Aug. 31: Mid-season Report 2022

For the second day running we arrived to a light north wind that did nothing to hinder us from opening up our nets. It would turn out to yet again be a leisurely day on the banding front as we would go on to capture 10 new birds and 2 recaptures. Swainson’s Thrush continued their bid to dominate our banding chart as they would comprise 50% of the catch at five banded. A lonely hatch-year Northern Waterthrush (53rd of the season) would add a hint of colour to the day’s activities in the lab with its custard underparts. After a strong month this species has been noticeably absent of late as they are an early migrant and in all likelihood this could be the last one that we band this season.

The top species: Swainson’s Thrush

Census was engaging with several mixed flocks along the route. Our third American Pipit of the season was a highlight in the south field along with our first arrivals of the “Myrtle” subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler. The lagoon was alive with ducks as Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Mallard, a Northern Shoveller and a Wood Duck were all either feasting or roosting on the placid surface. One of the highlights of the day came later on whilst I was engaged in net repair over by the Homathko. Sachi was lounging in between net rounds, eyes on the sky, when she spotted a group of six Greater Yellowlegs (a new TLBO high count!) along with a smaller shorebird as they glided overhead en route to the lake. We have been very starved for shorebirds this season so it was a sight for sore eyes and a boon to add another species to our shorebird tally which now sits at five whilst our season’s tally is at 115! The other highlight came near the end of the day when a group of five Red Crossbills flew over head. As I have alluded to in the past I really like this species and have gone down the rabbit hole that is typing them by flight call. Needless to say there isn’t enough space or time in this blog post to really get into the meat of Red Crossbill call types. The short of it is that there are different “types” of Red Crossbills that have different bill sizes which correspond to an affinity and or specialization for specific cone sizes (e.g. tree species). Each of these types utter different flight calls and then can be differentiated by sound alone! Very cool right? Well, these particular birds were call Type 2 “Ponderosa Pine” which is a TLBO first as up until now we have only ever detected Type 3 “Western Hemlock” and Type 4 “Douglas-fir”. For those of you who are interested and want to follow me down the rabbit hole, click HERE.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117872500

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	5	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Song Sparrow	1	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	10	Total Banded	512
Species Banded	5	Standard Banded	511
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	65
Species on Census	42	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	57	Species Recorded	115

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Mid-season Report

This August has the distinguished pleasure of being our slowest in the 16 seasons that the TLBO has been in operation in terms of birds banded. At first this may paint a bleak picture but in terms of birds detected this August is the second highest on record with 12 417 next to 2021 which had 14 346 birds detected by this juncture. With less time banding birds we have had more time to detect them on the property which highlights why we couple banding with more whole-scale monitoring in the form of daily observations and census, as the amalgamation of these three paints a far more complete picture. The lack of numbers in our nets could perhaps be attributed to poor breeding success locally in the valley for a variety of species due to the cool wet spring as the first few weeks of August generally sees us mostly capturing local breeders. Northern Waterthrush again had a good year as we have banded 53 (our second most-banded species) this month which is almost 10 above the average of 44 per season. Swainson’s Thrush unsurprisingly has provided us with the bulk of our work as the month of August saw 135 banded which is just over 25% of our total birds banded to date. To put this in perspective this August total is higher than the season totals for this species in eight of our 16 seasons of operation and only marginally less than three other season totals which ended in the 140 birds banded range.

For the second year running species of damp meadows and wetlands appear to have either had poor breeding success or later than usual broods as with Lincoln’s Sparrow (23), Common Yellowthroat (7) and “Traill’s” Flycatcher (5, which includes those determined to be either Alder or Willow) all are well below their respective averages for August. All we can do is wait and hope that the numbers of the first two will increase in September. On the Raptor front we have done well with six Sharp-shinned Hawks banded (all in our standard songbird nets) which equals our 15 season average so if the trend continues into September we will have a higher than average number of this crowd-pleasing species and perhaps a shot at the season record of 14 banded set in 2018.

As stated earlier with respect to detections this is the second-highest count on record with 12 417 birds comprised of 115 species. It has been an interesting year for high counts as we have set several of them this August. American Crows are plentiful in the valley and tend to be very social as they move around in a large flock stopping off at various locations during the day. The TLBO is not always on their list of stops but with the boom in the grasshopper population in the north field at the station we have seen more of them and had a TLBO high count of a single flock estimated at 400 individuals. Incidentally this species is also our top detected with 1108 this month. We also set single day records for European Starling with a flock of 70, Red-winged Blackbird (108) Violet-green Swallow (140) and Black Swift (110). We had 172 detections of Violet-green Swallows which is the fourth highest total for August on record. Black Swifts were more abundant this season with 131 detections which smashed the previous record of 99 set in 2015. Although anecdotal, this particular piece of information is a bright spot for this species at risk that we still have much to learn about. The top 10 species by detection for August 2022 can be found in the table below.

