Aug. 31: Mid-season Report 2019

It was a wet finale to the first half of the season as we awoke to a light drizzle that persisted until around 7:30. We were able to open the nets at 7:55 and fortunately the weather cooperated throughout the rest of the morning. It was moderately busy for the first few net rounds and surprisingly, the first two birds we caught were adult male American Redstarts, looking very fine indeed!

Adult male American Redstart

After Sachi returned from Census things quieted down a bit and I had time to set up the “pipit fence” – three short nets that we string out end-to-end in the field to catch American Pipits and other grassland birds. The pipits are starting to arrive and we have had a couple each of the past few days now. Another later arrival are the “Myrtle” Yellow-rumped Warblers, the first of which for this season was foraging near the Homathko early on.

The ebird list for today can be found at: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59408925

As always on this date, most of this post will be an overview of the August that was here at TLBO. After a slow start to the season (24 banded on Day 1 was our lowest-ever total for the date in our 13 years of operating) things persisted at a fairly steady pace with a few busier days in weeks two and three helping jump our total up to a respectable 860 birds banded by the end of the month, plus an additional 5 banded in our hawk nets and one American Kestrel caught on the bal-chatri trap. This is slightly above the 13-year average of 812 bird banded for August.

 

Interestingly, we have caught exactly the same number of Swainson’s Thrush, 193, as by this date last year! The age composition is quite different though as last year we had only caught 17 adults by this point while in 2019 we have caught a whopping 56 adults! This is likely due to the high reproductive success of last year, presumably coinciding with high survival rates in the intervening year. We have also had double the recaptures of this species compared to last year (42 vs 21), including nine from previous years with the oldest of these being from 2014 (5 years old) and 2012 (8 years old)!

Warbling Vireos, Song Sparrows, Northern Waterthrush and Flycatchers have all had a good year to date as well while many of the warblers including American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler and Orange-crowned Warbler have all been banded in below average numbers thus far.

In terms of detections, we have recorded 11 141 birds so far this season, about 500 shy of last year but the second highest August total on record. Many of the commonest species

Table 1 Top species detected

are reflected in our banding tallies but several species that are having a good year that we do not catch include Clark’s Nutcracker with 329 detections putting us on pace to thump the previous high of 418 set in 2014; Cedar Waxwing with 927 detected, already well above the season average of 840; and Chipping Sparrows at a whopping 693 detections compared to season average of 251. The top 10 most detected species can be found in table 1.

The season has had its fair share of highlights, as always. We added one species to the TLBO list when an Upland Sandpiper flew over the station, calling, on August 13th. This species typically only occurs east of the rockies, breeding in grasslands, but during migration a few are detected in southern BC each year and it could be argued that we were a bit overdue. Spotted Sandpipers are a common sight along the lake shore but we rarely see them up near the nets so we were more than a little surprised to have our first banding record of one when a juvenile got caught in the hawk net along edge of the Homathko River! Greater White-fronted Goose (4th and 5th records), Lesser Yellowlegs (2nd record), Red-necked Phalarope (first since 2013), Gray Catbird and Magnolia Warbler all caused plenty of excitement over the course of the month. Additional highlights from our birds banded were a bit more modest but include our second banding record of Veery, 3rd banding record of Evening Grosbeak and the 7th banding record of Magnolia Warbler.

Veery

Magnolia Warbler

Evening Grosbeak

It has been a great first half of the season and we are looking forward to seeing what September has in store!

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	8
Swainson’s Thrush	5	3
Warbling Vireo	2
American Robin	2
American Redstart	2
Wilson’s Warbler	2
Common Yellowthroat	1	3
Song Sparrow	1	1
Alder Flycatcher	1
Dusky Flycatcher	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Vesper Sparrow	1

—

Birds Banded	27
Species Banded	12
Birds Recapped	7
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	40
Species Recorded	53
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	866

—

Total Birds Banded	866
Total Species Banded	46
Total Birds Recapped	168
Total Species Recapped	15
Total Species on Census	101
Total Species Recorded	123
Season Total Birds Detected	11141

