Aug. 31: A Sad Goodbye

Traditionally today’s post is where we sum up the season thus far with a few fun graphs to help visualize our banding progress over the course of the month. Unfortunately I am going to have to let you all continue to eagerly anticipate said post for another day. The reason for this is that today while marking both the final day of August and the midpoint of our banding season also sadly was Morgan’s final day in the Tatlayoko Valley for as I write both her and Avery are likely enjoying the amenities of the big city!

The rain that continued through the night had abated by morning leaving the valley wet and sheathed in low lying fog. Fortunately this had an insulating effect as it was a balmy 6°C without so much as a breath of wind while we opened our soggy nets. The birds must have known that it was Morgan’s last day of banding for they continued to find our nets throughout the course of the morning resulting in 20 new birds banded by 9:25 at which point Avery and Morgan packed up their car, said their goodbyes to yours truly and set off to the “big” city of William’s Lake. Some of the highlights of the morning’s exploits included our 19th and 20th Dusky Flycatchers,  the ninth Audubon’s Warbler and sixth Sharp-shinned Hawk of the season!

Sharp-shinned Hawk silhouetted in the fog

The birds appeared to have left with Morgan and Avery as I averaged just over a bird a round. Fortunately this didn’t last as on closing I caught seven new birds and one recapture to end the day with 32 new birds banded and 5 recaptures. In this final group was a very stunning after hatch-year male American Redstart (our second of the day).

American Redstart #40 for 2020

The banding race continued with Swainson’s Thrush pushing again with five new birds banded to Song Sparrow’s two which was enough for the thrush at 83 to edge out its rival sparrow at 82.

Our chatty “Out” House Wren who later came by the lab

The House Wren that Avery spotted over by the outhouse on the 26th was back and kind enough to hop out into plain view as I searched for it at the beginning of census. It even added in its trademark jumbled rattling/chattering calls for good measure while posing for a few photos in the rays of the rising sun. While in the pines I ran into a good sized warbler mixed flock mainly comprised of Audubon’s with several vocal Common Yellowthroats, Wilson’s, Orange-crowned and two Townsend’s mixed in for good measure. Our new species of the day was Fox Sparrow (number 114 for 2020) as I heard the smacking calls of a pair while entering the south field. These high elevation breeders were likely forced down into the valley bottom by the snow that would have fallen in the high country. Four cavorting Violet-green Swallows spiced up the bleak sky overhead as I waded through the wet grasses of the south field. For the third day running the Solitary Sandpiper was working the edges of the otherwise silent lagoon while an immature Bald Eagle watched from its perch atop a gnarled Douglas-fir.

So ends the 14th August here at the TLBO, stay tuned for the “Mid-season” report tomorrow!

To view today’s list of sightings via our eBird checklist click HERE.

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	5	1
Swainson’s Thrush	5
Warbling Vireo	4	1
Yellow Warbler	4
Common Yellowthroat	3	1
Song Sparrow	2	2
Dusky Flycatcher	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	2
American Redstart	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	32	Total Banded	693
Species Banded	12	Standard Banded	588
Birds Recapped	5	Species Banded	43
Species Recapped	4	Total Recapped	143
Species on Census	34	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	54	Species Recorded	114

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Aug. 30: Here come the Pipits!

It was another one of those outrageous mornings with the Niuts putting on a show to the west and rosy clouds ushering in the dawn to the east in an otherwise cloudless sky. The show did, however, come at a cost for the air was a rather brisk 0°C with patches of frost clinging to vegetation underfoot as a light breeze tussled the aspen leaves from the north. It felt like the first day of fall as the thin cloud cover filtered out all of the sun’s warmth slowing the gradual rise of the mercury to 11°C by the end of monitoring.

The birds were no more enthused by the cold as the majority elected to stay hidden in their protective roosts to wait out the chill. A courageous hatch-year Purple Finch would be one of our first and most exciting birds of the morning, marking our second banding record of the season for this species. Swainson’s Thrush put in a strong bid for the top banding spot of the season by doubling Song Sparrow’s daily total with six new birds banded and one inter-annual recapture (from 2019) but still falling just two shy with 78 to Song Sparrow’s 80.

An elegant adult female American Redstart

Common Yellowthroats had another good day with six banded and one recapture. The data from long term banding projects has shown that there is a staggered approach to migration within species with hatch-year males being the first to embark followed by hatch-year females, then adult males and finally adult females. The adult’s departure is delayed due to the fact that they go through a much more extensive molt – which includes their flight feathers – than the youngsters. Thus, it is no surprise that five of the six Common Yellowthroats that we banded today were hatch-year males as members of this species are just beginning to migrate. The pace on the banding front was deceptive for when we finished the day we were both pleased and surprised to see that we had banded 30 new birds with 6 recaptures!

