Sept. 28: Season Finale 2022

There was something in the air this morning as I made my way down to the station. Perhaps it was a hint of rain or even a storm somewhere northwards as there was a frantic energy in the air. Birds were on the move as we would record high numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers (565), predominantly of the ‘Myrtle’ subspecies, Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos (143), American Robins (140) and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (117). Instead of a steady stream as we saw on September 23rd the groups ebbed and flowed. At times it felt dead quiet but then a large mixed flock would arrive and overwhelm you as you frantically tried to count and or estimate their numbers before they moved quickly out of sight southwards. It was in one of these flocks that I encountered our only Swamp Sparrow of 2022. I had been holding out hope for much of the latter half of September that we might detect or better yet capture a member of this oft-missed species. Like so many things the encounter was too brief for after being alerted to its presence by a rich, sweet and resonant “seet” call I only had time to admire its grey nape and supercillum, rufous back and unstreaked buffy sides before it was gone.

The final addition to the species banded list: Red-shafted Flicker.

Despite a surprising level of cooperation from the weather we only banded 11 new birds with one recapture. As sychronicity would have it we had one final species addition to our banded column for the season when a hatch-year male Red-shafted Flicker found its way into net 14! Despite the lack of volume control that appears to be a trait shared by all woodpeckers this was also a banding tick for Sachi who had up until this point only ever laid hands on Yellow-shafted Flickers, the eastern subspecies of Northern Flicker.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119602502

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Species	Band	Recap
Oregon Junco	4
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Song Sparrow	1	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1
Red-shafted Flicker	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	11	Total Banded	889
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	885
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	52
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	103
Species on Census	34	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	40	Species Recorded	138

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2022 Season Summary

For as long as there as been a daily blog at the TLBO today’s post has always been reserved for the final season summary and today is no different. This season saw a shift in the guard as it were for after four seasons at the helm Avery decided to pass yours truly the reins so that he could explore the beautiful environs around his temporary new home of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. Both the TLBO and myself have been very fortunate to have had Sachi (Sachiko) Schott join us in my old post of Assistant Bander for the season.

Banding

The month of August had the not-so distinguished pleasure of being the slowest on record with 511 birds banded which was nearly 300 birds below the fifteen-season average. As September approached we stalwartly held out hope that perhaps 2022 would be a good year for captures of both Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby Crowned Kinglets as these two species are later migrants that maintain a rather consistent presence in the valley during the latter half of the month as individuals move through. These two species are very boom or bust when it comes to captures: it often feels like the luck of the draw if they happen to be foraging near any of our nets or not. Alas it would not be a big year for banding either of these species as September would prove to be even slower as we only banded 373 during the month for a season total of 885 birds in our twelve standard songbird mist-nets. Of our top 10 species that we banded this season only Swainson’s Thrush (213) and Northern Waterthrush (54) were above our fifteen-season average and each attained their 4th highest totals of all time. There appears to be some interesting pairings as both Yellow Warbler (49) and American Redstart (37) were well below their respective averages as each of their totals were the 4th lowest of all time. Moving down the ladder both Warbling Vireo (70) and Orange-crowned Warbler (36) saw less than half their all-time average number as they each shared their 3rd lowest season. Ruby-crowned Kinglets (30) were a quarter of their normal average (124) which narrowly surpassed our lowest season for this species in 2017 (22). Finally three species that we tend to rely on later on in the season to bolster our numbers all logged their lowest totals of all time, namely Lincoln’s Sparrow (64), Song Sparrow (57) and Common Yellowthroat (25).

Figure 1. Birds banded per day versus the fifteen-season average.

With such low numbers of almost all of our more reliable species it does beg the question of, did all of these species have below-average breeding success locally or even regionally this season due to the extended cool wet spring, or is what we are seeing the downstream consequences of the heat dome last year when we also saw record low numbers of both Lincoln’s Sparrow and Common Yellowthroats in our banding totals? Viewed through this small lens this information would appear to be disheartening but it is these kinds of questions that long term monitoring projects like the TLBO can help researchers to answer as we continue to build on our multiyear data set and fill in a piece of the larger picture that is whole scale population monitoring and dynamics.

Despite what might at first seem like dire pronouncements in the above paragraphs we did have some banding highlights this season. To read more about each, click on the species name to go to the appropriate blog post. The obvious highlight of the season came on September 17th when we banded the TLBO’s first Rose-breasted Grosbeak and second Mourning Dove (first in a standard passerine net).

The TLBO’s first Rose-breasted Grosbeak!