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	193	42
Warbling Vireo	116	5
Song Sparrow	100	39
Lincoln’s Sparrow	67	11
Common Yellowthroat	53	17
Northern Waterthrush	51	8
American Redstart	38	17
Wilson’s Warbler	30	0
Yellow Warbler	29	4
MacGillivray’s Warbler	26	2
Cedar Waxwing	20	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	16	2
Savannah Sparrow	12	1
Pine Siskin	10	0
American Robin	9	0
Vesper Sparrow	8	1
Alder Flycatcher	8	0
Oregon Junco	8	0
Black-capped Chickadee	7	16
Western Tanager	7	0
Willow Flycatcher	6	1
Red-eyed Vireo	6	0
Dusky Flycatcher	5	0
Least Flycatcher	4	0
Chipping Sparrow	4	0
Traill’s Flycatcher	4	0
Hammond’s Flycatcher	3	0
Lazuli Bunting	3	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	2	0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	0
Spotted Towhee	2	0
Spotted Sandpiper	1	0
Red-naped Sapsucker	1	0
Downy Woodpecker	1	0
American Kestrel	1	0
Olive-sided Flycatcher	1	0
Western Wood-pewee	1	0
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	1	0
Cassin’s Vireo	1	0
Brown Creeper	1	0
Veery	1	0
Nashville Warbler	1	0
Magnolia Warbler	1	0
Townsend’s Warbler	1	0
Evening Grosbeak	1	0
Purple Finch	1	0

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Aug. 30: Raptor Play Date and What a Thrush!

Now that the researchers have left in search of more thrush, it is up to Avery and I to man the fort until our next two volunteers arrive at the end of the first week of September. It is a tough charge but when you are greeted by some variation of this sight every morning it is hard to complain.

The day began by catching one bird from each of our current “Bread and Butter” species; Lincoln’s Sparrow, Song Sparrow and Swainson’s Thrush. The two sparrows were new to us while the Swainson’s was a recapture of one of Hannah’s radio tagged birds. This first catch was a foretelling of what was to come as these three species would combine to make up 80% of the day’s birds banded. Of the three, Song Sparrow finished first with 11 while Lincoln’s Sparrow and Swainson’s Thrush shared second with six birds banded apiece. The remainder consisted of a male Wilson’s Warbler (always a class act), our second Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season, a lone handsome adult male Common Yellowthroat, Warbling Vireo number 114, a tricky Willow Flycatcher and our second Spotted Towhee.

Spotted Towhee

For differentiating between the nearly identical Willow and Alder Flycatchers in the hand we use a series of six measurements that are then put into a formula. Those birds that are intermediate are termed Traill’s Flycatchers (left unidentified). All of these captures summed to 29 new birds banded of nine species. In addition we recaptured nine birds of four species. The bulk of our recaptures consist of birds that were first banded this season or perhaps a year or two before. As was illustrated by the 8 year-old Northern Waterthrush featured on the 27th, inter-annual recaptures demonstrate both the site fidelity and longevity of individuals. Today we had another exciting recapture, an eight year-old Swainson’s Thrush that was first banded as a second-year back in 2012! This is our oldest Swainson’s to date and only four years shy of the oldest ever longevity record for a Swainson’s (12 years old).

Our stately eight year-old Swainson’s Thrush

Bird activity around the station was reasonably high which was reflected by our estimated total of 63 species with 41 on census. The first highlight of the day came when I spotted our first Pacific Wren of the season in the alders at the junction of net 9 and 10. On census I was treated to our first Red-breasted Sapsucker of the season. TLBO is just south of the zone where Red-naped and Red-breasted Sapsuckers hybridize. We encounter Red-naped Sapsuckers almost daily so it was a delight to get a glimpse of its locally less common cousin. A lone Horned Lark was our third addition to this year’s species list as it was heard calling out in the field north of the station near the end of the day. For most of the day it was “Battle Royale” in the north field as the Hawks and Falcons came out to play. The participants consisted of three American Kestrels, two feisty Merlins and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The Kestrels seemed to always be on the receiving end of things as they were continually harassed and chased by both the Merlins and Sharpie. A brief visit from a young Cooper’s Hawk and a marauding Northern Harrier rounded out the raptor activity in the northern field. So end’s another day in the life of TLBO. Stay posted for our mid-season post tomorrow!