The month got off to a good start as we banded all three of our most common woodpecker species within the first week namely, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker. August 5th had a surprise in store for us as we caught perhaps our first August record of a hatch-year Varied Thrush! Although they were present in small numbers, we banded all of our regularly occurring members of the genus Empidonax, Dusky Flycatcher (4), Hammond’s Flycatcher (1), Least Flycatcher (1), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (1), Alder Flycatcher (1), Willow Flycatcher (3) and Traill’s Flycatcher (1). August 25th was a day for excitement when we banded our 15th Northern Harrier in 16 seasons and our 34th Mountain Chickadee but more importantly our first since 2018!

Northern Harrier

On the observational front we had our 5th record of a Veery seen on census on August 23rd. During a very windy day when we were unable to operate our nets we had our 6th Golden Eagle record as it sailed northwards over the station on August 28th. August 4th and 16th marked our 6th and 7th records of Vaux’s Swifts.

Our 194th detection of a Mountain Chickadee this season.

Despite the low numbers of birds banded it has been a wonderful first half of the season and a pleasure working alongside a fellow Sachi. Tomorrow a new month begins and brings us one day closer to the beginning of Owling season! Below is a table of all of the birds banded and recaptured during the month of August.

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	135	17
Northern Waterthrush	53	9
Warbling Vireo	48	4
Yellow Warbler	42	8
Song Sparrow	37	13
American Redstart	35	4
Lincoln’s Sparrow	23	2
Wilson’s Warbler	17	0
MacGillivray’s Warbler	15	0
Chipping Sparrow	14	0
Savannah Sparrow	12	0
Orange-crowned Warbler	8	0
Common Yellowthroat	7	1
American Robin	7	0
Vesper Sparrow	6	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	6	0
Red-eyed Vireo	5	2
Cedar Waxwing	4	2
Dusky Flycatcher	4	0
White-crowned Sparrow	4	0
Red-naped Sapsucker	3	0
Willow Flycatcher	3	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3	0
Spotted Towhee	3	0
Western Tanager	3	0
Black-capped Chickadee	1	1
Traill’s Flycatcher	1	1
Northern Harrier	1	0
Downy Woodpecker	1	0
Hairy Woodpecker	1	0
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	1	0
Alder Flycatcher	1	0
Least Flycatcher	1	0
Hammond’s Flycatcher	1	0
Mountain Chickadee	1	0
Varied Thrush	1	0
Townsend’s Warbler	1	0
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	1	0
Purple Finch	1	0

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Aug 30: The Fatter They Are, the Farther They Fly

After two days in a row of strong south winds, it was a relief to return today to what we think of as an ‘average’ day – though there were still some twists along the way! We woke up to a moderate north wind that was light enough that we were able to open some of our mist-nets. As the morning progressed we were able to open more and more, but then the wind switched to the south before suddenly blowing hard and obliging us to close an hour short of our usual six-hour banding period. Fortunately this was enough time for us to band a grand total of fourteen birds, which was enough for us to reach our 500-bird milestone for 2022! We had a few options but decided that it would be fitting if the 500^th bird was a Swainson’s Thrush. We have banded 130 of them so far this fall, which means that over 1 out of every 4 birds we’ve banded has been one of these marvellous Catharus thrushes.

TLBO’s 500th bird banded of 2022, a Swainson’s Thrush!

During our shorter work days on Sunday and Monday when the winds were preventing us from putting in a full morning of banding, most of what both the Sachis did with their time off was… eat! And we weren’t the only ones: today we recaptured two Swainson’s Thrushes that were banded earlier this month, and both showed that they had been spending their time packing on fat in preparation for their migratory journeys. One gained 4.4 grams over four days, a respectable daily increase, while the other weighed a whopping 8.8 grams more than it had on August 22^nd when it was banded. To put this gain into perspective, Swainson’s Thrushes with little fat weigh about 30 grams, or approximately twice as much as a toothbrush. This thrush increased its weight by almost a third in order to have enough fuel to make it to its wintering grounds in South America. Birds about to embark on a long migration also shrink some of their internal organs (especially reproductive ones) so that they have more room for fat storage, while enlarging other organs like their heart so that they have more stamina for long flights. Migration is a weird and wonderful journey, and it’s always lovely to see birds who are well prepared for their long adventure!

The famous lagoon, today very still – and very empty!

Census was fairly quiet today. There were many species that I only saw one of – for example, rather than hearing many Warbling Vireos calling from within the bushes along the census trail as I have in past days, I only counted a single silent one who hopped into sight for a moment before vanishing back into the undergrowth. The lagoon was still and very quiet, but the Red-necked Grebe was still out on the lake, along with a Common Loon. While on my way back from census I sighted a banded Lincoln’s Sparrow. The last time we banded one was on August 27^th, so maybe this bird has been sheltering from the high winds for the past few days instead of continuing its migration. Back at the banding station, we were delighted to hear a soft ‘pip-it!’ call overhead, which marked our first observation of American Pipits this fall! We expect to see many more of them making use of the north field in the days to come.