Sharp-shinned Hawk atop the “woodpecker” snag

A Sharp-shinned Hawk (pictured above) got census rolling as it surveyed the scrub behind Net 1 from atop the woodpecker snag. In the meadowed corridor before the pines I was delighted by a high-pitched chipping as a petite Calliope Hummingbird zipped past. As I entered the south field I was pleased to hear the liquid up-slurred calls of Avery’s Cassin’s Finch from yesterday. This young/female type was perched atop an aspen and was obliging enough to allow me to take a few photos.

Cassin’s Finch

Promptly, a second Cassin’s arrived adding its liquid calls to the first’s while further east a pair flew in my direction making up what I can only presume is a family group of four. Unlike in the Tatlayoko Valley, Cassin’s are the more commonly occurring finch in my home region of the Kootenays. The Kootenays tend to get the odd Purple Finch every year most of which are young/female types. There are a few features beside vocalizations that allow one to accurately separate these two, similar species. The photo above illustrates one of the more common and albeit conclusive differences, namely, the shape of the bill which is longer and more conical with a nearly straight culmen (upper ridge of the bill). To explore more and see how stunning the males of this species can be click HERE. Down at the lake I was pleased to see that the Solitary Sandpiper was still present in the lagoon and, sadly, living up to its name as no other shorebirds were in attendance.

One of the thirty-odd Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warblers that were foraging around the property

With nine Western Meadowlarks present in the north field Avery decided that it was high time we open up our recently erected “pipit fence”- a trio of short nets (just two panels compared to the standard four panels of the rest of our nets) that we set up end-to-end out in the field in front of the banding lab. As he stepped away from the fence, having placed the final trammel line into position, two American Pipits glided overhead calling out their triumphant arrival, “pi-pit”, “pi-pit”. Alas, we would only glimpse one more later on as it was flushed out of the grasses in the southwestern corner of the field. With any luck this will just be the vanguard of the sometimes large flock that often land in the fields around the station throughout September!

To view today’s sightings via our eBird checklist click HERE.

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	6	1
Common Yellowthroat	6	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	5
Song Sparrow	3	2
Wilson’s Warbler	3
Northern Waterthrush	1	1
Dusky Flycatcher	1
Warbling Vireo	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
American Redstart	1
Oregon Junco	1
Purple Finch	1
Black-capped Chickadee		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	30	Total Banded	661
Species Banded	12	Standard Banded	562
Birds Recapped	6	Species Banded	43
Species Recapped	5	Total Recapped	138
Species on Census	39	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	56	Species Recorded	113

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Aug. 29: Gray-cheeked Thrush!

After yesterday’s wind we were anticipating a fair bit of bird activity when we arrived at the station with a light North wind and a brisk 1°C reading on the thermometer. We were not to be disappointed as we caught birds right from the word go. As we were opening up the last nets, the two Hawk Nets along the Homathko, a duo of young male Sharp-shinned Hawks briefly chased each other before both heading towards the back nets. Crossing paths with Morgan, as she headed over to check those nets, I mentioned they had cruised that way and lo and behold, when she arrived back at the banding lab she had them both with her, caught in Net 16! I had a surprise of my own though as I found a Gray-cheeked Thrush in Net 1, a first record for the TLBO! In a tragic turn of events, we had decided yesterday that one of us would sleep in this morning so Sachi ended up missing this special bird. Hopefully we can catch/see it again in the coming days for his sake.

TLBO’s first Gray-cheeked Thrush! Note the lack of an eye-ring and cool tones to the upperparts

Gray-cheeked Thrushes are wonderful birds and are a species rarely seen by most North American birders. Denizens of high elevations in BC they are very sparsely spread through the North of the province, breeding in stunted subalpine conifer forest or, in the far North, high valleys with Willow bogs adjacent to Lodgepole Pine flats or in densely treed regenerating cut-blocks. The nearest known breeding site for this species is in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park about 140km to our NW but they could certainly breed at a to-date-unknown site in the mountains closer to us. All the thrushes have great songs but I am particularly partial to the song of the Gray-cheeked with their distinct downward-spiraling and buzzy quality. An incredible long-distance migrant, Gray-cheeked Thrush have been documented making non-stop flights in spring from Colombia to the Midwestern USA, a  flight of over 3000km in a matter of a few days! An interesting article on this study can be read on the Audubon website. More general information on Gray-cheeked Thrush can be found on the allaboutbirds website HERE .