Link to today’s eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59384276

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	11	2
Swainson’s Thrush	6	3
Lincoln’s Sparrow	6	3
Common Yellowthroat	1	1
Willow Flycatcher	1
Warbling Vireo	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Spotted Towhee	1

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Birds Banded	29
Species Banded	9
Birds Recapped	9
Species Recapped	4
Species on Census	41
Species Recorded	63
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	839

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Aug 29: Woodpecker Duo

On the back of their success with tagging Swainson’s Thrush yesterday, Hannah and co. only needed to put out eight more birds with tags this morning. By the time we had opened nets they had already returned to the station with their dawn catch, 15+ Swainson’s Thrush from their nets! As they were prioritising hatch-year males, any smaller individuals (probable females, the sexes are not dimorphic but males average larger) were released untagged. By 8:30 they were done and had packed up their gear. After saying our goodbyes they proceeded onwards to their next stop, Bella Coola where they hope to deploy some more tags before returning back to their base in Pemberton for a couple final days of tagging to round out their field season. It was great to be able to host this interesting research and we hope that we will see them again next year!

In our nets we had a steady day with just one busy-ish net round, 10 birds on the 9:20 net check. The standard fare for this time of the season made up almost all of our catch with Song Sparrow and Swainson’s Thrush accounting for over half of our total between them; 10 each. Indeed it was a hambe Song Sparrow that marked our milestone, 800th bird banded this season! The morning finished with a couple treats, our first two woodpecker of the season. First, a young male Downy Woodpecker that Sachi pulled out of net 6; then a hatch-year female Red-naped Sapsucker found its way into net 11 on the closing net round. Catching the woodpeckers is always a mixed blessing as their unique moults and infrequency in our nets make them exciting but their ear-piercing calls very much dampen the experience!

Red-naped Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

With beautiful weather, calm winds and more birds about Sachi did well on census tallying 44 species including a nice selection of waterfowl species on the lagoon. This included Wood Duck, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler and Common Merganser. A Steller’s Jay was a nice addition as we don’t find them here too often. A tooting Northern Pygmy-owl upslope from the lagoon was joined by another across the Homatchko from our nets. Finally, our first American Pipits of the season showed up today with one heard early in the morning and two more on census for Sachi.

The eBird list from today can be found at: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59359637

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	10	4
Song Sparrow	10	2
Common Yellowthroat	6
Lincoln’s Sparrow	5	1
Red-naped Sapsucker	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
American Robin	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
American Redstart	1
Yellow Warbler	1

—

Birds Banded	37
Species Banded	10
Birds Recapped	7
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	44
Species Recorded	59
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	810

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Back on the Thrush, and Sparrows

After yesterday’s dismal descent into the dreaded doldrums we opened our nets with high hopes for a change of fortune. Fortunately our avian friends heard our silent prayers, greeting us with their many calls as the Niuts put on a show once again.

More Splendor

Right off the bat our the birds produced with four captures during the opening round, one of which was a hatch-year Swainson’s Thrush. As Avery explained in yesterday’s blog the visiting researchers are affixing vhf radio transmitters to hatch-year Swainson’s and after yesterday’s dismal catch they were a bit worried that they wouldn’t be able to tag the 25 birds that they needed in the valley for their study. The next round yielded more birds amongst which were a few more hatch-year Swainson’s. Elsewhere on the property Hannah and Co. had set up their own nets with sound lure and much to their surprise and delight they had caught a veritable throng of thrushes! As their birds received their new gear we continued on catching a few more birds each round. Lincoln’s sparrow were the most numerous with seven banded while Song Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat tied in second at six apiece. Swainson’s for the first time in recent memory rounded out third with just five birds banded. The highlight of the day came on our 10:20 net round when I came upon a hatch-year female Red-breasted Nuthatch in net 18. This gorgeous little lady was our second Nuthatch banded this season and my first in beautiful British Columbia!

Hatch-year female Red-breasted Nuthatch

Warbling Vireo number 112 and 113 trickled in as we have now passed their peak in terms of migration. When all was said and done we found that we had made it back up to our season average with 30 birds banded of 8 species with 6 recaptures, all of which were banded this season.

Census was also up to the mean with 37 species detected. The most notable sightings of the day came along the road as I made my way back from census. Along the stretch of road adjacent to the south field there is usually a flock of sparrows that up until now was dominated by Chipping Sparrows. Today the tides had turned as the flock was dominated by equal parts Lincoln’s and Song Sparrows. The few Savannah and Vesper Sparrows were absent and in their place were a White-throated Sparrow, two young White-crowned Sparrows and a Golden-crowned Sparrow (our first of the season)! This little trio of sparrow species made my day. Speaking of shifts, Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers have continued to rise as our final tally was 55 which was ever so slightly more than both Song (51) and Lincoln’s Sparrows (52). As the day came to a close our final tally was a respectable 51 species, a much desired improvement on yesterday’s total.

