Week 6 of the RPBO Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration Season, Wednesday, Oct. 19 to Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011

A steady stream of Northern saw-whet owls have been passing through Rocky Point this week. We were at Pedder Bay on Tuesday due to base closures. We had a Pedder Bay/Oak Bay Marina appreciation night on Tuesday. About 10 people came by including a couple of families to see what we are doing. Unfortunately we didn't catch any owls until after the visitors had left.

Northern saw-whet owl

Wed. Oct. 19 – 13 NSWO – Rocky Point

Thurs. Oct. 20 – 24 NSWO – Rocky Point

Fri. Oct. 21 – 7 NSWO – Rocky Point

Sat. Oct. 22 – 2 NSWO – Rocky Point

Sun. Oct. 23 – 18 NSWO – Rocky Point

Mon. Oct. 24 – 17 NSWO – Rocky Point

Tues. Oct. 25 – 5 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Owl in a bag

Banding total:

Total owls banded at Rocky Point this week:  81, recaptures: 0, species banded: 1

Total owls banded at Rocky Point this season: 457, recaptures: 3, species banded: 2

Total owls banded at Pedder Bay this season: 17, recaptures: 0, species banded: 1

-- Emily

Week 13 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, October 16 to Friday, October 21, 2011

I can’t believe how quickly this season has gone by. We have just completed our last week of the RPBO fall migration season. Since we started our banding season a few days late due to base closures, we extended our season to the 21^st rather than our normal end date of the 18^th. This week, our three most commonly banded birds were ruby-crowned kinglet (46), golden-crowned kinglet (34), and Pacific wren (32) and we banded a new species – Steller’s Jay!

We banded 2734 birds from 59 species this season. The season’s most banded birds were all over the 200 mark. Wilson’s warbler (340), Pacific-slope flycatcher (260), and ruby-crowned kinglet (200). Our peak banding day was on Oct. 16 with 157 birds from 22 species followed by Oct. 14 with 149 birds banded from 22 species.

The board at the end of the season

On Sunday we had another super chilly morning with frozen nets! We banded the first Steller’s jay of the season bringing our number of banded species to 59. We banded 57 birds and recaptured 8 from 15 species.

Steller's Jay!

The turkey vultures were still around on Monday but in far fewer numbers than what we have been seeing earlier in the season. Some buffleheads were seen in the bay and Ann S. brought in some muffins. We banded 47 birds and recaptured 6 from 12 species.

Tuesday, Oct. 18 is traditionally the last day of the fall migration season, but since we started a few days late due to base closures, and that fall migration seemed to be delayed this year, we decided to extend the season a few more days. Regardless, we celebrated with muffins from Sophie and cake from Cheryl! Rick showed Sophie and I the bluebird nest boxed set up around the Garry oak trees near the back ponds. We looked inside a few nest boxes and found a few house wren nests and two other types of nests. One nest was made with gull feathers and the other of moss and lichens. We banded the 100^th golden-crowned sparrow and the 150^th Pacific wren. We banded 33 birds and recaptured 14 from 11 species.

Dragonfly

The Pacific chorus frogs were still calling and turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks were circling above us on Wednesday. A sign that fall is not over yet! We banded 26 birds and recaptured 8 from 10 species.

Thursday was our penultimate day. We had some gastronomic delicacies from Ann S. While Mike M. was watching Bonaparte’s gulls at the point he spotted 2 humpback whales and some orcas! A great way to end the season! We had some nice banding highlights of an adult male varied thrush and our second Northern saw-whet owl! We banded 33 birds and recaptured 11 from 11 species. We banded our 2700^th bird today as well as the 200^th ruby-crowned kinglet and 150^th fox sparrow.

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Our last day of the banding season was a wet one. Unfortunately, a steady rain fell all morning so we were unable to open the nets. We did stick around and did some observations of birds on site and Bill conducted census. We heard a cackling goose and saw some hooded mergansers – a life’s first for me.