The early pace of birds in our nets kept Morgan and I busy and by the time Sachi arrived, and I headed off on census, we had already caught almost 25 birds. Census itself was fairly steady, though there were not large numbers of birds around. I was pleased to finally see one of the Cassin’s Finches that Sachi has spotted a couple times so far. A lone female/young bird, was perched up atop a dead Willow along the western edge of the South field. On the back side of the lagoon I spotted our first, and somewhat overdue, Solitary Sandpiper of the season, foraging quietly. It seems as if the wind yesterday blew all the Warbling Vireos out of the valley as I detected just four on census and we didn’t catch a single one despite banding nine yesterday.

A typical view of a Lincoln’s Sparrow, lurking in the shadows

After our initial push of birds in the first 1.5hrs of the morning things quieted down with Lincoln’s Sparrows being the dominant force of the day. We would end up banding a season high of 13 of these slippery little sparrows (anyone who has held a Lincoln’s Sparrow knows what I mean by “slippery” – they are very good at wriggling out of ones grasp!). Common Yellowthroats and Swainson’s Thrush would also find their way into our nets in decent numbers with six of each banded. The morning finished off with a smart looking little Savannah Sparrow that Sachi pulled out of Net 11 as we closed up the nets for another day.

Occasionally a Lincoln’s Sparrow will be a little more forthcoming

The eBird list for the day can be found HERE .

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	13	3
Common Yellowthroat	6	1
Swainson’s Thrush	6
Song Sparrow	4	1
Wilson’s Warbler	3
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Gray-cheeked Thrush	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
MacGillivray’s Warbler	1
American Redstart	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
Oregon Junco	1
Black-capped Chickadee		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	43	Total Banded	631
Species Banded	14	Standard Banded	541
Birds Recapped	6	Species Banded	43
Species Recapped	4	Total Recapped	132
Species on Census	33	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	48	Species Recorded	112

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Aug. 28: North of 500

Yesterday after a quick lunch and blog post we decided to take advantage of the abnormally light breeze to do some exploring down at the south end of the lake. For both Morgan and I this was our first trip despite having spent many months in this valley. The slight perspective shift unveiled the mountains to both east and west in a whole new light. The Potatoes when viewed from the south transformed from treed, rounded “hills” to more striated brick coloured cliffs that reminded me of many vistas that I have enjoyed in the magical Southwest of the United States. The Niuts shifted from sheer impassible bastions of rock to angled ramparts of slate grey with the occasional highlights of ocher.

A brief refresher in the mechanics of casting

Since I had brought my fishing rod and tackle box all the way up from the Kootenays we figured that we ought to at least cast a few lines into the exquisite turquoise waters of Tatlayoko Lake. After my first customary sacrifice ( a fishing lure) to the spirits of the shallows we moved further south along the shore until we reached the edge of an outflow of a fast flowing, silt laden stream. Several fruitless casts later I passed the rod off to my compatriots who were as unsuccessful as I with nary a bite between the three of us.

Morgan fishing – framed by the snow capped peaks to the south

The south wind slowly burgeoned overnight and by morning was blowing a steady Beautfort 3 as we arrived at the station. A happy consequence was that the mercury registered a balmy 10°C with the rocky crags of the Niuts glowing cranberry to the west while drifting peach coloured clouds heralded the imminent rise of the sun to the east.

Unfortunately, the warm temperature lost out to the force of the wind as bird activity was muted all around. The familiar, consistent rhythm from weeks past of a couple birds per round prevailed culminating with 19 new birds banded and 1 recapture. A Warbling Vireo caught at 10:25 marked our 500th bird banded of the season from standard nets. Fittingly this species would also top the days banding tally with nine. This surge, coupled with a lack of Song Sparrows (one banded and one recapture), saw Warbling Vireo rocket from third on our 2020 banding board to tie Song Sparrow with 73! Lincoln’s Sparrow ended the day one bird shy of fourth with four new birds banded, while Swainson’s Thrush (three banded) now sits seven behind the two leaders with 66.

Warbling Vireo – 500th bird banded from standard nets in 2020!