Link to today’s eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59338594

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	7
Song Sparrow	6	3
Common Yellowthroat	6
Swainson’s Thrush	5	2
Warbling Vireo	2	1
American Redstart	2
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1
MacGillivray’s Warbler	1

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Birds Banded	30
Species Banded	8
Birds Recapped	6
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	37
Species Recorded	51
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	773

 

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Aug. 27: An Amazing Recapture

Today we welcomed a crew of researchers from Texas A&M University, Hannah, Abby and their field assistant Miranda, to TLBO. They will be spending a few days here to put radio transmitter tags on Swainson’s Thrush as part of a study they are doing looking into their migration, which a specific focus on hybrids between the interior and coastal subspecies.

There are two parts to the tracking method that they are using, called the “MOTUS Wildlife Tracking System”. Prior to going out and deploying the tags on the birds it is first necessary to set up several receiving towers to detect the birds/tags as they migrate past. For this project they have put up a “fence” of towers, from Kamloops to the lower mainland (a link to an interactive map of all the towers can be found here , just zoom in to BC to see the “fence”). Each tower has a detection radius of 15-20km, or more, depending on the line of sight. After the towers are set up they have to catch the birds and attach the tags, using a harness that loops under the legs so that the ~1.2 gram tag sits on the birds back like a little backpack. Once deployed, the tags transmit a signal at intervals of a few minutes for the duration of their battery life(a few months to a year, depending on the signal frequency).

In preparation for their arrival we have also been taking a single tail feather from the Thrush we have been catching the past few weeks for them to run genetic analysis on. To date we have collected over 90 tail feather samples. Unfortunately their arrival coincided with our first real slow day of the season. After a very promising first couple net rounds, when we caught 10 birds including our 4^th Least Flycatcher of the season and three Swainson’s Thrush for Hannah and co., activity died off completely and in the final 4.5 hours of banding we caught a total of three birds; 2 new Song Sparrows and one recap American Redstart.

A moderate south wind that started around 8:30am meant that we had to close down several of the nets for the latter half of the morning and this no doubt hindered our catch rate somewhat. It also meant that Sachi had a very quiet census with low numbers across the board, the lone highlight coming in the form of our first Blue-winged Teal of the season.

One, and possibly a second, Black Bear was spotted around the station, livening things up a little. The first was eating Dogwood berries across from net 1, about 30 feet from the banding lab and a while later we saw one out in the field in front of the lab, with alfalfa on the menu this time.

Ever wonder what an 8 year old Northern Waterthrush looked like?

The last, but certainly not the least notable, thing to report on is a follow up on the recapture Northern Waterthrush that we caught yesterday. When we couldn’t find the band number in our database we asked long-time TLBO volunteer Barry Lancaster, who has done a week of banding here in the spring for many years if he had banded it. Turns out he did indeed band it, back in 2013 and aged it then as an after-second-year, meaning it had hatched in 2011 or previous. This means that the bird was our oldest ever recapture at a whopping 8 years or older!!!

Here’s hoping things pick up again tomorrow!

Ebird list for the day: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59314510

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	7	2
Swainson’s Thrush	3	1
Least Flycatcher	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1
American Redstart		1

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Birds Banded	12
Species Banded	4
Birds Recapped	4
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	28
Species Recorded	47
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	743

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Aug. 26: Pip-Pip-Pip Hurray!