In the south field, the areas of sand that mark the historic boundaries of Tatlayoko Lake were dotted with tracks left by foraging birds. The footprints in the photograph below were left by a blackbird (probably a Red-winged Blackbird, as that’s the species we’ve seen the most this fall) – they are too small to belong to an American Crow, and while an American Robin would be about the right size, they hop more than they walk. As well, thrushes leave a footprint that is more straight instead of having their rear-facing toe pointing inwards slightly. Identifying bird tracks is often not as easy as identifying the tracks left by mammals, but it can be quite fun and also gives you something to look at on days when there aren’t as may actual birds around as you’d like…

Blackbird tracks in the south field.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S117823339.

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	9	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Warbling Vireo	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Song Sparrow	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	14	Total Banded	502
Species Banded	6	Standard Banded	501
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	63
Species on Census	26	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	50	Species Recorded	114

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Aug. 29: HOLA, Red-necked Grebe!

The fierce southerly that began yesterday blew ceaselessly all through the night making our metal roof rattle and the line of young aspens in front of the house sway low enough to brush the tops of the alfalfa. The lung capacity of this particular wind appears to be prodigious as it continues to blow as I write, which meant that we were unable to open any of our nets for the second day running. 

With the unceasing wind we took the opportunity to get a little more shut eye, arriving at the station a half hour before census. As I surveyed the north field at the start of census, I spied a pair of American Kestrels hunkered down atop the fence line. Then a mother Black Bear with a unique patch of rufous tips on her back bounded across the field with two young cubs in tow headed for the Homathko. The wind howled in my ears as a sweet, delicate, tinkling sound drifted down to me from above, a Horned Lark (Banding alpha code: HOLA)! This beautifully patterned species breeds at high elevation in the alpine in our area and whose arrival generally coincides with American Pipits in late August or September. The next 1.5 kilometres of census would be slow with a smattering of warbler chips punctuated by the odd Cedar Waxwing drifting overhead as I strained my ears and eyes in the relentless wind.

It always pays to have other interests, this appears to be a member of the genus Acronicta – Dagger Moths.

The lagoon rippled as a Cooper’s Hawk departed leaving the band of 14 Mallards and the singular Pied-billed Grebe in peace. The lake was full of whitecaps as I held firmly onto my hat whilst scanning the waves and troughs for any sign of avian life. Rough days like this are usually when we spot our first Phalaropes of the season but despite 10 minutes of scanning I was unable to pick one out of the watery turmoil. Near the end of the period I did however spot our first Red-necked Grebe of the season a moment before it dove, disappearing once again amidst the waves.

Though not a picture from today, our station’s emblem – Clark’s Nutcracker – is enjoyed daily.

Meanwhile up at the station Sachi didn’t have much luck either as she would fill in a few gaps in our species list with an encounter with five Purple Finches and our only Clark’s Nutcracker of the day. With the wind still howling we decided to stay on to finish off some much needed clearing of new aspen whips along the trail before finally retreating from the storm to the comfort of the field station.

Here is to hoping that the forecast holds and we have a calm day tomorrow!

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117773565

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(Yet again, no birds were banded today due to the strong winds.)

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	488
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	487
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	61
Species on Census	28	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	37	Species Recorded	113

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Aug 28: The Valley of the Wind

Usually we rely on the dual jolt of multiple alarms and a dose of good old caffeine to get us going each morning, but today Sachi experienced a different kind of wake-up call when he went to put on his boots (which had been left in the banding station overnight) and discovered that a bat had crawled inside them to sleep! Regrettably for the bat, it was evicted with unseemly haste before he realized what it was, and it was with many apologies that we tucked it up in the rafters of the banding station to recover. There are several different species of bats who inhabit the valley, and as we are ornithologists and not chiropterologists, identifying it lay outside the scope of our expertise. If any knowledgeable bat-person thinks they know what it might be, please let us know!

An unexpected encounter first thing this morning! Photo by Sachi Snively.

We woke up to gusting winds and waving tree branches, but still bundled ourselves up and headed down to the banding station at our regular start time just in case conditions were different further down the valley. The trees around us bent and creaked like a clipper in a gale as we walked the net loop, and it was evident as we watched our furled nets bounce and bow that none of them would be opened today! Instead we bent all our powers of concentration on finding the few birds who, like ourselves, were over-confident enough to brave the inhospitable conditions. It was hard to hear any chips or chirps over the constant rustle of the leaves and grasses, but a walk down to the oxbow turned up some Common Yellowthroats and Song Sparrows, with a Lincoln’s Sparrow mixed in as well. As we scanned what we could see of the open water, we discovered a Hooded Merganser tucked in close to shore, enjoying the windbreak provided by the surrounding willows and aspens.

Without much to listen to we spent a lot of time scanning the sky, which was how we spotted an enormous flock of four hundred American Crows flying past the mountains, the largest ever recorded by the TLBO! Considering the havoc that such a large number of voracious omnivores must wreak wherever they go, they surely deserve the collective noun of ‘a murder’. Watching the sky was also how we spotted a pair of late-migrating Violet-green Swallows, who along with a Rufous Hummingbird zooming by the banding station reminded us that summer wasn’t as far behind us as it felt.