Census started off slow,  with only a couple of Savannah Sparrows in the north field, a lone Olive-sided Flycatcher braving the winds atop a long dead aspen further along followed by the harsh calling of two Mountain Chickadees as they made their way through a patch of thick and tangled willows north of the pines. I glimpsed eight high flying gulls as they sailed southwards into the wind against the backdrop of a cloudless blue sky that, unfortunately, remained unidentified. A lone Mallard spooked from the scrub along the edge of the lagoon as I approached while three nonplussed Ring-necked Ducks took turns diving for grub. A juvenile Mew Gull navigated the waves out on the lake whilst two Spotted Sandpipers worked the shoreline, all under the watchful eye of our feisty resident Merlin. A soaring Turkey Vulture marked our sixth sighting of 2020 which is the highest number of detections in a single season of this species at the TLBO (previous high was four in 2015). This species has gradually been expanding it’s range northwards in B.C. and is a fairly new arrival to the valley as TLBO’s first detection came in early August of 2014. We added a new species to the season list with a flock of 22 Horned Larks marking our 110th species detected in 2020 as they flew over the lab from the north field while their delicate tinkling calls drifted down to fill our eager ears. Incidentally this is only our fourth detection of this species in August and our earliest sighting (by a day) in 14 seasons of operation. To learn more about this exquisite species as well as to hear their lovely songs and calls click HERE.

To view today’s sighting via our eBird list click HERE.

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Species	Band	Recap
Warbling Vireo	9
Lincoln’s Sparrow	4
Swainson’s Thrush	3
Song Sparrow	1	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Yellow Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	19	Total Banded	588
Species Banded	6	Standard Banded	506
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	126
Species on Census	28	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	43	Species Recorded	110

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Aug. 27: Ghost Song and Blackpoll

Keeping up the theme of cold fingers to get us underway our continuing clear skies and nice weather held out for another day. Three days in a row without wind is a rare event here at Tatlayoko so we will milk it for all it’s worth! The birds were again quite prevalent with Lincoln’s and Song Sparrows and Common Yellowthroats lurking in the bushes while the roving flocks of Warbling Vireos and accompanying warblers became active around the time the sun crested the mountains.

One of the ubiquitous Red Squirrels that frequent the TLBO

This coincided with when I set off on census and I had a good first 10 minutes as I sifted through the bird life around the banding lab. American Redstart, Yellow and Wilson’s Warblers joined the abundant Vireos while the the raucous calls of Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker came from the Pines either side of the valley floor. About halfway through census I came across another Warbling Vireo dominated mixed species flock, working the shrubbery along the NW corner of the South field. A warbler with white wing-bars caught my attention and as it popped into full view I was delighted to see it was a Blackpoll Warbler. These astonishing long-distance migrants (Boreal North American to the Amazon Basin!) breed at higher elevations not too far north of us but are infrequent down here in the valley and this marks just the 7th record for TLBO. Hopefully it sticks around and we can catch it in the coming days.

While I was off on census Sachi and Morgan had the pleasure of banding our first Hermit Thrush of the season. It was caught in Net 13, where we catch a disproportionate amount of our thrushes as they are attracted to the abundant Red-osier Dogwood berries behind the net. The bulk of our catch were Common Yellowthroats and Lincoln’s Sparrows, unsurprisingly, given the time of the season. The former usually have two peaks, one in late August and another in the first week of September before tapering off. Lincoln’s Sparrows, meanwhile, will continue to be among our top catch until late in the season. Our 17th banded Dusky Flycatcher of the season put us within four of the single season record for TLBO.

A Juvenile Hermit Thrush, showing off its spots and distinctive reddish tail

Another highlight from the day was found by Sachi in the bushes between the banding lab and Net 13 (which it would come within a foot or two of hitting on the subsequent net round). “There’s an all white bird out here” he exclaimed to us as we finished banding a couple birds Morgan had brought in with her. After grabbing his camera he was able to snap a couple shots to confirm that it was a leucistic Song Sparrow; a very neat looking bird! It is infrequent to see birds with this level of leucism, usually it is just a few feathers. The lack of a pink/red eye indicated that it is not an albino.

A leucistic Song Sparrow spotted and photographed by Sachi!

As the activity slowed down I wandered up to the oxbow which was, predictably, devoid of any waterfowl as it has been pretty much throughout the season. However, a small movement alerted me to a Calliope Hummingbird perched on a dead willow branch. At just 3 – 3.5 inches from tip of beak to tail and weighing only 2.3-3.4g (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Calliope_Hummingbird/id), these are the smallest birds in Canada but despite this they breed as far north as the Yukon and can survive sub-zero temperatures overnight. During this time Sachi added another species to our season list with a Steller’s Jay, a species that is surprisingly scarce here many years.

The eBird list from today can be viewed HERE .

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	8	1
Common Yellowthroat	7	1
Song Sparrow	4	4
Swainson’s Thrush	3	1
Warbling Vireo	2
Dusky Flycatcher	1
Hermit Thrush	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
American Redstart	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	29	Total Banded	569
Species Banded	10	Standard Banded	487
Birds Recapped	7	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	4	Total Recapped	125
Species on Census	34	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	58	Species Recorded	109

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Aug. 26: Whole Lotta SOSP

The clear skies over night made for a brisk 1°C start with patches of frost clinging to the exposed clover leaves and short dead grass stalks along our well trodden trail through the north field.