The Potato Range to the east of the station

It was another cold start with the mercury reading 1.5°C at the station this morning. The cold didn’t seem to hamper bird activity as we netted three new birds and a recapture soon after opening the nets. The third bird turned out to be our 155th Swainson’s Thrush which was fitting as it was also our 700th bird banded this season. That set the pace as the day progressed in a similar fashion to days previous with several birds caught per round. Once arriving back from census I spelled Avery out and headed out on the 9:15am net round. Like most rounds my hopes rose and fell as I rounded the corner and found the “Kingfisher net” empty yet again. As I moved on to our new hawk net however I saw a dark, large songbird in the top panel. My hopes soared as I realized that we had caught an Olive-sided Flycatcher! These are our largest flycatcher species at the station and we often see them at the tops of trees and snags throughout the day. This large upright bird has a dusky back and a big peaked head. The light line running down the centre of its breast gives the appearance of wearing a vest which is reminiscent of an old-timey mountaineer. Anyone who spends much time at higher elevations will know this bird well as it sings its unmistakable “quick three beers” song or “pip-pip-pip” call from the tops of coniferous trees in the sub-alpine. I have always loved this bird and admired it’s choice of rugged and remote habitat to breed in so you can imagine how excited and honoured I felt to be able to handle and band it! This bird was TLBO’s seventh banding record in 13 seasons of operation.

 

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Swainson’s Thrush continued the trend taking the top spot with 10 individuals banded while Common Yellowthroats made a good push for the second day running at 8 birds banded. Two of our seven recaptures were first banded last year and another, a Northern Waterthrush was not in our database and we are looking into its origin. When all was said and done we finished up the day with 34 birds banded of 9 species with 7 recaptures.

The day started off with a bang as while I was on the first net round Avery spotted our first Peregrine Falcon speeding after two Common Ravens along the foot of the Niuts. These powerful birds are always exhilarating and are usually only sighted once or twice annually at TLBO. Census was productive as the birds were out and about. I had a bit of a fright when a young Cooper’s Hawk sped out of the bushes next to me to alight atop a tree. On a whim I decided on a small detour to take a peek into the wetlands to the west of the south field. There were no waterfowl or shorebirds but as I scanned east who was looking back at me but a young Moose!

Moose!

Moments later two Mallards and our first Gadwall of the season cruised overhead heading for one of the more secluded ponds to the south and west. While birding the road I was treated to the calling of a White-throated Sparrow, the contented tooting of a Northern Pygmy Owl and the harsh scolding calls of a Steller’s Jay. Finally at the lake I added a much anticipated Common Merganser to this season’s species list. The day ended off at a comfortable 21°C and clear and if the weather forecast is to be believed more of that is in store for us over the coming weeks.

Link to today’s eBird Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59292215

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	10
Common Yellowthroat	8	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	5
Song Sparrow	3	2
American Robin	2
Wilson’s Warbler	2
Oregon Junco	2
Olive-sided Flycatcher	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Black-capped Chickadee		1
Northern Waterthrush		1
American Redstart		1

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Birds Banded	34
Species Banded	9
Birds Recapped	7
Species Recapped	5
Species on Census	46
Species Recorded	61
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	731

 

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Aug. 25: Sparrows Galore

We expected to have a fairly busy day when we got down to the station and noted that it was just 2.5C, our coldest morning of the season. The cool overnight conditions seem to get the birds moving and even as we were opening nets up there was a notable increase in activity over the norm for that early hour. Swainson’s Thrushes were calling everywhere and yellowthroats and sparrows lurked in the bushes along the Homathko.

The oxbow with the Niut Mountains in the background

Our first proper push of Common Yellowthroats resulted in us banding a season high of eight as well as recapturing an adult male, banded last year. Our 3rd Least Flycatcher banded of the season continued the trend of good flycatcher numbers this year and we also banded singles of the more regular Alder and Willow Flycatchers.We counted nearly 50 each of the ubiquitous Song and Lincoln’s Sparrows but somehow managed to only catch three of the latter while the former tallied a more respectable eight banded.

Sticking with the Sparrow theme, Sachi heard our first White-throated Sparrow of the season giving its distinctive call from the bushes across from net 14. We get a few of these Boreal breeders each year but this is a week or two earlier than normal. I wasn’t able to track it down for a photo but hopefully this early visit is a sign that there will be many more to follow.

Sachi had a productive census, tallying 44 species including our first American Wigeon of the season in with several other waterfowl species on the lagoon. The Townsend’s Solitaire of yesterday was still around as well. As with around the station, he had good numbers of birds along the census route down to the head of the lake.

A hatch-year Sharp-shinned Hawk

The morning finished off with a big hatch-year female Sharp-shinned Hawk in the new hawk net that we set up two days ago. The hawk nets don’t tend to catch much so we are hoping our site selection is a good one; the early indications are certainly positive!