Just as I was preparing to start census the wind died down to almost nothing and the sun broke through the clouds, bathing the north field in a warm light. For a moment we dared to think that we might be able to do some banding – but only for a moment, as the clouds soon gathered once again and the wind picked back up! A small stand of willows next to the fence line was the only bird ‘hot spot’ on my walk, where a handful of Warbling Vireos and Yellow Warblers came close enough for me to spot them in between the swaying leaves. The south field was quiet, and the lagoon turned up only a chattering Belted Kingfisher who injected some life into what was an otherwise silent census!

A Lincoln’s Sparrow glimpsed between the blades of grass. Photo by Sachi Snively.

While I made my way back to the banding station, Sachi was taking advantage of the inclement weather to trim some of the willows around our Harrier net, an activity during which he was scolded by a pair of Ruby-crowned Kinglets. He also sighted an early Golden Eagle, soaring high overhead. Based on the TLBO’s prior observations we would expect to see this impressively-large bird of prey in September, so perhaps the strong winds blew this adult our way a little earlier than usual.

As the persistent and strengthening wind dashed our slim hopes of ever opening the mist-nets, we decided to close up the station and make a shorter day of it. While we were adding up our observations for the day, we realized that we had gone three and a half hours without hearing or seeing either a Northern Waterthrush or a Western Meadowlark, two species that have been mainstays up until now. Soon enough they will be replaced by American Pipits and Horned Larks, but for now we are still waiting for these late-migrating regulars to arrive!

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S117716642.

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(No birds were banded today due to the strong winds.)

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	488
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	487
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	61
Species on Census	15	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	41	Species Recorded	111

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Aug. 27: Whispering WAVIs on the Wind

After a string of hot summer days something shifted in the atmosphere overnight for we awoke to an invigorating 4ºC, our second coldest start of the season next to August 6th’s 2ºC. Perhaps due to the cold, my dwindling gas tank, the lack of driving further than 5km at a time or just ill-luck, my car was reluctant to start up this morning which very much mirrored the state that the collective Sachis’ brains. Fortunately the cool temperatures also meant that our avian friends were slow to wake which gave both Sachis some much needed time to shake off the fatigue of 27 days straight before getting into the familiar flow of banding. 

A Killdeer attempting to melt into the background down at the lake.

The strong winds from last night didn’t have the desired effect as bird activity in and around the station was scant. Even our reliable species Swainson’s Thrush seemed to be in lower numbers than in days past as we would go on to band only four. The star of the day would be Warbling Vireos (banding alpha code: WAVI) as they would take the top spot with 13 banded and 1 recapture. All the individuals of this species that we banded today were hatch-years (young of the year) and all future Warbling Vireos this season are likely to be the same as we only tend to capture adults early on in the season who are breeding locally. Another interesting tidbit is that we observed higher fat stores on many of the birds that we handled today when compared to the past few weeks. Birds deposit fat on different parts of their body to later use as an energy source whilst on migration. To estimate fat deposition and or storage on a bird we use a somewhat subjective scale of how much fat there is in three separate places, the hollow in the furculum (wishbone) area just below the throat, the hollow directly under the wing and the lower abdomen. Subcutaneous fat deposits are yellow/orange in colour when compared to the red/pink colour of muscle. Higher amounts of fat stores on a migratory bird indicate that they will be departing the valley soon to continue their long journey southwards.

Always a welcome splash of colour and class: Wilson’s Warbler.

There was a point during the day when we had the rare pleasure of having all 12 of our songbird mist-nets open along with our three hawk nets but sadly that was short lived as the north wind uncharacteristically began to blow with renewed vigour which began a war of attrition which saw us closing a net each subsequent round. Despite this hurdle we still managed to band an above average total of 23 birds along with one recapture for a current season total of 488. With any luck we will crest the 500 birds banded milestone tomorrow.

Our local Red Osier Dogwood berry connoisseur and enthusiast.

Numbers of individuals of almost all the species that we have been detecting of late saw a marked decline today as likely many of them have moved on from the valley to points unknown. Two species however who have increased in numbers are Common Yellowthroat and Lincoln’s Sparrow. We often band quite a few birds of each of these two species and it is common for the influx to occur at this point in the season. Census turned up an early Ruby-crowned Kinglet who I expect was forced down to the valley bottom by the sudden cold snap. On census this Sachi didn’t miss his connection with the Black Bear that has been in the area for some time as we had a rather up close and personal moment down by the lagoon. For the first time since we have met he had some jump in his step as he quickly climbed a large cottonwood tree to let me pass by and then descended to wander up the road in search of a more tranquil place to enjoy his meal. The way back would be thin on the avian front, but it would unearth our second sighting of a Nashville Warbler as it called its characteristic “spink” call at me from amidst the leaves of a Trembling Aspen.

After the day was done we headed up to Eagle lake to visit our friend Jim Sims in his little piece of paradise in hopes of shorebirds. Alas, the shorebirds were lacking but the company more than made up for it.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117674946

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Species	Band	Recap
Warbling Vireo	13	1
Swainson’s Thrush	4
Lincoln’s Sparrow	3
Red-eyed Vireo	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1

 

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	23	Total Banded	488
Species Banded	6	Standard Banded	487
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	61
Species on Census	34	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	47	Species Recorded	110

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Aug 26: All Hail Our Fungus Overlords!