Weary, cold yet excited we retraced our steps checking the freshly opened nets to see who our first visitors of the day would be. Unsurprisingly both a hatch-year Swainson’s Thrush and Song Sparrow – our two current contenders for the top spot on our banding board – were the first birds of the day to receive shiny new bands. Unbeknownst to us at the time this young thrush was simultaneously the first bird of the day and the 500th bird banded of the season. The next two rounds were encouraging with four new birds banded apiece. Breaking from the trend the two subsequent rounds which fell during census were quite quiet with only a recapped Swainson’s between them.

Morgan banding a Warbling Vireo

As an aside, our daily census occurs a hour and a half after sunrise which is timed to coincide with peak bird activity. Fortunately our banding numbers would increase culminating in a 14 bird round at 9:45! Amongst these was our only Empid of the day and a rather tricky one which we concluded was a Hammond’s Flycatcher with the aid of several measurements. Satisfied, we moved on to the plethora of birds hanging in their respective bags awaiting bands.

In the spotlight – Song Sparrow

As mentioned in previous posts Song Sparrow and Swainson’s Thrush have been engaged in an exceedingly close race for the honour of securing the top spot on our banding board. Today marked a shift as Song Sparrows surged ahead accounting for 10 of the 41 birds banded and five of the 10 recaptures for a total of 68 banded thus far this year. Swainson’s on the other hand contributed only two new birds banded with two recaptures and now sits in third with 60 banded. Common Yellowthroats had their moment in the limelight with a mini push of eight new birds banded. In other news we also banded our second Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow and third and fourth Dark-eyed Juncos of 2020 (all four Juncos thus far have been out of Net 11) matching yesterdays season high of 41 birds banded with 10 recaptures.

Fearless Merlin surveying it’s domain

Meanwhile census turned up many of the usual suspects. The waterfowl diversity in the lagoon was decent with a flock of 10 Mallards joined by a Green-winged Teal, five Ring-necked Ducks and a Bufflehead. Our feisty resident Merlin didn’t like where the adult Bald Eagle had decided to perch and let the exponentially larger bird know by chasing it off to grudgingly share a perch with an American Crow on the other side of the lagoon. While I made my way back to the station to the cackling of several Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the harsh scolding of Warbling Vireos I hoped that Avery had better luck in uncovering a new species for 2020’s list. Sure enough, during my absence, while Avery was watching a flock of sparrows east of the outhouse a small plump little pale brown bird with a medium-length tail held up at a 45° angle to its body hopped into view. A House Wren, and just the TLBO’s second ever record. The first came back in 2013 when Morgan and Avery ran the station together and caught one in a non-standard net only about 25m from this very spot!

Cedar Waxwing blowing in the Tatlayoko wind

For those who are interested in the answers to the Fall Warbler Heads Quiz:

A) Nashville Warbler, B) Orange-crowned Warbler “Lutescens subspecies”, C) Common Yellowthroat, D) Wilson’s Warbler, E) Orange-crowned Warbler “Orestera subspecies” and F) MacGillivray’s Warbler

To view our daily eBird checklist click HERE.

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	10	5
Common Yellowthroat	8
Lincoln’s Sparrow	5	1
Warbling Vireo	4	1
Swainson’s Thrush	2	2
MacGillivray’s Warbler	2
Oregon Junco	2
American Redstart	1	1
Hammond’s Flycatcher	1
Black-capped Chickadee	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Pine Siskin	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	41	Total Banded	540
Species Banded	15	Standard Banded	460
Birds Recapped	10	Species Banded	41
Species Recapped	5	Total Recapped	118
Species on Census	39	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	57	Species Recorded	107

 

 

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Aug. 25: Kestrel and Clay

We were back to a brisk start as the thermometer read barely 2°C when we pulled up to the station this morning. It was a beautiful day once it warmed up with clear, deep blue skies and blessedly little wind. Sometimes conditions such as these can mean few birds but that was not the case today as we ended up having our busiest day of banding so far this year with 41 birds banded and 7 recaptures.

The classic Niuts reflected in the lagoon shot never gets old!

It is always interesting to see which birds will be most prevalent in our nets on a given day and there is a surprising amount of fluctuation. Today it was Swainson’s Thrush and Song Sparrow with 7 banded of each. We have been enjoying the ongoing “race” between these two atop our “banding leader board” and it has been remarkable just how consistently close it has been, for a couple weeks now, with neither pulling more than one or two ahead before the other catches up.