Other interesting highlights included our first banding record of a Varied Thrush in August on the 5th, and our fifth banding record of a Brown-headed Cowbird on the 6th of August. On August 25th we banded our 15th Northern Harrier and first Mountain Chickadee since 2018. The highlights continued into September as we would band our third Cooper’s Hawk of all time, the eighth Magnolia Warbler and the 16th Red-shafted Flicker (see above).

In total we banded 885 birds from our standard twelve-net songbird setup with the lowest total net hours on record of 3,006 which is roughly 500 net hours less than our fifteen-season average. Our nonstandard banding which only included three large gauge Hawk Nets and our Pipit Fence (made of two-panel high nets) only accounted for four additional birds namely, a Northern Harrier, a Cooper’s Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk, the TLBO’s second Green-winged Teal (which we did not band due to a lack of proper bands) as well as a Savannah Sparrow in of the Pipit Fence.

We caught a total of 103 recaptures from our standard mist-nets some of which were inter-annuals who proved to have some colourful histories. The most exciting of these was an adult Swainson’s Thrush whom we first banded as a hatch-year in 2012!  We caught three more inter-annuals of this species which we first banded in 2018 as well as two from 2017, along with an adult Warbling Vireo that was first banded by Barry Lancaster in May of 2018. The two final inter-annual recaptures of interest were an after-second-year female Song Sparrow who was first banded in 2018 and a Red-eyed Vireo whom we banded back in 2017.

Figure 2. Banding timeline.

Unlike our songbird banding, our Northern Saw-whet Owl program has not been hindered by poor weather thus far this season as we have been able to band on twelve nights, only one of which we had to shut down after only 30 minutes due to rain. In those eleven successful nights we have banded 33 owls which is above our regular season average of 30 with the possibility of a 12th full night tonight. Due to the success of our pilot project last October we decided to make the extension part of our regular owling season so Sachi will remain until the 15th and will be owling every night that is suitable.

Observations and Estimated Totals

Despite the lackluster banding results, September proved to be exceptional on the observation front as we would end the month with 14,531 detections which was an increase from August’s 12,417 detections for a final season tally of 26,948! This total is in fact the third highest of all time behind 2021 (27,602) and 2020 (28,196). This was helped by fairly consistent numbers of migrating Yellow-rumped Warblers over the last two weeks of September with our two biggest days coming on the 28th with 565 individuals and the 23rd with a season high of 798!

Species	DET
Yellow-rumped Warbler	5422
American Crow	1458
Cedar Waxwing	1387
American Robin	1115
American Pipit	1065
Oregon Junco	1055
Savannah Sparrow	974
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	866
Song Sparrow	802
Red-winged Blackbird	776

Every year we hope to add new species to our list and this year Sachi added a long-awaited shorebird species when she observed the TLBO’s first Baird’s Sandpiper during census on September 11th. On September 7th, Sachi found the TLBO’s first Flammulated Owl, albeit dead which we have since handed over to the provincial government who will be sending it off for testing to ascertain if the Avian Influenza is the cause of this beautiful owl’s demise. Other observations of note included Swamp Sparrow (16th record), Lapland Longspur (13th record), Northern Shrike (10th record), Golden Eagle (sixth record), Common Tern (fifth record) and our fourth record of a Veery.

Other Projects and Research Collaborations

As in 2021 we collected louse fly samples for a research project headed out of the University of Guelph. Check out August 8th’s post to find out more.

We also collected tail feathers from both aerial insectivore species and species that breed in the boreal forest for a long-term monitoring project run by the Canadian Wildlife Service in Saskatchewan.

Conclusion and Gratitude

And so ends another fantastic season of migration monitoring in one of the more magical places that I have had the honour to spend time in. You come for the birds and stay for the scenery as they say. I hope that you all have enjoyed following along with us during this two month odyssey as much as we have enjoyed relaying it. Keep an eye on the blog as Sachi will periodically post owling updates as the season progresses. Additionally, I will be working on the final report which I hope to have uploaded to this site by the end of October and at which point will be found with all of our other full season reports on the “Migratory Bird Count” page.

I would like to thank the TFSS for running the TLBO again this season and Avery Bartels for all the countless hours of work that he has put in behind the scenes. Another thank you to those of you who donated to this project via our Birdathon fundraiser as well as personal donations made by Ruth and Charlie Travers, Jörg and Hannelore Fischer, Calypso Environmental Services, John Snively, Jim Sims, Avocet Tours, Barry Lancaster, Otter’s Books, Susan and Ara Elmajian, Peter and Roma Shaughnessy, Hana Kamea, Eileen Dell  as well the Cariboo Regional District and lastly the Canadian Wildlife Service. The final big thank you goes to the Nature Conservancy of Canada who allows us to continue to operate on their and use the existing infrastructure.