Our ebird list for the day can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59258004

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	11	2
Song Sparrow	8	2
Common Yellowthroat	8	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	3
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Willow Flycatcher	1
Alder Flycatcher	1
Least Flycatcher	1
Warbling Vireo	1
American Robin	1
American Redstart	1
Oregon Junco	1
Black-capped Chickadee		1

—

Birds Banded	38
Species Banded	12
Birds Recapped	6
Species Recapped	4
Species on Census	44
Species Recorded	61
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	697

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Aug. 24: Good Evening, Grosbeak!

Jannaca’s departure yesterday meant that it was left to just Avery and I to man the station today. Fortunately the morning was relatively calm compared to yesterday which meant that we were able to open all of our nets. On our first net check at 6:45am we brought in a handful of birds; a Wilson’s Warbler, a Lincoln’s Sparrow, a Song Sparrow and our first Swainson’s Thrush of the day though certainly not our last. The trend continued with anywhere from 2-4 birds caught on the subsequent rounds. On the next net round (7:15am) I pulled a recaptured Swainson’s Thrush out of Net 10 that had a prefix that I didn’t recognize.

Our dignified five year old Swainson’s Thrush

Each band has a four-digit prefix and a five-digit suffix which combine to create a unique nine-digit number. Once we looked up the band number in our records we found that this bird had been first banded as a hatch-year back in 2014 making it 5 years old which is one of our oldest aged birds to date. It was Avery’s turn to do census today and in his absence things were relatively slow until the 8:45am net round. It was at this point where the gusts of wind started to increase in strength forcing many foraging birds into shelter which resulted in seven Swainson’s Thrush and one Evening Grosbeak in Net 13!

TLBO’s third banded Evening Grosbeak!

The round would yield a further three more birds for a total of 11 but none more exciting than the hatch-year Male Evening Grosbeak which represents our third banding record at TLBO. Incidentally the other two were banded (one by yours truly) during my  stint as a volunteer back in September 2017. The day’s banding progress slowed from there as the wind picked up forcing us to close our most exposed nets. The final tally was 32 new birds banded of 10 species with four recaptures. The most noteworthy aspect of today’s captures were that 15 of the 32 new birds banded were Swainson’s Thrush! Warbling Vireos rounded out the second spot with seven new birds banded.

The more civil wind lead to more bird activity resulting in more observations which lead to a civilized daily estimated total of 53 species. We had our third Turkey Vulture sighting of the season and our second Eurasian Collared Dove. Both of these species are relatively new arrivals to the valley as they have both been increasing their range north over the years.  Turkey Vultures were first detected in the valley in 2014 and Eurasian Collared Doves in 2011 and both have become annuals with the latter becoming permanent residents. Despite perching above both nets 6 and 14 multiple times we did not catch the Eurasian Collared Dove. The highlight of Avery’s census was our first White-crowned Sparrow of the year and an up close and personal encounter with a Townsend’s Solitaire as it landed atop the large pine tree to the east of the banding lab. That is a wrap for another day in the life of TLBO!

Happy Saturday.

Link to today’s eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59230476

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	15	2
Warbling Vireo	7	1
Song Sparrow	3
Willow Flycatcher	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1
Evening Grosbeak	1
Black-capped Chickadee		1

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Birds Banded	32
Species Banded	10
Birds Recapped	4
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	33
Species Recorded	54
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	659

 

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Aug. 23:A Fitting Finale

The wind was howling when we rolled out of bed this morning, much to our chagrin. When it starts windy it stays windy in these parts so we weren’t anticipating getting in much banding and this proved to be the case. We started the morning with just our closest two nets open, 1 and 13, while we sussed things out. After a half hour the wind seemed to maybe be letting up a bit so we optimistically opened most of the nets but within an hour we had closed everything but 1, 13 and 15. We ran these nets until, after 3 rounds without a bird and the strong winds continuing, we called it quits at 10:45.

Among the six birds we caught were two adult male American Redstarts which brightened up the banding lab with their stunning plumage. One was a recap, originally banded in August 2018.

Sachi had a predictably quiet census but on the lake he found a Red-necked Phalarope! This is a species that we don’t find every year here but when we do it often seems to be on these very windy days. Before closing the nets down volunteer Jannaca and I set up our third hawk net. I had been humming and hawing over where to put it for a couple weeks now but we ended up setting it up near the bank of the Homathko, just northwest of the “kingfisher net” (one of the other hawk nets).