As is often the case, it took a few rounds for activity to pick up but while I was away on census the pace picked up for Sachi and Morgan and we were up to 20 banded by the time I got back to the station. Shortly after this Sachi brought in our first Western Wood-pewee of the season, caught in “MXA” – our non-standard net.

An obliging Killdeer

Census itself was an enjoyable affair with reasonable diversity, if not a whole lot of activity. A season high of nine Ring-necked Ducks were on the lagoon and I had a fun little photo shoot with a killdeer along the lake shore. On the way back from the lake, along the road I came across two nice birds for the TLBO. The first was a calling Gray Catbird that flew across the road just north of the lagoon. Further on a small flock of Lincoln’s Sparrow were disturbed by my walking past and among them was a spiffy looking Clay-colored Sparrow! These are one of my favourite sparrows and I always enjoy their subtle shades of browns and gray along with their intricate facial pattern.

Clay-colored Sparrow

As Sachi and Morgan had things under control banding-wise I headed off to to the Pines/NE corner of the field in front of the banding lab to try to catch American Kestrels with the Bal-chatri trap. After tracking down a couple Kestrels a female conveniently flew into a snag and after placing the trap within view of it I retreating to the nearest large Douglas-fir. It took just a minute or so for the bird to make a pass at the trap. They often make a pass, see that something is suspicious and then perch nearby. Inevitably, the mouse in the trap was too tempting and after about 5 minutes of intense scrutiny it dropped down and landed on the trap, ensnaring its leg as intended. Buoyed by my quick success I headed out to see if I could catch any more as there were at least three others around. Alas, they were not interested.

This was an uncharacteristically well-behaved female American Kestrel

While I was playing with the Kestrels I heard an odd woodpecker call. Thinking it might be the American Three-toed we spotted a couple days ago I radioed back to the others as it sounded like it was near the banding lab. Sachi stepped outside and saw, atop the “woodpecker snag”, not the anticipated Three-toed but the similar Black-backed Woodpecker! While they were recorded in four of the first five seasons the TLBO operated, the only detection since 2010 was in 2017.

It was an eventful day and a pleasant change from the first few weeks of the season. We passed the 400 birds banded, from our standard nets that is, milestone early on this AM and we are just one shy of 500 total birds banded, including non-standard nets.

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	7	5
Swainson’s Thrush	7
Common Yellowthroat	6
Warbling Vireo	5
Orange-crowned Warbler	4	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	4
Northern Waterthrush	2	1
American Kestrel	1
Western Wood-pewee	1
Black-capped Chickadee	1
MacGillivray’s Warbler	1
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	41	Total Banded	499
Species Banded	13	Standard Banded	427
Birds Recapped	7	Species Banded	41
Species Recapped	3	Total Recapped	108
Species on Census	37	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	55	Species Recorded	106

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Aug. 24: Vireo Trio

For the second day running the wind was uncharacteristically absent whilst we unfurled our nets in the quiet mist-wreathed dawn. The valley bottom fog thickened for a time building until it was dispelled by the sun’s rays as it climbed over the Potato Range to the east.

The birds were lively as we pulled two a piece out of the recently opened nets on our way back to the lab. This would be the tip of the iceberg as a mixed flock arrived and would build in waves with WAVI’s (banding code for Warbling Vireo) the most numerous species. At 7:15 we banded our first Cassin’s Vireo of the year alongside a Red-eyed Vireo and three Warbling Vireos to complete the TLBO vireo slam! The climax came on the following net round while I was inconveniently out on census as Avery caught 18 birds, 13 of which were in our new MXA net. As would become the trend, Warbling Vireos made up the bulk of today’s captures with 12 banded plus an additional four that were released at the net unbanded due to a lack of bird bags. It was also on this round that we banded our second Cassin’s Vireo of both the day and season. This frantic pace would subside by the time I returned from census to our customary couple of birds per round for a final tally of 35 birds banded, a season high, along with 11 recaptures! The jostling for the top spot on the banding board continued with Warbling Vireo coming from behind to take the lead from Song Sparrow who is now tied with Swainson’s Thrush in second.