After all the excitement of yesterday, it was not entirely surprising when today turned out to be quiet – not even TLBO could keep up that kind of pace two days in a row! In addition, there was a forecast of rain that lent a heaviness to the atmosphere that seemed to press down on birds and banders alike. We added no new species to our list for the season and only just managed to band 13 birds, but it was a pleasant day none the less.

Clouds over the Niut Range.

Our first net-round of the morning yielded no birds, which gave us time for a trip down to the oxbow to see what could be seen. We scared up five Mallards, which ended up being the only duck species we would see today, and were scolded by a Song Sparrow who was lurking in the shrubbery alongside a Lincoln’s Sparrow, but otherwise it was quiet. When I left for census we had only captured two birds, a Swainson’s Thrush (our old standby!) and a Common Yellowthroat, and as I headed out into the north field there was a foreboding lack of bird activity. No sparrows flew up from the grass, and no warblers or tanagers were visible in the treetops. I had to deliberately slow my steps so that, with so little to write down, I wouldn’t take less than the hour allotted to the two kilometre census route. Even the pines were silent and still. Every little chip or rustling leaf was relentlessly scrutinized in case it could add another species to my list. It was with elation that I recorded the three Herring Gulls that were flying back and forth over the south field, an odd species to be excited about considering how abundant they are back home! I was also happy to see a Pied-billed Grebe, presumably the same one that Sachi saw yesterday, come up from a dive and peer cautiously at me in the lagoon. By the end of my walk I had recorded just over twenty species, a come-down from yesterday but still a respectable total.

As I was standing on the beach scanning the lake for waterfowl I heard some noises in the bushes behind me, but didn’t think too much of it. However, once census was over and I had made my way back up to the road, I came across a set of damp footprints that certainly hadn’t been there when I had passed by five minutes before! It seems that a black bear had been out enjoying the north beach too until I arrived, whereupon it decided that its lakeside refuge was too crowded and made tracks across the road and into the woods.

Missed connections… a retiring bear makes tracks for the woods.

The banding station recorded a few notable captures while I was gone, but overall the morning’s activity was slow enough that Sachi had time to put up two additional hawk nets. A Song Sparrow that we had banded at the beginning of the month in its fluffy juvenile plumage was recaptured, now resplendent in the comparative glory of its first set of adult body feathers. By contrast, the Red-eyed Vireo that we found in our nets on the very last net run of the day was still bristling with pin-feathers mixed in among its brown baby feathers as it began the (presumably very itchy) process of moulting into its adult plumage. Thanks to a small group of Warbling Vireos we managed to band a total of thirteen birds, and closed the mist-nets just as the famous Tatlayoko winds were beginning to blow up a storm!

A local Red-eyed Vireo fledgling, looking awkward as it looses its fluffy juvenile plumage.

With so few birds to band we had a little more time to linger on our walks back to the banding station, which gave us the opportunity of noticing some disturbing changes that have afflicted the hordes of grasshoppers who inhabit the field. Their population has noticeably declined from what it was at the beginning of the month, and as the clouds of living grasshoppers have grown smaller, more and more dead ones have appeared clinging to stalks of grass and heads of clover, eerily frozen in place. This did not seem like normal insect behaviour to say the least! And indeed, it turns out that these grasshoppers are infected with a fungus called Entomophaga grylli, which causes a condition sometimes called ‘Summit Disease’. The fungus makes its way inside the grasshopper, where it multiplies. As the disease progresses, the insect is driven to climb to the top of a plant, where it dies with its limbs gripping the stem. This little bit of height helps the fungus to disperse when it releases its spores. Fortunately, this unnerving fungal pathogen only affects grasshoppers, with different types of the fungus each infecting a different subfamily of grasshoppers (similarly to how specific species of louse fly live on specific species of birds). So in spite of the vast number of fungal spores that we must have inhaled by now, we have nothing to fear!… until we feel an irresistible compulsion to climb mountains, maybe!

Dead grasshoppers infected with Entomophaga grylli.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S117602798.

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	4	1
Warbling Vireo	3
Song Sparrow	1	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Red-eyed Vireo	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
American Redstart	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	13	Total Banded	465
Species Banded	8	Standard Banded	464
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	60
Species on Census	24	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	51	Species Recorded	109

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Aug. 25: Quality over Quantity, the Tatlayoko Way

For those who are in the know, the Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory is not renown for a high volume of birds banded, but it is however a place where you can see and if you are lucky band some western specialties. Bird banders come for the birds and stay for the scenery as I don’t know what other bird observatory can boast such an awe-inspiring location, being sandwiched between the towering rocky spire that is Niut to the west and the gently sloping fortification that is Potato Mountain to the east.

There are not many other bird observatories where you get to encounter delights such as Mountain Chickadees and majestic hunters like Northern Harriers with regularity. These two were part of a suite of species that Sachi had hoped to band during her sojourn at the TLBO. Thus far, Mountain Chickadees have both scolded and taunted almost daily with a group foraging in and around net 1 whilst another band of marauders is often heard calling from along the western verge of the Homathko.

