. This was the slowest week of the season with only 122 birds banded and the lowest diversity with 21 species. In contrast, the best week was week 3 with 240 birds banded and the same week had 28 species. We caught the first fox sparrow this week and we had one base closure. Our top birds banded this week was Lincoln’s sparrow and Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow with 19 birds banded each! Third place goes to Wilson’s warbler with 12 birds.

I changed the comments sections so that you do not need to sign in to post a comment. Which is useful since I’ve added a photo where you can write the caption! Let's try it out! I post a silly photo, you write a witty caption!

Write a caption in the comments section!

On Sunday Sept. 14, we banded the 100^th orange-crowned warbler and the 300^th Wilson’s warbler of the season! We banded 15 birds and recaptured 5 birds from 11 species.

On Monday, Sept. 5, the hawks and turkey vultures are starting to become more numerous. Jeremy K. observed a Northern goshawk. We banded 15 birds and recaptured 1 from 11 species.

There was a base closure on Tuesday. No banding today.

On Wednesday we were back to banding and Ann S. and Ann N. brought us in some muffins and peas. Ann N. told us about the Big Year trailer. I am looking forward to watching the movie after reading the book and watching the trailer! The book is available from the library! If you have not already seen the trailer, you can see if from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zTt6PEODBM. We banded 21 birds and recaptured 3 from 11 species.

On Thursday a pod of orcas kept us entertained. We also saw the goshawk again and a broad-wing hawk. Lots of pine white butterflies have been out and about! We banded 21 birds and recaptured 4 from 11 different species.

Early on Friday morning as we were walking into the site, we were greeted by two great horned owls. Dannie brought us in cookies! We banded our 50^th American goldfinch and the 25^th Pacific wren of the season. Today we banded 18 birds and recaptured 3 from 10 species.

Which sparrow am I?

On Saturday we had a new species for the week – a fox sparrow! The 100^th Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow was banded today. The birds were more active as we banded 32 birds and recaptured 9 birds from 13 species.

Owls update - On Thursday night, Ann N. conducted a second owls trial run. They banded 3 saw-whet owls and observed barred owls. They turned the scope to the stars and saw 4 moons around Jupiter.

Species weekly total (Sunday, Aug 28 – Saturday, September 3)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), willow flycatcher (2/41), Hammond’s flycatcher (0/7), Pacific-slope flycatcher (9/223), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (3/24), bushtit (1/6), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/10), Bewick’s wren (3/36), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (1/25), golden-crowned kinglet (0/1), Swainson’s thrush (0/37), American robin (0/8), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (6/104), yellow warbler (3/81), Audubon’s warbler (0/1), black-throated gray warbler (1/5), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), Macgillivray's warbler (1/48), common yellowthroat (11/38), Wilson’s warbler (12/310), Western tanager (0/1), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (4/8), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (1/7), fox sparrow (2/2), song sparrow (9/44), Lincoln’s sparrow (19/61), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (19/105), Oregon junco (5/12), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (0/11), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (8/55), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (2/11), sharp-shinned hawk (0/2), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), saw-whet owl (0/1), Northern waterthrush (0/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 122, recaptures: 25, species banded: 21.

Total birds banded this season: 1392, recaptures: 179, species banded: 48.

-- Emily

Week 6 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, Aug 28 to Saturday, Sept 3, 2011

Lots of cool morning fog this week. One base closure on Wednesday but this was replaced by “bare naked birding” at Pedder Bay Marina. Read Wednesday’s summary to learn more about this birding experience. Lincoln’s sparrow took over as most common bird banded this week at 37 birds, followed by a tie for second place with 32 birds each of Pacific-slope flycatcher and Wilson’s warbler. Honourable mention to yellow warbler with 21 birds banded.

What type of sparrow am I?

 On Sunday, Aug. 28 we banded the 175^th Pacific-slope flycatcher! There were 34 birds banded and 3 recaptures from 11 species.

On Monday we had a nice eating day. We had snacks from the Motek’s and coffee from Ann N! We banded our first golden-crowned kinglet of the season! Bill spied a kingbird while on census. We banded 28 birds and 6 recaptures from 15 species.

On Tuesday Rick brought us plums and the Motek’s brought snacks again! Brian’s brand new watch that he bought off the internet broke twice today. It’s a good thing that he ended up buying three watches. We banded 30 birds and 10 recaptures from 14 species.

On Wednesday we had a base closure. All was not lost as Rick, Ann N. and I lead a “bare naked birding” event for the patrons of Pedder Bay Marina. The idea was to wear your clothing but leave your binoculars at home. It was Rick vs Ann or binoculars vs no binoculars as Ann was curious to try this new birding style. After two hours of birding the two styles were tied at 41 bird species! The highlight of the day was the four belted kingfishers fighting in the bay and the first sighting of a Steller’s jay for all of us.

Ann N. with the Bare Naked Birding sign

On Thursday we were back out at Rocky Point. We banded a young male sharp-shinned hawk. A few Sandhill cranes flew over head. Ann S. brought in treats. We banded the 200^th Pacific-slope flycatcher and the 75^th yellow warbler today. We banded 60 birds and 4 recaptures from 13 species.

On Friday the barred owl was spotted hanging out around the owl nets. Mike observed a Western gull and minke whales. We also spotted an Osprey who was sitting on a telephone pole so we were all able to get a good look at it through the scope. Sophie invited us over for lunch! We banded the 25^th common yellowthroat today as well as 35 birds and 3 recaptures from 13 species. 

On Saturday the barred owl was in net 5 but escaped before we had a chance to catch it! Maybe next time. We banded 26 birds and 4 recaptures from 13 species today. Ann N. set up a trial run of owls on this fine evening and the owlers managed to band 4 Northern saw-whet owls, and they observed great horned, barn, and barred owls too! A great way to start the season!

Species weekly total (Sunday, Aug 28 – Saturday, September 3)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), willow flycatcher (6/39), Hammond’s flycatcher (3/7), Pacific-slope flycatcher (32/214), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (3/21), bushtit (0/5), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/10), Bewick’s wren (3/33), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (8/24), golden-crowned kinglet (1/1), Swainson’s thrush (8/37), American robin (0/8), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (15/98), yellow warbler (21/78), Audubon’s warbler (0/1), black-throated gray warbler (1/4), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), Macgillivray's warbler (2/47), common yellowthroat (8/27), Wilson’s warbler (32/298), Western tanager (0/1), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (2/4), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (4/6), song sparrow (3/35), Lincoln’s sparrow (37/42), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (11/86), Oregon junco (4/7), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (2/11), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (4/47), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (2/9), sharp-shinned hawk (2/1), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), saw-whet owl (0/1), Northern waterthrush (0/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 213, recaptures: 30, species banded: 24.

Total birds banded this season: 1270, recaptures: 154, species banded: 47.