Second year female Cassin’s Vireo

As can often be the case bird activity was much more subdued along the census route. While scanning the northern fence line for Kestrels a ghostly adult male Northern Harrier glided into view mirroring the course of the fence to the east and eventually floating out of sight. While listening to the punchy song of a lone Waterthrush as I entered out into the South field, an explosive sparrow “chip” broke my reverie. The calling continued, however, I was unsuccessful in locating the concealed White-throated Sparrow that was uttering it. These boreal breeders are one of the three regularly occurring species in the genus Zonotrichia at the TLBO. To learn more about this robust sparrow and hear recordings of what some refer to as its “patriotic” song click HERE. The other two members of this genus are White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows, the former being the most abundant of the three at the TLBO. Another Cassin’s namesake, the Finch, was present for the second time this season as I viewed a trio that was perched atop a long-dead aspen from my vantage point in the south field. At the lake, our Spotted Sandpiper flock had been reduced to a sole member who bobbed along the shore while four Violet-green Swallows spiraled through the still air above.

Later, while on a net round, I scanned the treeline at the foot of the Niuts in the hopes of finding another perched owl. I was rewarded with a large brown shape balanced atop a Douglas-fir. I quickly peered through my binoculars and saw this sight.

While not an owl, this striking dark morph Red-tailed Hawk was certainly a treat! This is the most common and wide-ranging hawk species in North America and chances are good that you have seen your fair share perched atop fence posts or on telephone lines. Fun fact; whenever you hear a raptor (Eagle, Hawk etc) call in a film it is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk as they have the most impressive cry of all the raptor species.

To view today’s sightings check out our eBird checklist HERE.

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Species	Band	Recap
Warbling Vireo	12
Lincoln’s Sparrow	6
Common Yellowthroat	4	2
Cassin’s Vireo	2
Swainson’s Thrush	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	2
Wilson’s Warbler	2
Yellow Warbler	1	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1
American Redstart	1
Townsend’s Warbler	1
Traill’s Flycatcher	1
Song Sparrow		6
Black-capped Chickadee		2

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Birds Banded	35
Species Banded	12
Birds Recapped	11
Species Recapped	4
Species on Census	39
Species Recorded	61
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	458

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Aug. 23: Hiking in the Rainbows and a Veery Banded

It has been an immensely enjoyable past 24hrs for us here at the TLBO (and beyond!). As mentioned yesterday, we closed down early due to high winds which gave us the long-awaited opportunity to make the 2hr 15min drive to the Rainbow Range Trail in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. Despite my many years coming to the TLBO I had never done this hike so it was a new experience for us all. We didn’t have to go that far though for the fun to start though. As we were passing the ponds in community of Tatla Lake we noticed two juvenile Red-necked Phalaropes swimming around along the near shore!The Rainbow Range Trail is a pretty gentle, by BC standards, route up to some beautiful alpine with great vistas. The trail first passes through about 3km of recent burn, part of a 200 000 hectare fire that passed through in 2018. The ground was covered in wildflowers and we enjoyed many delicious huckleberries and a few wild blueberries as well as we made our way up to the first lake.

Lupine, Arnica, Aster, Paintbrush and Valerian were among the many wildflowers we noted in the lush meadows

Shortly before the lake the burn ended and we were surrounded by the intoxicating smell of Subalpine Fir, the dominant tree in this zone. There was also a reasonable presence of Whitebark Pine and, unsurprisingly, we saw a half dozen Clark’s Nutcrackers who feed primarily on the seeds in the cones of Whitebark Pine. The pine in turn rely on the Nutcrackers for seed dispersal.

The view down the trail from whence we had come

A few juvenile Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows were spotted before we finally came across a little area of bird activity not far from the “end” of the trail (at a 1m tall cairn). Here we spotted a pair of Canada Jays, Boreal Chickadee and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. After breaking for a snack and then wandering around the rocky alpine with scattered scrubby conifers for about 45 minutes looking (unsuccessfully) for Ptarmigan it was time already to head down. The Rainbow Range is aptly named and throughout much of the upper half of the hike we enjoyed views of these colourful slopes.

This was as close as we would get to the Rainbow Range itself before we had to turn around

We saw a few Hoary Marmots once we reached the alpine

On our way back down we ran into an American Three-toed Woodpecker and I had the pleasure of watching and photographing this female for a few minutes as she foraged the burned snags, working towards where I had positioned myself. Little did we know that we would also also spot one the following morning at the TLBO, our first visit of the season from this scarce visitor to the valley bottom.

A very tame female American Three-toed Woodpecker, displaying her three toes

Fireweed was abundant, as expected, in the old burned area

After arriving back down at the car we piled in and drove back home, having a quick, late dinner before crashing for the night.