Rough-skinned newt

 Species weekly total (Sunday, Oct. 9 – Saturday, Oct. 15)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), Northern red-shafted flicker (0/1), willow flycatcher (0/43), Hammond’s flycatcher (0/14), Pacific-slope flycatcher (0/260), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), Steller’s jay (2/2), chestnut-backed chickadee (2/37), bushtit (0/10), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/11), Bewick’s wren (1/39), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (32/155), marsh wren (0/4), golden-crowned kinglet (34/83), ruby-crowned kinglet (46/200), Swainson’s thrush (1/55), hermit thrush (6/90), American robin (1/11), varied thrush (1/5), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (1/189), yellow warbler (0/141), Audubon’s warbler (0/3), Myrtle’s warbler (0/8), black-throated gray warbler (0/6), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), white-throated sparrow (1/6), Macgillivray's warbler (1/52), common yellowthroat (1/52), Wilson’s warbler (0/340), Western tanager (0/2), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (5/35), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (0/28), fox sparrow (23/150), song sparrow (12/105), Lincoln’s sparrow (2/135), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (1/129), golden-crowned sparrow (17/105), Oregon junco (5/55), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (2/19), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (0/63), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (0/12), sharp-shinned hawk (0/5), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), barred owl (0/1), saw-whet owl (1/2), Northern waterthrush (0/1), Western palm warbler (0/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 198, recaptures: 53, species banded: 23.

Total birds banded this season: 2734, recaptures: 327, species banded: 59.

-- Emily

Week 5 of the RPBO Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration Season, Wednesday, Oct. 12 to Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011

Wed. Oct. 12 – 20 NSWO

Thurs. Oct. 13 – 37 NSWO

Fri. Oct. 14 – 49 NSWO, 1 BDOW

Sat. Oct. 15 – 25 NSWO

Sun. Oct. 16 – 35 NSWO, 1 BDOW

Mon. Oct. 17 – 30 NSWO, 1 recapture

Tues. Oct. 18 – 25 NSWO

Banding total:

Total owls banded at Rocky Point this week:  219, recaptures: 1, species banded: 2

Total owls banded at Rocky Point this season: 376, recaptures: 3, species banded: 2

-- Emily

Week 12 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, October 9 to Saturday, October 15, 2011

For most of the week we were back at Rocky Point. We banded at Pedder Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday as the base was closed. We had an exciting week with a new species banded (barred owl) and the second highest banding day of the season with 149 birds banded! The four most commonly banded birds this week were: ruby-crowned kinglet (80), a tie for second place with 49 each goes to fox sparrow and Pacific wren, third place is golden-crowned sparrow (46).

On Sunday we banded a varied thrush and a MacGillivray’s warbler. Acacia brought in pumpkin pie! We banded 58 birds and recaptured 2 from 15 species.

The bay at RP

On Monday, Ian spooked a ruffed grouse between net lanes 10 and 11 while on census! A once common species on Southern Vancouver Island is now an exciting find. It rained a bit today so we opened the nets late. We banded 38 birds and recaptured 5 from 9 species.

The rain continued on Tuesday and we had to shut the nets down early. Due to lack of shelter at Pedder Bay we could not keep the equipment dry enough to wait out the rain. We had muffins from Sophie. We banded 28 birds from 11 species.

On Wednesday the trees were still dripping where we normally have the temporary banding table set up at Pedder Bay so we decided to set up on the old road leading down to the nets. It was a good spot as we had a much better vantage point for observing birds and since we are not under the trees, the light is better for skulling. Banding highlight was the Hutton’s vireo. We banded 37 birds from 13 species.

A Hutton's vireo at Pedder Bay

We were back at Rocky Point on Thursday. We banded the first barred owl of the season. She stuck around for a few hours on a tree near the banding station looking unimpressed with her new bracelet. The other banding highlight of the day was a Pacific-slope flycatcher. We didn’t expect to see one so late in the season. Other interesting bird observations were red-breasted merganser and pied-billed grebe. Mike M. brought in muffins. We banded the 100^th Pacific wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, and fox sparrow! We also banded the 50^th golden-crowned sparrow of the season! On this pretty cold morning we banded 78 birds, recaptured 4 from 15 species.

Friday was our second busiest banding day of the season thus far. We had a young sharp-shinned hawk in net 9. A goshawk was observed on site. The 50^th  MacGillivray’s warbler was banded today. The MacGivilary’s warblers that have been coming through these last few days have had some beautiful plumages in comparison to the earlier season migrants. We banded 149 birds and recaptured 10 from 22 species.