The season may indeed be at a close but we are always open to receiving donations of all shapes and sizes as every little bit is deeply appreciated and goes a long way. For those of you who are interested we advise that donations under $250 be made via our Birdathon and these funds will go towards our 2023 program. To make a donation this way please follow the link: TLBO Birdathon

For larger donations please consider contacting us by email at tatlayokobirds@hotmail.com for instructions.

Happy fall!

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	213	31
Warbling Vireo	70	4
Lincoln’s Sparrow	64	3
Song Sparrow	57	27
Northern Waterthrush	54	9
Yellow Warbler	49	8
Yellow-rumped Warbler	41	0
American Redstart	37	4
Orange-crowned Warbler	36	2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	30	0
Common Yellowthroat	25	2
MacGillivray’s Warbler	20	1
Wilson’s Warbler	20	1
American Robin	19	0
Savannah Sparrow	19	0
Chipping Sparrow	15	0
Oregon Junco	15	0
White-crowned Sparrow	12	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	9	0
Black-capped Chickadee	8	3
Vesper Sparrow	6	1
Fox Sparrow	6	0
Red-eyed Vireo	5	2
Cedar Waxwing	5	2
Hermit Thrush	5	0
Red-naped Sapsucker	4	0
Hairy Woodpecker	4	0
Dusky Flycatcher	4	0
Western Tanager	4	0
Spotted Towhee	3	1
Willow Flycatcher	3	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	3	0
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	2	0
Townsend’s Warbler	2	0
Pine Siskin	2	0
Traill’s Flycatcher	1	1
Northern Harrier	1	0
Cooper’s Hawk	1	0
Mourning Dove	1	0
Downy Woodpecker	1	0
Alder Flycatcher	1	0
Least Flycatcher	1	0
Hammond’s Flycatcher	1	0
Cassin’s Vireo	1	0
Mountain Chickadee	1	0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	0
Varied Thrush	1	0
Magnolia Warbler	1	0
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	1	0
Purple Finch	1	0
Red-shafted Flicker	1	0
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1	0

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Season
Total Banded	889
Standard Banded	885
Species Banded	52
Total Recapped	103
Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	138
Total Detections	26 948

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Sept 27: The (Not Quite) Last Smiles of the Year

A mild north wind did not deter Sachi and Jodi from heading down to the banding station last night to attempt some owl banding, and their determination was rewarded! Though conditions were not ideal, they succeeded in adding another six Northern Saw-whet Owls to our banding totals so far this fall. More owls greeted us this morning as a Great-horned Owl and two Northern Pygmy-Owls were calling from the hillsides on either side of the banding station. The Northern Pygmy-Owl has a call that is very similar to that of the Northern Saw-whet Owl but, unlike Saw-whets, Pygmy-Owls are active during the day – so paying attention to when you hear a small owl toot-toot-ing away can be a clue to its identity!

Fall colours around the TLBO outhouse.

The TLBO’s migration monitoring program comes to an end tomorrow, on September 28^th, so today was my last census for 2022. Even though I’m sure I’ll go birding along the census trail in October, it still felt like a significant milestone and I was very glad to finish off the season with some fun sightings! There were more Yellow-rumped Warblers of both varieties migrating overhead than there were two days ago, and the Clark’s Nutcrackers seemed to be in constant motion between the Niuts and Potato Range. As I followed the census trail to the end of the south field and clambered over the fence onto the road, I stepped out into the middle of a flock of twitterpated Oregon Juncos who flew in front of me all the way down to the lagoon, where the Pied-billed Grebe was waiting to say hello. And, overhead, a pair of Varied Thrush flew in and alighted for a moment in a beam of sunlight. It felt like a perfect visual for the end of census, since as Sachi mentioned their presence heralds the end of the fall migration season.

As much as we will regret the ending of the season it feels like the right moment to begin taking down the mist-nets, as our current banding totals make it hard to feel like our six hours of daily migration monitoring are accomplishing much! Seven birds were captured today, including the White-crowned Sparrow from yesterday that was recaptured, and like yesterday it seemed that as soon as the clock ticked over to 11 a.m. all activity around the mist-nets ceased. All there was left for us to do was enjoy the beauties of the season while we counted the chickadees as they foraged in the trees overhead and the Western Meadowlarks as they drifted back and forth over the north field. Before that, though, we had the opportunity to admire some of the sparrows that are currently migrating through the Tatlayoko Valley. The numbers of Savannah Sparrows that we see on a daily basis has decreased considerably from earlier in the season, but there are still a few that we flush each morning as we cut across the field at the end of our net runs. One detail about these sparrows that I really like is that their tertial feathers (the three wing feathers that are closest to the bird’s body) are long enough to cover all of the Savannah Sparrow’s other wing feathers when the wing is folded. This protects the feathers from exposure to the sun, and is a common adaptation in birds that live in grasslands where there is little shade.