Morgan and Sachi heading back down

It was hard getting up this morning on the back of not enough sleep but once we got down to the station it was well worth it. We started with our 100th species of the season as we got out of the car into the chill of the 1°C air; a Barrow’s Goldeneye flying North. We caught a few early-rising bird as we checked the nets on our way back from opening them – a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Lincoln’s Sparrow and a Northern Waterthrush. A steady flow of birds continued in the nets and just after Sachi left on census we caught a Veery in Net 6. Veery are thin on the ground in these parts and this was just the 3rd banding record and 4th total ever detected at the TLBO! While all the Catharus thrushes are remarkable migrants Veery are all the more so for doing a mid-winter mini-“migration” within the Amazon basin. This means that, unlike most songbirds, they spend the Boreal winter at two separate winter territories prior to returning to North America again to breed! Maps of the migration (August – April) of five Veery fitted with geolocators can be found HERE and the full paper about this unusual migratory strategy was published in the scientific journal “The Auk” in the July, 2011 Issue.

TLBO’s 3rd banding record of Veery

Sachi had a productive census with 41 species detected. It is always nice when we detect over 40 species on census and among his detections was a Hermit Thrush calling from the choke cherry along the road. This was our first of the season and a little earlier than normal for this species. He also had a brief flyby of a woodpecker that I too saw fly across the Homathko around a similar time. It was a relief then to see presumably the same bird perch on the “woodpecker snag” by the banding lab – an American Three-toed Woodpecker and species 103 for the season! In typical fashion, as soon as I focused my camera on it off it went not to be seen again.

The banding slowed down significantly by mid-morning but we did get a little burst of activity as we approached closing time allowing us to reach 30 birds banded, including two more firsts of the season. These included an adult Red-eyed Vireo (of which we have to date recaptured two, both of which were banded in previous years) and an adorable fledgling Golden-crowned Kinglet. We also had the pleasure of catching a young male Calliope Hummingbird on the last net round before closing.  As we do not band hummingbirds it is difficult to gauge  how many we have caught before (short of manually looking through each years data files) but I would be surprised if it was more than one or two.

A scruffy but adorable fledgling Golden-crowned Kinglet

It has been an exciting 24hrs and here’s hoping it doesn’t let up tomorrow! Today’s eBird list can be found HERE .

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	5	3
Warbling Vireo	5
Lincoln’s Sparrow	4
Yellow Warbler	3
Swainson’s Thrush	2	1
Northern Waterthrush	2
Alder Flycatcher	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Veery	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
American Redstart	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
Calliope Hummingbird	(1)
Black-capped Chickadee		2

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Birds Banded	30
Species Banded	15
Birds Recapped	6
Species Recapped	3
Species on Census	41
Species Recorded	62
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	423

 

 

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Aug 22: Wilson’s in the Wind

We woke up today to a dry sky, and we were hopeful that this would increase bird activity at the station. On our drive over however, we noticed that a strong South wind was already blowing – never a good sign.  The Beaufort 4 south wind meant that only 2/3 of our nets could be opened on our first round, unfortunately including some of our more productive nets.

Though we could hear the odd twitter in the bush, most birds stayed tucked away out of the wind.  Before census, we had a 3 bird round, which would turn out to be the best of the morning.  In this catch, we had two Wilson’s warblers, included a beautiful, bright after-hatch-year male, and a small Empid., which despite our best efforts to turn it into a Least, was determined to be an Alder Flycatcher.

A slightly wind-blown Wilson’s Warbler

After being skunked on our next round, Sachi and I wandered over to the Oxbow. We missed the customary Snipe, and only a few birds turned up.  Sachi left for census, and Avery and I continued to man the nets, managing about one bird per round.  Wilson’s Warblers continued to rule the day, their sweet faces, flashy colour and docile nature making them a bander’s favorite. Unfortunately the wind continued to pick up throughout census, causing a few more nets to be shut.

Sachi’s census was better than anticipated given the weather, with reasonable number of birds being blown about in the wind. His highlight was 3 Townsend’s Warblers. Unfortunately we failed to procure a new species for the year, keeping our species total at 99.

As the wind gusts grew stronger, we yielded to the weather and decided to close shop early on the net round following census.  Hopefully tomorrow things will calm down, allowing us to better sample the new mix of birds that seemed to being around. As we closed early we will be making our long-anticipated jaunt to the Rainbow Range for a hike. This will be a first visit for us all and we are very much looking forward to it. Stay tuned for pictures from the Rainbows on tomorrow’s blog post!

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Species	Band	Recap
Wilson’s Warbler	4
Alder Flycatcher	1
Swainson’s Thrush	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Yellow Warbler	1

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Birds Banded	8
Species Banded	5
Birds Recapped	0
Species Recapped	0
Species on Census	26
Species Recorded	36
SEASON TOTAL BANDED	393

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