A happy Jannaca with her last bird banded here at TLBO

After closing down an hour and a half early we decided to try to catch a Kestrel on the bal-chatri trap. Sachi had seen a couple in the firs along the road in to the banding station so we drove out and scanned for them near the hay bales, an area they usually frequent. We spotted one and almost immediately after putting the trap out it dove for it! Unfortunately it pulled up and landed on the tree next to the trap. It repeated this act again, alighting on a perch on the opposite side of the trap. Finally, it took a third crack at it and this time landed on the trap and lo and behold, it was caught! Sachi was the one to run out and get it while Jannaca got the pleasure of banding this beautiful bird; an after-hatch-year male as it turned out! It was undergoing fairly extensive moult, typical of an adult at this time of year, and the tail and wings were in the process of being replaced. Needless to say we were all, and Jannaca in particular, thrilled and it was a fitting finale to Jannaca’s time volunteering with us.

Male American Kestrel

EBird link with the days checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59205383

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Species	Band	Recap
American Redstart	1	1
Warbling Vireo	1
Swainson’s Thrush	1
American Kestrel	1
Song Sparrow		2

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Birds Banded	4
Species Banded	4
Birds Recapped	3
Species Recapped	2
Species on Census	28
Species Recorded	42
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	626

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Aug. 22: Pleasant Surprises

Clear and calm was the order of the day which was a pleasant change from the strong winds of the past few days. Calm days preceded by strong wind or storms are often slower as the birds tend to take advantage of the clement weather to continue on their migration south. As a result we saw reduced numbers of migrants of each species today but an overall high diversity.

Captures were slow with a handful per round as the birds seemed to be foraging higher up or away from our nets. Our biggest net round came at 8:10am when Jannaca and I caught 8 birds while Avery was away on census. The diversity of today’s catch was low with 28 birds banded consisting of only 8 species.  The ever reliable Swainson’s Thrush topped the charts at 7 individuals banded with Warbling Vireos and Song Sparrows sharing the second spot at 5 birds banded apiece. We had 7 recaptures of 4 species one of which was an inter-annual; an American Redstart that we first banded as an after-second-year on August 4th, 2018. Inter-annual recaptures are often the most interesting as they illustrate the site fidelity of individual birds and provide longevity data.  The milestone that was our 600th bird banded of the season slipped by unnoticed at 7:10am and was either a Warbling Vireo or a Northern Waterthrush.

Today was Avery’s first census of the season as he has been nursing a knee injury that he sustained while trekking in Norway just before coming out to TLBO. Despite it feeling slow he detected 42 species adding our first Northern Shovelers of the season down in the lagoon. The Nashville Warbler that Avery spotted a few days back was also about  during census along with many of the usual suspects. On the observation side of things Avery picked the station’s first Clay-colored Sparrow of the season out of a flock of Lincoln’s Sparrows while he was birding his way back to the station after census! This species was first detected in 2014 and they have been annual albeit in very small numbers ever since then.

Clay-colored Sparrow

We added another Greater White-fronted Goose as one was heard calling while flying high over the station headed south. When net rounds are slow or we get “skunked” (no birds) the person checking the nets heads up to the oxbow to cover some different territory. While looking at the two Mallards and 9 Green-winged Teals that were feeding in the oxbow I caught a lucky glimpse of a small rail-like bird with a short yellow bill, black face and grey neck feeding on the other side of a fallen over dead willow. After a moment it disappeared and then flew into view heading across the water towards the protection of the sedges on the other shore. It was a Sora and our first of the season! Sora are very skulky, secretive birds that feed and breed in cattail and sedge marshes and as a result are often heard and rarely seen. Despite their secretive nature we manage to detect them annually during their migration to the Southern States and Central and South American. It came as a pleasant surprise to us all when we finished up our daily estimated total and found it to be 64 species, the season high thus far!

Link to today’s eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59183608

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	7	1
Warbling Vireo	5	2
Song Sparrow	5	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	4
Common Yellowthroat	3
Alder Flycatcher	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
MacGillivray’s Warbler	1
Traill’s Flycatcher	1
American Redstart		2

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Birds Banded	28
Species Banded	9
Birds Recapped	7
Species Recapped	4
Species on Census	42
Species Recorded	64
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	623

 

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