A beautiful yellow-lored Savannah Sparrow.

Oregon Juncos, in contrast, are forest birds who spend lots of time in the shade. It doesn’t matter to them if their feathers are exposed, so each of their wing feathers overlaps slightly but never covers the adjacent feather completely. We counted over a hundred Oregon Juncos around the banding station today and some of them passed directly over our mist-nets, but only two were captured! We could tell that this one was a female, as it lacks the dark ‘hood’ that male Oregon Juncos have.

Female Oregon Junco.

Though migration monitoring is coming to an end, owl banding is not! Weather permitting, the TLBO’s owl banding program will continue through to October 15^th. If you’re interested in visiting the station at that time, please contact me, Sachi, at tatlayokobirds@hotmail.com and I’ll add you to our email list – I’ll be sending around an update each night to let people know if we’re going to be owling or not. We hope to see you there!

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119534913.

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Species	Band	Recap
Savannah Sparrow	2
Oregon Junco	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1
Song Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	6	Total Banded	878
Species Banded	4	Standard Banded	868
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	102
Species on Census	22	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	35	Species Recorded	137

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Sept. 26: Mad Melodious Meadowlarks

The view from my swim yesterday looking back towards the north end of the lake and the station.

As darkness descended the air felt deathly still which was all the more apparent in a valley that is often in constant motion. Sachi and Jodi had a good session of owling as they would band two new hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls of both sexes which brings our season total to 23 banded in ten nights! With any luck the forecast will hold true and Jodi will be joining yours truly for another session tonight.

The early morning chill was accompanied by the off-tune, mournful, flute-like notes of a Varied Thrush’s song which is the herald of the fast-approaching conclusion to a season of monitoring. As the sun began to crest Potato the largest Western Meadowlark flock of the season (17 birds in all) came to life as they frolicked whilst serenading us with their liquid-metallic song that is comprised of a complex combination of pure whistles that eventually descend to gurgling warbles. This group would keep us entertained by their antics as they chased each other all about the field, sometimes taking flight and alighting atop the “kestrel” snag and then descending once again to the grasses below.

Though not from today, here is a shot that illustrates the earthly beauty of a Western Meadowlark.

Despite the calm conditions our day’s banding effort was modest as we would band four new birds of four different species with one recapture. Our first bird of the day was a hatch-year Hermit Thrush whose arrival brought me a spark of joy in the cool predawn hours. Sachi and Jodi would capture the rest of the quartet which were all sparrows, namely a Song Sparrow, a Savannah Sparrow and a White-crowned Sparrow. This latter bird was our first adult of the season that we have banded of this species. Being a later migrant, September is when we tend to capture reasonable numbers of White-crowned Sparrows for an average of 37 per season. Much like many other species, the number of White-crowned Sparrows that we have banded this season has been far below average as this lovely adult marked only our 12th banding. From a more holistic monitoring perspective we average roughly 253 detections of this species per season with the range running from a low of 52 (2013) to a high of 625 (2018), while this season we have had 78 detections. So, despite this being our lowest season for banding numbers of this species it is still well above our three lowest seasons for detections which is heartening.

An adult of the Gambel’s subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow.

In the Pines during census I would encounter another member of the genus Zonotrichia in the form of our third White-throated Sparrow of the season. As I enjoyed its resonant ringing call notes I heard several higher pitched gentle notes from behind the trunk of a nearby pine. After several moments of investigation I was able find the sly songster as our first Brown Creeper of the season gently crept into view. The Clark’s Nutcrackers were active today as we would observe a season’s-high 43 individuals with our largest single flock of the season as a group of 25 made their way from Potato to Niut all the while calling their characteristic “kraaaaaaa” location calls.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119483613

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	1	1
Hermit Thrush	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	4	Total Banded	872
Species Banded	4	Standard Banded	868
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	101
Species on Census	33	Species Recapped	16
Species Recorded	46	Species Recorded	137

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Sept 25: Season of Mellow Fruitfulness

Though gusting winds prevented us from owling last night, it seems that at some point the wind died down and conditions became perfect for migration, because when we came down to the banding station this morning we discovered that there were almost no birds around! The net lanes were quiet as we opened our mist-nets in the forlorn hope of conjuring a kinglet or two out of thin air. Even local birds like the Hairy Woodpeckers that we usually hear were silent, and the flocks of American Pipits that have been a mainstay in the north field were largely absent. The lack of birds felt even more uncanny considering the perfection of the day: the sky was blue and nearly cloudless, and even the ever-present wind died down enough that we could open all of our mist-nets – to little effect!

