First off, let me start by welcoming Collin who joined us first thing this morning after a long drive up from Oregon yesterday evening. He is going to be helping us out at the station for next couple of weeks.
It was our coldest morning yet at 4 degrees and the veil of smoke while still present was lessened slightly as after two days we could finally make out the faint outlines of both the Potato and the Niuts mountain ranges. Banding started off slow with only a handful of birds caught in the first couple of rounds. As seems to be the case bird activity peaked during the net rounds while I was on census. Now that Collin has arrived these busy rounds are a little less hectic as there is an extra set of hands available to help with banding. Bird activity and subsequent capture in our nets has tended to peak during census (1.5 hours after opening) and near closing (6 hours after opening). Today the birds did not disappoint as net 6 caught 10 birds and net 14 caught 14 birds for a total of 24 birds on the final net round!
This is a good example of why net 14 was nicknamed “Jackpot” last season as it is not very consistent round to round but tends to catch multiple birds from mixed flocks at times. We banded two season firsts in this end of day bonanza, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Pine Siskin (See below). All this excitement lead to our biggest day of banding this season with 48 birds banded and 9 recaptures!
Our visiting Nashville Warbler made his third appearance of the season today and was obliging enough to provide me with unobstructed views of his vibrant plumage. While on census I both heard and saw my first Olive-sided Flycatcher of the season. It was singing its unmistakable “Quick-three- beers” song which always reminds me of the subalpine forests of the Kootenays where both Avery and I grew up. There is a pond just north of the lake which continues to have the same flock of Mallards and consistently a new species of duck every day. Today’s new waterfowl species was a pair of Northern Pintails which is our first of the year at the station. Avery also had another detection of a Solitary sandpiper while doing net rounds with Collin.
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Species | Band | Recap |
Warbling Vireo | 13 | 1 |
Swainson’s Thrush | 6 | 1 |
American Redstart | 6 | |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 2 |
Willow Flycatcher | 3 | |
Northern Waterthrush | 3 | |
Song Sparrow | 3 | 2 |
Orange-crowned Warbler | 2 | |
Yellow Warbler | 2 | 1 |
Red-eyed Vireo | 1 | |
Black-capped Chickadee | 1 | |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | |
MacGillivray’s Warbler | 1 | |
Lincoln’s Sparrow | 1 | 1 |
Pine Siskin | 1 |
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Birds Banded | 48 |
Species Banded | 15 |
Birds Recapped | 9 |
Species Recapped | 7 |
Species on Census | 46 |
Species Recorded | 60 |
SEASON TOTAL BANDED | 344 |
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