Saturday was our coldest morning of the season with our thermometer reading 1.3°C! One of our nets nearest to the water was frozen! It was net 2 if you are curious. We banded the 2500^th bird of the season! Today we banded more birds than the lowest banding season ever in Rocky Point's history. I wonder how we will fare by the end of the season. We banded 45 birds and recaptured 1 from 12 species.

The barred owl we banded on Thursday hanging out near the banding station

Non-standard Banding – Pedder Bay Marina

Location total (Sunday, Sept 25 to Wednesday, October 5)

Alphabetical

ANHU (1), BEWR (2), CBCH (1), GCKI (13), GCSP (4), HETH (5), HUVI (1), LISP (5), OCWA (2), ORJU (2), PSWS (1), RCKI (11), SOSP (10), WIWR (1), WTSP (1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded at Pedder Bay: 442; species banded: 33.

Standard Banding – Rocky Point

Species weekly total (Sunday, Oct. 9 – Saturday, Oct. 15)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), Northern red-shafted flicker (0/1), willow flycatcher (0/43), Hammond’s flycatcher (0/14), Pacific-slope flycatcher (2/260), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (3/35), bushtit (1/10), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/11), Bewick’s wren (1/38), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (49/123), marsh wren (2/4), golden-crowned kinglet (34/49), ruby-crowned kinglet (80/154), Swainson’s thrush (4/54), hermit thrush (33/84), American robin (2/10), varied thrush (3/4), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (5/188), yellow warbler (1/141), Audubon’s warbler (0/3), Myrtle’s warbler (6/8), black-throated gray warbler (0/6), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), white-throated sparrow (1/5), Macgillivray's warbler (3/51), common yellowthroat (1/51), Wilson’s warbler (0/340), Western tanager (0/2), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (5/30), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (1/28), fox sparrow (49/127), song sparrow (9/93), Lincoln’s sparrow (7/136), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (3/128), golden-crowned sparrow (46/88), Oregon junco (14/50), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (1/17), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (0/63), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (0/12), sharp-shinned hawk (1/5), Cooper’s hawk (0/1), barred owl (1/1), saw-whet owl (0/1), Northern waterthrush (0/1), Western palm warbler (0/1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week: 367, recaptures: 18, species banded: 28.

Total birds banded this season: 2536, recaptures: 274, species banded: 58.

-- Emily

Weeks 3 & 4 of the RPBO Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration Season, Wednesday, September 28 to Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Wed. Sept. 28 – 1 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Thurs. Sept. 29 – 2 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Fri. Sept. 30 – 1 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Sat. Oct. 1 – 5 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Sun. Oct. 2 – 4 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Mon. Oct. 3 – 1 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Tues. Oct. 4 – 0 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Wed. Oct. 5 - 5 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Thurs. Oct. 6 – 26 NSWO – Rocky Point

Fri. Oct. 7 – 29 NSWO, 1 recapture – Rocky Point

Sat. Oct. 8 – 17 NSWO – Rocky Point

Sun. Oct. 9 – 40 NSWO – Rocky Point

Mon. Oct. 10 – 1 NSWO – Rocky Point

Tues. Oct. 11 – 0 NSWO – Pedder Bay

Banding total:

Total owls banded at Rocky Point:  157, recaptures: 2, species banded: 2

Total owls banded at Pedder Bay: 19, recaptures: 0, species banded: 1.

-- Emily

Week 11 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, October 2 to Saturday, October 8, 2011

This week we spent the first 4 days at Pedder Bay due to the continued base closure and we were back at Rocky Point on Thursday. We had the busiest day of the season on Thursday with 157 birds banded! We are still banding some early season migrants such as Wilson’s warbler, Townsend’s warbler, and Pacific-slope flycatcher. Our most commonly banded birds at Rocky Point were: ruby-crowned kinglet (49), fox sparrow (33), and Lincoln’s sparrow (24). At Pedder Bay, the three most commonly banded birds were: Oregon junco (49), golden-crowned sparrow (44), and Lincoln’s sparrow (41).

On Sunday we were out at Pedder Bay. We banded 64 birds and recaptured 6 from 13 species. We had the second owl fundraising BBQ in the evening; see last week’s blog post for a summary.

Quiz bird!

On Monday I brought in left over cupcakes from the owl BBQ. Susanne brought in mixed nuts to share and Megan from Seattle brought us coffee! We banded 44 birds from 14 species, including a white-throated sparrow.