A dragonfly waits for the sun to hit the south field.

The silence persisted as I headed out on census, but though even the Pines were quiet except for the distant barking of a dog and an unexpectedly musical cow, I did not lose hope! There have been other days when an underwhelming census was redeemed by the diversity of ducks feeding in the lagoon – but as I came around the corner, all I could see was a single Hooded Merganser floating in the middle of the water. It wasn’t until I was scanning the very edges of the pond that I spotted a quartet of black-and-white heads that were only just visible over the tall grasses on the far side of the lagoon. They belonged to a gaggle of Canada Geese, who bobbed and wove as they nibbled at seedheads. The lake was as still as the lagoon had been and was even more empty, though at least a Horned Grebe was present to reassure me that there were still birds in the world.

Once I was back at the banding station, a few small groups of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers deigned to grace our mist-nets with their presence and thereby rescued our daily banding totals from utter desolation. We were even lucky enough to capture both subspecies of the latter, Myrtle and Audubon’s. The following portraits show off the identifying features by which you can distinguish the one from the other: the stripe above the Myrtle’s eye and its cheek patch, versus the Audubon’s yellow throat and more solid colouring.

Myrtle Warbler (left) versus Audubon’s (right).

Though the birding was rather underwhelming today (only 33 species recorded in total!), it was still a pleasure to spend the morning out of doors at the banding station, enjoying the beauties of the season. As the aspens accelerate their transformation from green to gold, and with the grasses and dandelion leaves adding touches of red to the landscape, it has come to look and feel more like autumn, which John Keats called the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ – a descriptor that felt appropriate today, when both Sachi and Jodi made up for some of our fruitless net-runs by gleaning handfuls of rose hips. And our final net-run of the morning brought us a wonderful surprise: a plump, late-migrating Swainson’s Thrush! While this isn’t the latest that the TLBO has ever captured a Swainson’s Thrush, they have become distinctly rare in the valley, so this was a delightful reminder that not everyone has abandoned us for more southerly climes.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S119425076.

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	4
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Swainson’s Thrush	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	7	Total Banded	868
Species Banded	3	Standard Banded	857
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	100
Species on Census	18	Species Recapped	16
Species Recorded	33	Species Recorded	136

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Sept. 24: Owl Surprise and the Return of Some Old Friends

The surprise Northern Saw-whet Owl with a rather interesting moult pattern.

The above picture is certainly worth 1000 words. Needless to say despite the strong winds myself and our latest volunteer Jodi, who arrived yestereve, decided to take a drive down to the station at around 9:00pm to see if the wind was any less ferocious in our semi-sheltered owl loop. Surprisingly once we arrived at the nets the wind was much more subdued which allowed us to open all of our nets. As I was about to set up our audio lure I saw a shape in one of the nets that I had erected only moments before, a surprise Northern Saw-whet Owl! I don’t know if I have ever caught an owl without an audio lure so this was a delightful first for me. We would capture four more for a season high of five on the night, two of which were adults whilst the other three were all hatch-years for a current season total of 21.

Yours truly showing off the smallest migrant that we band, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Photo by Peter Shaughnessy.

When Sachi arrived at the station at 7:00am the temperature was blessedly mild at 2ºC and the wind was rather benign by Tatlayoko standards meaning that she was able to open up almost all of our nets! We would get a good four and a half hours of mist-netting in before a strong southerly wind arrived without warning forcing us to shut down prematurely. During that window we banded 13 new birds and two recaptures. Both recaptures had been first banded in 2022, one of which was an adult Spotted Towhee whom we had banded on August 8th as an second-year female in breeding condition! In all likelihood this female Towhee was one of the adults that we often encountered early on in the season near the outhouse as she fanatically foraged for food to feed her insatiable offspring. We had a busy day with visitors as the Shaughnessys dropped by as well as a couple from the coast. They were treated to such seasonal delights as both subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s and Myrtle), Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a lovely Wilson’s Warbler. On one net round Sachi turned the corner and watched as a Sharp-shinned Hawk bounced out of one of our songbird nets to continue on its way searching for prey in the willows. It would have been a nice species to share but alas such are the perils of passive mist-netting.