The day would begin with a slow sunrise that perfectly characterized the activity of the birds around the station. Swainson’s Thrushes continued to move through the valley as we would go on to band eight new birds along with one recapture for a season total of 113! Otherwise, we had a few lingering American Redstarts in our nets along with a lonely Northern Waterthrush which was our 52nd of the season, bringing us one step closer to last season’s record-setting 58 banded.

The charismatic marauder of the mountainous west: Mountain Chickadee.

The heat and slow rate of capture left us totally unprepared for the surprise that lay in wait as we approached net 10 on the 10:15am net round, a Mountain Chickadee! This species, much like their cousins, are full of verve making any moment that you get to spend up close and personal with one of these little marauders very special. Though a daily fixture on the observation front we haven’t actually caught one since 2018! This particular species of Chickadee also happens to be one of the western specialties that Sachi had hoped for which made the moment all the more special! Savouring the joy of the moment and celebrating Sachi’s 10th banding tick since arriving at the TLBO we came into view of the Harrier Net and out of habit I gave it an obligatory glance expecting nothing as we hadn’t had so much of a whiff of a Northern Harrier all day. A large shape was gently suspended in the net waiting patiently, eliciting the explicative, “Harrier” as we hurried on. Though they become quite a common sight in the north field during migration with an average 43 visual detections per season we capture far fewer with this being only the 15th banded Northern Harrier at the TLBO and Sachi’s very first as well as her 11th banding tick at the TLBO!

The majestic Northern Harrier.

Census mirrored bird activity around the station as mixed flocks were few and far between. The fabled “Pines” were home only to Red-breasted Nuthatches and a Red Squirrel who was industriously stripping cones from the tops of the Lodgepoles no doubt in anticipation for winter. “Make hay whilst the sun shines” was the phrase that I uttered as I passed by. It felt like I blinked and I was approaching the lagoon. Mosquitoes bit my exposed skin and buzzed in my ears as I scanned the lagoon’s placid surface. Not a Mallard in sight, but instead five American Wigeon and a male Ring-necked Duck plied the placid surface feeding. That last species was a new one for our season’s list! Four Common Loon Loons were out on the lake with an immature Bald Eagle moving in a way that resembled bathing on the north shore, a good reminder. On my return trip the lagoon turned up a sly Pied-billed Grebe along with a nervous Wood Duck as well as our first Steller’s Jay of the season. We are less than a week away from the midpoint of our migration monitoring and already the changes can be felt as some species dwindle whilst others arrive.

Until tomorrow.

The fabled, “Pines” on census.

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117553860

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	8	1
American Redstart	2
Northern Harrier	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Mountain Chickadee	1
American Robin	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow		3

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	16	Total Banded	452
Species Banded	8	Standard Banded	451
Birds Recapped	4	Species Banded	39
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	58
Species on Census	35	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	57	Species Recorded	109

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Aug 24: A Day Late and a Waterthrush Short

A power outage yesterday afternoon prevented us from getting the blog post up at our usual time, but now we are back to our regular scheduled programming – a day late and a dollar short maybe, but better late than never! August 24^th was another sunny day, with little wind. The census and the walk back to the banding station turned up some good warblers: there was a handsome Townsend’s Warbler hanging out around the south field, a MacGillivray’s Warbler was foraging next to the road, and a couple of Orange-crowned Warblers were following a flock of Audubon’s Warblers through the pines. Some of the species that we have come to take for granted were absent or were present in lower numbers, a sign that the seasons are indeed changing, in spite of the continuing hot weather. Only one Cassin’s Vireo was heard singing, and we sighted no Empidonax flycatchers at all. The flocks of Western Meadowlarks that have enlivened the north field dwindled to only two observed – though maybe we didn’t see them because they were hiding from the sun under the alfalfa! To make up for the lack, we did add another species to our list for the fall: a single Common Merganser was out swimming on the lake, and rounded off the census nicely.

An adult Chipping Sparrow showing off its rufous cap. Photo by Sachi Snively.

At the banding station, things were slow but steady. The bulk of the birds that we captured were Swainson’s Thrushes, with a few American Redstarts and another Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow thrown in for variety. Sachi got to band his first Sharp-shinned Hawk of the year, as until now I had been hogging them all to myself! The Northern Waterthrushes, of whom we banded so many earlier in the month, have diminished greatly. We didn’t capture any at all and only five were observed, a number that is only half of what we recorded two weeks before. Still, a single Tree Swallow flew over the north field at mid-morning, a symbol of the lingering influence of summer…

A disbelieving hatch-year Sharp-shinned Hawk. Photo by Sachi Snively.