Brian brought us cookies on Tuesday and Susanne brought in more mixed nuts. We banded a Townsend’s warbler and a white-throated sparrow today! We banded 31 birds from 18 species.

On Wednesday we banded a palm warbler and we saw greater white-fronted geese on the grassy lawn near the marina parking lot. We banded 28 birds from 11 species.

A busy banding day at Rocky Point 

We were back at Rocky Point on Thursday! We had Sandhill cranes fly over and a kettle of turkey vultures was right above the banding station! We banded our 2000^th bird today! We had our busiest banding day of the season including both diversity and abundance. We banded 157 birds from 22 species! I was a bit surprised that we did not have any retraps. We also banded our 50^th Swainson’s thrush - yes, they are still around.

It rained first thing in the morning so we were delayed in opening nets. We opened them at census time. Shona and I brought in cookies to snack on. Banding highlights include: marsh wren and the 50^th common yellowthroat. We had some great hawk watching by Ian and he spotted a Swainson’s hawk, osprey, and some golden eagles. We banded 47 birds and recaptured 5 from 16 species.

Saturday was a foggy and cool morning. We saw the first bufflehead in the front bay and Bill saw a sora in the front pond hiding in the cattails. There were still lots of turkey vultures about. We banded a white-throated sparrow and a black-throated grey warbler! We banded 66 new birds and recaptured 16 from 20 species.

 Hawk watch!

Non-standard Banding – Pedder Bay Marina

Location total (Sunday, Sept 25 to Wednesday, October 5)

Alphabetical

AMGO (2), ANHU (1), AUWA (6), BEWR (2), BRCR (2), BUSH (7), CBCH (16), COYE (5), FOSP (30), GCKI (26), GCSP (44), HAFL (1), HETH (20), HOWR (1), LISP (41), MYWA (2), OCWA (15), ORJU (49), PSFL (1), PSWS (11), PUFI (4), RBSA (1), RCKI (34), SAVS (6), SOSP (30), SPTO (8), SWTH (4), TOWA (1), WIWR (8), WPWA (1), WTSP (2), YWAR (1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded at Pedder Bay:  382, recaptures: ? species banded: 32.

Data break! Write a caption for the Townsend's warbler in the comments section!

Standard Banding – Rocky Point

Species weekly total (Sunday, September 25 + Thursday, October 6 – Saturday, Oct. 8)

(this week/total)

Rufus hummingbird (0/7), downy woodpecker (0/3), Northern red-shafted flicker (0/1), willow flycatcher (0/43), Hammond’s flycatcher (3/14), Pacific-slope flycatcher (5/258), Hutton’s vireo (0/1), warbling vireo (0/5), chestnut-backed chickadee (6/32), bushtit (1/10), red-breasted nuthatch (0/2), brown creeper (0/11), Bewick’s wren (0/37), house wren (0/9), Pacific wren (26/74), marsh wren (1/2), golden-crowned kinglet (11/15), ruby-crowned kinglet (49/74), Swainson’s thrush (2/50), hermit thrush (15/51), American robin (0/8), varied thrush (0/1), cedar waxwing (0/2), orange-crowned warbler (17/183), yellow warbler (2/140), Audubon’s warbler (0/3), Myrtle’s warbler (0/2), black-throated gray warbler (1/6), Townsend’s warbler (0/4), white-throated sparrow (2/4), Macgillivray's warbler (0/48), common yellowthroat (3/50), Wilson’s warbler (3/340), Western tanager (0/2), black-headed grosbeak (0/1), spotted towhee (10/25), chipping sparrow (0/12), savannah sparrow (4/27), fox sparrow (33/78), song sparrow (18/84), Lincoln’s sparrow (24/129), Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow (5/125), golden-crowned sparrow (23/42), Oregon junco (9/36), red-winged blackbird (0/8), brown-headed cowbird (0/5), purple finch (3/16), pine siskin (0/1), American goldfinch (1/63), olive-sided flycatcher (0/1), Traill’s flycatcher (0/12), 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: 277, recaptures: 23, species banded: 26.

Total birds banded this season: 2169, recaptures: 256, species banded: 57.