A glimpse inside of the banding lab during the morning’s operations. Photo by Peter Shaughnessy.

Yellow-rumped Warblers (of both subspecies) and Ruby-crowned Kinglets tend to dominate the landscape at this point in the season and today’s census was no exception. There were however a few surprises in store for me in the form of a reunion with old friends. The first would come in what is now the famous Pines, where I was combing through the “chipping” Yellow-rumped Warblers and cackling Ruby-crowned Kinglets who were punctuated by both Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees when a member of the genus Empidonax fluttered into view. This blocky-headed flycatcher with a short thin-based bill and long primary projection (wing tips extending a good ways down the tail) and a white “teardrop” shaped eye ring is a species that I am very familiar with from the forests of my home. Detections of Hammond’s Flycatchers have been below average this season and this little bird would be our 14th versus our 15 season average of 18.

An adult male Cassin’s Finch showing off his red crested forecrown!

Not much further along I would encounter the next old friend as I sighted a trio of Cassin’s Finches perched atop an old cottonwood northwest of the south field. This species is not often detected during our two month monitoring period as in 10 of our 15 seasons we have failed to detect any at all. Interestingly, detections have increased in the last three years with three in 2019 and fourteen in both 2020 and 2021. Before 2019 our last detection of this finch species was way back in 2010 which begs the question, were they not present in the valley or just foraging somewhere outside our census area? I expect the latter to be the case as this increase in detections on the property only suggests that they have been perhaps breeding more locally in the past four years. Anyhow, my sighting of this lovely trio represented our fifth of this season which is double our fifteen-season average of 2.4. Needless to say it is always a delight to run into two species who have been absent for a spell and that regularly breed back in the Kootenays where I reside when I am not monitoring birds in the beautiful Tatlayoko Valley.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119353801

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Species	Band	Recap
Yellow-rumped Warbler	6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	5
Hermit Thrush	1
Oregon Junco	1
Wilson’s Warbler		1
Spotted Towhee		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	13	Total Banded	861
Species Banded	4	Standard Banded	857
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	100
Species on Census	31	Species Recapped	16
Species Recorded	44	Species Recorded	136

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Sept 23: Clouds That Lour’d Above Our House

Overcast skies above the TLBO banding station.

Last night the TLBO battened down to weather the strong winds that battered the Tatlayoko Valley, and this morning we woke up to more of the same. Strong south winds brought with them the odour of smoke and thick clouds, and though the thermometer at the banding station registered above-zero temperatures we still couldn’t open our mist-nets as even the furled nets were being bounced about by the wind!

The silver lining to these less-than-ideal conditions was the amount of active migration taking place along the Homathko River. Groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers, most of them Audubon’s, were moving steadily southwards through the willows, heading into the wind (and occasionally being blown back northwards!). While I was on census Sachi stationed himself in a good position to monitor their movements and by the end of our morning we had observed a total of 798 of these warblers, the highest total so far this fall. Forty-seven Ruby-crowned Kinglets were mixed in with them but not every species was so numerous: after appearing in large numbers yesterday, today we counted only 21 Oregon Juncos.

A feisty Merlin enduring the challenging conditions.

The rushing winds and the sibilant susurrus of the aspen leaves made it a challenge to pick out the soft, burry whistle of a Mountain Bluebird as I made my way down the census trail. It was a while before I began to observe many birds – though the net lanes close to the Homathko had been fairly busy with Yellow-rumped Warblers, it wasn’t until I reached the south field that I began to see some flocks of them. The small pond in the south-west corner had a handful of duck species in it, standing around on a mud bank. When they noticed me watching them they slid into the water one by one and surreptitiously paddled off behind some tall reeds, but not before I had counted Ring-necked Ducks, American Wigeon, an American Green-winged Teal, and a few Northern Shovelers. The lagoon held more of these species, and for once none of them flushed as I walked past them along the road! Perhaps the prospect of flying up and into a strong cross-wind was too daunting for any of them to contemplate. A single Common Merganser and an immature Herring Gull perched on the shore were the only birds present on the lake.

Driftwood on the north beach of Tatlayoko Lake.

Though the level of Yellow-rumped Warbler activity had been high in the south field and around the lagoon, as I walked back towards the banding station birds became fewer and farther between. After a final tour around the net lanes and to the oxbow, and a few more sightings of American Pipits, Savannah Sparrows, and Black-capped Chickadees, we were ready to give up being buffeted by the wind and retreat back to the field house!

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S119292009.

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Due to high winds, there was no banding today.