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S117503411

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	9
American Redstart	3
Song Sparrow	2	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Western Tanager	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	18	Total Banded	436
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	436
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	37
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	54
Species on Census	33	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	51	Species Recorded	106

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Aug. 23: A Bander’s Fitness and the Arrival of Members of the Zono Clan

A friend asked us yesterday, “How fit are banders”? That is a question that I have never really had the occasion to consider until now. In a past life I was a tree planter and there was a professor at my local college who did her master’s research on our fitness and it turned out that it was one of the more physically demanding jobs out there and thus required a high level of physical fitness, which came as no surprise. But back to bird banding, today I set out to measure the distances that we walk on our various loops in order to get a more accurate picture of how much ground we cover. It turns out that the bander who performs census walks roughly 13 kilometres (km) in a day whilst the other walks slightly less at about 12.75. It gets interesting if you multiply that by the 58 days that we work straight which equals 754 km per person. In the two months that I am here I usually drive my car anywhere from 1000-1200 km and that includes trips to Tatla and other spots for birding, so I walk roughly 2/3rds the distance that I drive whilst banding. We apply an average of 29 bands per day which requires opening and then closing a set of pliers for each band (there are varying amounts of resistance depending on band size) which is much like cutting 29 sections of sturdy wire per day for an average of 1665 sections per season. In addition we furl a minimum 12 mist-nets per day which is a very unique activity but could be perhaps likened to lassoing for 20 seconds per net. We also do a dead lift two times per day when we close up the two windows at the lab at the end of each session. On top of that we each carry around binoculars which weigh roughly 725g plus a sachel full of bags which feels like it weighs much less. This is just for the Passerine migration monitoring and doesn’t include the owling which begins in early September and runs through till mid October. So the verdict, how fit are bird banders? I don’t really know, but we are clearly mean, lean, walking machines albeit in small 1 km sections at varying paces which is likely relative to leg length and how many cool birds you encounter, with relatively strong forearm and wrist muscles and a surprising level of manual dexterity.

With another shift of the start time by five minutes, 6:15 saw the two Sachi’s with aspen staves in hand, sachels slung over knotted shoulders like a scene out of a fantasy novel as they set out on the well-beaten trail to erect our 12 mist-nets while dawn lightened and birds awoke all around us. Bird activity was rather subdued for we would go on to band 21 new birds with 2 recaptures which almost perfectly reflects our daily average of 20 birds per day thus far. Yet again Swainson’s Thrush held the top spot with five birds banded and 1 recapture whilst Lincoln’s Sparrow took the second spot with four birds banded. Both of these species are fall migration staples for us at the TLBO as they both end each season in the top five if not the top three for we band an average of 142 Swainson’s Thrush and 186 Lincoln’s Sparrow per season. The Lincoln’s Sparrow like many sparrow species is oft misidentified or overlooked. With their dainty streaks, smart crisp buffy highlights and unique rich, bubbly, warbling, wren-like song they deserve more than a mere moment’s admiration – that is if you are fortunate enough to get more that a moment with one. This smart sparrow is named after a man whose name was Thomas Lincoln. As a 21-year old, Lincoln accompanied John James Audubon in 1833 on an expedition to the coast of Labrador which was part of Audubon’s monumental project to paint each avian species in North America. Audubon bestowed his friend’s name on this lovely sparrow because young Lincoln was the one who shot and collected the first specimen of this species on that trip. I know that this is shocking to our modern sentiments, but the ornithologists of yore were in the habit of shooting and collecting each new species that they encountered as they didn’t have digital cameras with telephoto lenses, binoculars and spotting scopes so instead required a very up close and personal inspection of each new species. 

The Zonos: Golden-crowned Sparrow (left) and Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow (right).

There were two surprises amongst the remainder of the species that we banded today namely two new species to our 2022 list both of which were members of the genus Zonotrichia, Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow. The latter was cause for some delight as this was both a lifer and a banding tick for Sachi!

An action shot of another beautifully patterned Sparrow: Vesper Sparrow

Much like yesterday bird activity on census was muted as there were only fleeting moments of concentrated avian activity. The biggest moment of excitement came as I entered the north field and began to scan the shrub and tree lines. Two waxwings were flycatching from their favoured perch atop an old Cottonwood. A warm rufous-toned thrush suddenly appeared on a branch nearby. It had rufous upper parts along with some spotting on its breast with an otherwise white belly along with a very faint partial eye ring, a Veery! In my five seasons at the TLBO this was my first sighting as they are locally rare with this being the 5th record in 16 seasons of monitoring. Of the other four records three were captures (banded) whilst the other was an observation. Interestingly the last detection of a Veery was on August 23rd, 2020 when Avery caught it whilst I was out on census. As quickly as it arrived it was gone leaving me momentarily disappointed camera in hand and lens extended, such is the life of a birder.

