With a string of unsuitable owling weather since our last outing on the 19th we decided to lower our standards last night in a desperate attempt to catch some owls. It turned out to be very short lived as we were forced to close our nets back up after testing out the first couple due to the force of the gusts. Like songbird monitoring owl monitoring is dependent on suitable environmental conditions which have recently not been in our favour. As as a consequence, this season’s effort has suffered with only seven full sessions thus far, making our target of ~13 out of reach with only four more nights until the end of the season.
The howling wind saw us through a rather restless night and continued on through to the morning shattering any hopes of banding that we may have harboured. Cup of coffee in hand, I sat and listened to the chorus of rain and wind as it rhythmically battered our south-facing windows, reminiscing about a night two years past when I endured gale-force winds in a rickety old cabin out at the Tip of Long Point, Ontario. Fortified by my “Cup of Joe”, I set out around 7:30 in order to have some time to get some observations before census.
The rain let up shortly before 8:00 as I made my way along the sodden net lanes. Rounding the corner past Net 10 I flushed an American Bittern from the banks of the Homathko just south of the “Kingfisher” Net! Being a rather shy species this is only the 5th record at the TLBO and the second time that I have had the pleasure of seeing this species. The first, was back in 2018 while I was volunteering out at the Tip at Long Point when I nearly stepped on one that, stock still in the shallows of one of the many wetlands had undoubtedly been trying to slip under my notice. Being a rather shy species they are most often heard vocalizing at both dusk and dawn in their breeding grounds. To hear their fabulously unique vocalizations as well as learn more about this species click HERE.
Buoyed by my exciting encounter I decided to park myself near the Homathko to see if the poor weather would again spur migration as it had in the days previous. I was not to be disappointed as Yellow-rumped Warblers were again on the move south, accompanied by decent numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and “Oregon” Dark-eyed Juncos along with American Robins, Varied Thrush and Northern Flickers in the skies above. With the wind still blowing too strong to open any of our nets Avery and Jac arrived around 8:30. Avery spelled me out as I set out on census while Jac assumed a position on the airstrip to monitor activity on the east side of the census area. It is rare to see such a level of visible migration in this valley so it was just as well that our nets were forced to remain closed thus enabling us to focus our undivided attention on the spectacle that was unfolding not far above our heads.
Some spice would be added to the mix with our second detection this season of a Blue Jay as it called from within the forest west of the Homathko to go along with a Sora that was flushed from the trail nearby. Shortly after, a trio of Northern Rough-winged Swallows joined the fun as they danced in the wind heading south.
In addition to banding, our daily migration monitoring includes recording all our observations. However, today would be a day that was solely dedicated to observing the multitude of birds who were on the move southwards down the valley. Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most numerous as by our estimations we detected a staggering 2,187 individuals during the four and a half hours that we were present at the station. This is nearly doubled the previous high count of 1,150 set back in 2010 though it is worth noting that on that date there was not the constant observer effort as there was banding going on which tends to take up a good portion of our time. We also noted a large movement of “Oregon” Dark-eyed Juncos with a new TLBO high of 268. We don’t often get to see sizeable numbers of this species, presumably because, as one of the latest migrants, most years they wait until early October to embark on their short distance migration. Northern Flicker (55), Varied Thrush (107), American Robin (128), American Pipit (115) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (144) also had a strong presence, mainly along the Homathko for all but the pipits (in/over the north field).
It was interesting to note the different timing of birds passing through as I had most of the Robins, Kinglets and Juncos between 8:00 and 8:30. Meanwhile, Avery had most of the Varied Thrush and Northern Flickers over the subsequent hour.
This season has been unusual in that we have gone 53 days without detecting a single Canada Goose (CANG). We had resigned ourselves to the most uncommon fate of missing them entirely so it was with some surprise that amidst the onslaught of crackling Kinglets, calling Yellow-rumpeds (of both sub-species) and rattling Juncos I heard the honk of geese and then subsequently saw five Canada’s languidly flapping their way south into the wind. By 11:00 migration had dwindled to a trickle and a half hour later we decided to pack up and head home. Interestingly, those five Canada’s helped us to attain a new milestone; 3,503 birds detected in a single day!
To view today’s eBird checklist click HERE.
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Daily | Season | ||
Birds Banded | 0 | Total Banded | 1422 |
Species Banded | 0 | Standard Banded | 1222 |
Birds Recapped | 0 | Species Banded | 58 |
Species Recapped | 0 | Total Recapped | 240 |
Species on Census | 25 | Species Recapped | 21 |
Species Recorded | 52 | Species Recorded | 139 |
[…] a single season record of 28 186 birds in 2020! This was helped out by a single day record of 3503 birds on September 25 when we experienced an impressive movement of over 2000 Yellow-rumped Warblers as […]
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