-- Emily

Week 10 of the RPBO Fall Migration Season, Sunday, Sept 25 to Saturday, October 1, 2011

Due to massive closures at Rocky Point because of military training exercises this week we were only allowed into Rocky Point on Sunday. Rick and I set up 10 nets on Sunday at Pedder Bay Marina so we could conduct non-standard banding during the closure. Pedder Bay Marina is privately owned property adjacent to the Rocky Point Military base. At first we thought the closure would be a few days but then it turned into 10 days! Since the peak of migration did not occur last week we were very grateful that we could band at a nearby location in hopes that we would have a similar representation of birds that were passing through Rocky Point. We have been happy with the diversity and abundance of birds caught and observed at Pedder Bay. In 5 days we banded 215 birds from 26 species. Our top three birds banded at Pedder Bay were: Oregon Junco (28), Lincoln’s sparrow (28), and golden-crowned sparrow (21).

Sunday was our only day of banding at Rocky Point this week. I left early to help Rick set-up nets at Pedder Bay. It did rain this morning so the banding day at Rocky Point was cut short by about an hour. I did not have a chance to get the day’s banding total from Brian.

It poured rain on Monday so our first day of non-standard banding at Pedder Bay was a bit of a bust. It was just spitting on the drive out to the site but then the rain started to pour once we arrived at Pedder Bay! We hung around for about an hour in hopes that the rain would let up. We showed the volunteers where the nets were set up. We decided to go out for breakfast and if the rain stopped we would go back out to Pedder Bay. When breakfast was done it was still pouring rain so we called it a day and headed home.

Who is this with the funky hair style? 

Tuesday was our first official non-standard banding day at Pedder Bay. Some slight rain showers occurred throughout the day so we increased our net checks when it was raining. We were delighted when we saw a beautiful rainbow between rain showers! The chocolate covered coffee beans were sill around to keep us fueled as well as some apples and cashew squares from Cheryl. Banding highlight today was the Anna’s hummingbird. We banded 20 birds and 0 recaps from 11 species.

On Wednesday we saw some greater white-fronted geese. Ann S. brought in some treats and we had a guest bander from Pennsylvania visit us! It was good timing that she was in Victoria while we are at Pedder Bay so she can see our improvised set-up and banding protocol. We banded 44 birds and recaptured 0 from 12 species.

On Thursday we heard some cackling geese fly over. Susanne, a bander from Calgary arrived today. She will be volunteering with us for a couple of weeks! We had our first visitors from the campground at Pedder Bay Marina today. It is nice to be able to show guests what we do. We banded 45 birds, recaptured 1 from 16 species! Our first recapture!

The weather was nice on Friday. We banded 29 birds, recaptured 3 from 12 species.

On Saturday we had another visitor, Megan from Seattle. This is her second trip volunteering with RPBO this year. Welcome back Megan! Today’s banding highlight was a red-breasted sapsucker! We banded 77 birds and recaptured 2 from 16 species.

Owl cupcakes made by Jessie F.

Saturday night was also our first night of RPBO’s owl fundraising BBQ. We had 19 guests come out for a fun night. Food was excellent and a great presentation by Ann N. really help set the stage for the owl banding demo. Jessie F. was our owl bander for the evening and she made her delicious owl cupcakes. We caught 2 owls for the demo. Lots of oohs and ahhs when the guests had their first look at saw-whet owls. We took small groups out to see the nets and one lucky group was able to watch an owl extraction. For the BBQ on Sunday we had 10 guests. Fortunately the rain held off but we did not have any owls for the banding demo. Thanks to all the guests who came out to support Rocky Point and to all the volunteers who helped make this event a success!

One of the saw-whet owls from the banding demo on Saturday

Non-standard Banding – Pedder Bay Marina

Species weekly total (Sunday, Sept 25 to Saturday, October 1)

Alphabetical

ANHU (1), AUWA (5), BEWR (2), BRCR (1), BUSH (7), CBCH (7), COYE (2), FOSP (15), GCKI (17), GCSP (21), HAFL (1), HETH (11), LISP (28), MYWA (2), OCWA (8), ORJU (28), PSFL (1), PSWS (9), RBSA (1), RCKI (12), SAVS (4), SOSP (20), SPTO (6), SWTH (3), WIWR (2), YWAR (1).

Banding total:

Total birds banded this week:  215, recaptures: 6, species banded: 26.