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	848
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	844
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	98
Species on Census	21	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	36	Species Recorded	136

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Sept. 22: Between a Gale and a Frosty Place

A bleak frosty morning at the TLBO.

With a late shift in the winds Sachi and our returning volunteer Courtney set out to try their hands at a spot of owling last night. The weather was uncharacteristically cooperative as there would be nary a breath of wind throughout the entire three hour session where they would capture and band three hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls bringing our current season total to 16 in eight nights.

For the third day running I arrived at the station with many layers on in order to keep out the -2ºC chill that with the addition of the wind felt much more like -5ºC. With frost on our nets and temperatures too low to capture and band songbirds safely, I did a slow tour of the net loop. While passing net 14, I spied a Ruffed Grouse under a willow fluffed up against the morning’s chill. As I approached, I noted another and then another as seven round feathered shapes became apparent. Out in the field I heard a pair of Great-horned Owls dueting from somewhere near the Pines. We have been hearing these owls for several mornings now but until today they have always been calling from outside our census area further up the foothills of Potato and thus could not be counted in our daily tally. Behind me up on the lowest slopes of the Niuts a Northern Pygmy-Owl began its hollow, breathy song that is comprised of “toots” for several minutes before suddenly going silent. Yellow-rumped Warblers of both subspecies “chipped” whilst the odd intrepid Ruby-crowned Kinglet scolded me for being out in this weather. Crossing the field I flushed my first flock of American Pipits who quickly took to the air announcing themselves with their high-pitched, pleasing calls. As I combed through the flock searching for a Horned Lark a long-tailed, thrush-sized bird suddenly came into view as it singled out one Pipit and gave chase. This small predator was brownish with some streaking below and a faint mask that terminated in a hooked bill. As the chase continued, I could make out that its wings and tail were darker than the rest of its body and when it changed direction it fanned out its long tail which had white tips to the tail feathers that increased in size from the inner feathers outwards creating a rounded look. An early Northern Shrike (our 10th record) had arrived and it was obviously hungry and not yet adept at capturing food for itself for after a spell it abandoned the chase to perch atop the favoured “Kestrel” snag to no doubt catch its breath. We wouldn’t see this bird again until the end of the day when we watched as it finally succeeded in catching a meal of unknown origin!

The immature Northern Shrike after an unsuccessful chase in the cool predawn light.

The weather wouldn’t give us much time for banding today as the cold delayed our net opening by two hours and after banding seven new birds, five of which were all “Oregon” Dark-eyed Juncos the south wind arrived with such ferocity that we had to drop everything and scamper off to close our remaining nets at 11:00am. With three days in a row of single digits we have made little progress towards what we thought was a modest goal for the season of 1000 birds banded for as of today we now sit at 848 which is more than 100 behind September 22nd’s total in 2017 (our slowest season on record) of 955 birds banded.

The highlight of census was a rather large flock of roughly ninety Dark-eyed Juncos of the “Oregon” group who were foraging along the road north of the lagoon. Upon my return journey I encountered a portion of this flock and had enough time to do some scanning and was rewarded with two individuals of the “Slate-colored” subspecies which we have only encountered once during standard operations back in 2020 when we banded one.

A wary American Pipit on the lookout for the ravenous Shrike.

The forecast does not look favourable for owling tonight as the famous Tatlayoko Southerly is pummelling the windows of the field station and has all of the aspens, both big and small, swaying like whirling dervishes.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119204077

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Species	Band	Recap
Oregon Junco	5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Swainson’s Thrush		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	7	Total Banded	848
Species Banded	3	Standard Banded	844
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	98
Species on Census	28	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	44	Species Recorded	136

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Sept 21: Solitary Solitaire

As we approach the end of the migration monitoring season, ideal banding conditions have become fewer and farther between. Wind kept the owl nets closed last night and this morning was the second time in a row when below-zero temperatures kept the songbird nets closed for the first part of the day. It was a long, cold wait for the sun to rise over the Potato Range and warm both the net-lanes and the TLBO’s shivering banders, but at least we had some birds to keep us company. A Downy Woodpecker was busy tapping on a branch over the net lanes, while a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets foraged overhead. On census a similar flock was joined by a Warbling Vireo, the only vireo we observed today. Overall, there were fewer Yellow-rumped Warblers around than in recent days: there was very little overhead migration, and most of the warblers that we did see were foraging at tree-top level. Interestingly almost all of them were Audubon’s – perhaps the Myrtle Warblers were foraging elsewhere today?

Frosted rose hips in the net lanes.