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S117455435

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	5	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	4
Warbling Vireo	2
Wilson’s Warbler	2
Song Sparrow	2
Red-eyed Vireo	1
MacGillivray’s Warbler	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
Common Yellowthroat		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	21	Total Banded	418
Species Banded	11	Standard Banded	418
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	37
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	53
Species on Census	38	Species Recapped	12
Species Recorded	53	Species Recorded	105

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Aug 22: William John Swainson’s Thrush

We were accompanied by a chorus of Swainson’s Thrush chips and chirps as we made our way to the banding station this morning, but the abundance of birds all around us did not immediately translate into an abundance of birds in the mist-nets. The day started off slowly, with the usual Red-eyed Vireos and Song Sparrows calling from the bushes as we made our way around the net lanes. Recently they have been joined by Common Yellowthroats, which are beginning to be more numerous – today we banded our third of the season, a young male whose black face mask was only just beginning to come in. We also added a new species to our list of birds banded this fall, as we captured a striking Pacific-slope Flycatcher! This very yellow Empidonax species is hard to mistake for anything other than the more easterly Yellow-bellied Flycatcher: in the hand, they can usually be distinguished by the fact that the Pacific-slope Flycatcher has a tenth primary feather that is shorter than its fifth primary feather. A small difference, but an important one when you’re dealing with a silent flycatcher!

The first Pacific-slope Flycatcher of the season!

Census was only moderately busy and I hit several stretches that were very quiet, with no bird activity detected at all. The morning was hot and still, and without a single breath of wind to rustle the trees the absence of any wildlife began to feel oppressive. Fortunately the silence was soon broken by a talkative group of American Robins flying from tree to tree, and after that I began to hear and see more warbler species, including two MacGillivray’s Warblers. Now that we are reaching the end of August, some birds have begun flocking up to face the coming winter together, and there was a large murder of over a hundred American Crows calling just outside of our count area for most of the morning. Cedar Waxwing and Pine Siskin flocks are growing larger too, as they finish raising their families and join together with others of their kind.

Meanwhile, back at the banding station Sachi only captured two birds over the entire time I was away. As a general rule birds are most active just before and after dawn, so we had little hope that things would improve – but the birds proved us wrong. Maybe it was our visitors who helped, since it was only after they left that we started to catch anything, thus further proving the rule of thumb I set out in August 18th’s blog post! Regardless of the cause, we banded several more Swainson’s Thrushes and Northern Waterthrushes and captured three American Redstarts including two very handsome adult males. We ended the day with 23 birds banded of ten species, and a three-way tie between Swainson’s Thrush, Warbling Vireo, and Northern Waterthrush at four individuals each.

Common Loon on Tatlayoko Lake.

So far this season the Swainson’s Thrush has been our most common bird captured, which is typical for the TLBO and many other banding stations. Almost a quarter of the individuals that we have banded have been Swainson’s Thrushes, and our daily observations have never failed to turn up at least a dozen of these unobtrusive yet musical birds.

Like many birds, the Swainson’s Thrush is named after a person. This is a common convention when it comes to choosing both scientific and popular names for species, but except in the cases of especially famous naturalists (like John James Audubon, whose name was given to the Audubon’s Warbler among others) it is rare to know much about the people whose names are so ubiquitous on birding lists and banding sheets. It’s easy to assume that the person commemorated is the one who discovered the bird, but actually this is often not the case. Convention and modesty (real or assumed!) forbids discoverers from naming species after themselves and so, especially during the Edwardian and Victorian eras, scientists habitually used species names as a way of honouring their colleagues, who may never have done any research in the country or region where that species is found. Such is the case of the Swainson’s Thrush, named after William John Swainson, a 19th-century naturalist and scientific illustrator from London who did work in Sicily, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. So far as I can tell, he never set foot in North America, which means that he may never have seen a Swainson’s Thrush except as a preserved skin. The species was named after him by Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist and zoologist who made several scientific voyages in America.

One peculiarity of William Swainson is that he was a headstrong advocate of the Quinarian system of classificiation, which held that all zoological taxa can be divided into five subgroups. To our contemporary minds, accustomed to thinking of biological classification (if we think of it at all!) in terms of evolutionary descent, the unyielding rigidity of the Quinarian system and its system of fives is laughable. But the Quinarian system was developed a good forty years before the publication of Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’. William Swainson and his contemporaries were struggling to find a way of describing the order that they could dimly discern within the wild abundance of the natural world, without fully understanding the systems that had created that order in the first place. It was an admirable attempt, even if they turned out to be wrong: but Swainson remained a steadfast advocate of the Quinarian system even after it had been rejected by most scientists of the time, showing a stubbornness that accords ill with the spirit of the scientific method.

Today, the prospect of changing eponymous common names for birds is under discussion as a means of making some small amends for the colonial and imperial injustices that have been perpetrated in the sciences. A movement is underway to replace English common bird names that commemorate historical persons (especially those who are known to have held hateful and racist views) with purely descriptive names. Perhaps one day we will discuss the Mosquito Thrush instead of the Swainson’s Thrush, a name that describes this bird’s habit of eating flying insects while on its breeding grounds; and William Swainson’s name, like the Quinarian system, will be found solely in our history books instead of in our field guides.

To see our eBird checklist for the day, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S117405444.

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Species	Band	Recap
Warbling Vireo	4
Swainson’s Thrush	4
Northern Waterthrush	4
Song Sparrow	3
American Redstart	2	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Red-naped Sapsucker	1
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Chipping Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	23	Total Banded	397
Species Banded	10	Standard Banded	397
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	35
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	51
Species on Census	34	Species Recapped	11
Species Recorded	56	Species Recorded	102

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