In the north field, a group of Mountain Bluebirds once again delighted us with their soft churr-ing calls as they perched atop the tall snag that is usually favoured by American Kestrels. Shortly before I began census a Eurasian Collared Dove started to call from just inside the count area, and it was one of the first observations I added to my list. While I was walking through the Pines I kept my eyes on the tree-tops, and was eventually rewarded with the sight of a Townsend’s Solitaire – possibly the same one that Sachi saw yesterday. In the winter, Townsend’s Solitaires switch from eating insects to a diet of juniper berries and become fiercely territorial, defending patches of juniper trees against other birds and each other. The Pines do have some juniper trees in them, though there are more closer to the banding station, so maybe this area will become this individual’s winter territory.

While I was on census, Sachi and our current volunteer Courtney were visited by two large raptors: a Northern Harrier and an immature Northern Goshawk. In appearance, Northern Goshawks are quite similar to Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks, which they are closely related to. The biggest difference between the three Accipiter species is size, with Northern Goshawks appearing noticeably larger than Cooper’s Hawks, and dwarfing the much-smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk. In his field guide David Sibley mentions another difference, which is that both Cooper’s Hawks and Northern Goshawks often fluff out their white undertail coverts, giving them, as in the photograph below, a noticeably fluffy butt!

An immature Northern Goshawk showing off a lesser-known field marking.

Once the sun was properly up and had melted the frost on the nets, we were able to catch and band some birds, including a beautiful Song Sparrow. By the end of the morning the thermometer inside the banding station had risen to 20 degrees Celsius, and the grasshoppers had thawed enough that hordes of them were scared up every time we walked through the grass. Mourning Cloak and Clouded Sulphur butterflies flitted in front of us as we moved along furling the mist-nets, and it was hard to believe that it had ever been -3 degrees at all!

Adult Song Sparrow, one of eight birds banded today.

To see our eBird checklist for today, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S119159256.

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Species	Band	Recap
Orange-crowned Warbler	3
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Song Sparrow	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	8	Total Banded	841
Species Banded	5	Standard Banded	837
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	97
Species on Census	30	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	42	Species Recorded	134

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Sept. 20: Crisp Dawns and Sleepy Mornings

The Niuts in their golden phase viewed from the famous Oxbow.

It was another frosty start as the thermometer read -2ºC when we arrived at the station forcing us for the second time this season to await the sun and its warm rays to bring the mercury up above 0 before opening up our nets. The temperature would briefly drop to -3ºC before it began to steadily climb with the sun which allowed us to open up all of our nets at 9:25am. Despite the warming temperatures bird activity was muted in and around the net lanes throughout the morning. Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were the most numerous followed by our two local Chickadee species (Mountain and Black-capped) who were out in roving bands, none of which found their way into our nets. During the 3.5 hours that our nets were open we would capture two Lincoln’s Sparrows and a single Orange-crowned Warbler for a final tally of three banded. Looking back through our data, today appears to be the third lowest banding total for September 20th behind 2006 (2) and 2015 (0).

One of our local Ruffed Grouse practising his ‘strut’.

Days like today illustrate the value of our multi-pronged approach to monitoring, namely the combination of banding, a daily standardized census and observations over the entire monitoring period which are all distilled together to create “Daily Estimated Totals” or DETs. If banding were our only tool then the obvious interpretation would be that there were little to no birds present. Today’s DETs paint a different picture as we would go on to identify 44 species comprised of 622 individual birds in total! If you were to break that down then we were detecting roughly 100 birds per hour which for migration is on the slower end of the scale but still nowhere as bleak as only three birds banded.

The admirably svelte Townsend’s Solitaire.

This is the time of the season when we tend to encounter growing numbers of migrating Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers. The former had their third highest count of the season with 54 for this tiny songster’s migration southwards is in full swing. Yellow-rumped Warblers had their second highest count of the season with 214  but with a slight twist. Over the past several days we have seen a fall in the percentage of our locally breeding ‘Audubon’s’ Yellow-rumped Warblers and thus a surge in the numbers of individuals of the ‘Myrtle” subspecies so that the two have reached an equilibrium. Today however, ‘Audubon’s’ dominated as they comprised 70% of all of the Yellow-rumped Warblers that we identified to subspecies. Interestingly, in and around the station ‘Audubon’s’ actually made up an even larger percentage but down by the lake I encountered almost all ‘Myrtles’ which were moving en mass along the north shore across the Homathko and southwards along the eastern verge. Had we been able to spend more time down at the lake then perhaps the subspecies composition could have looked very different at the end of the day, but such are the perils of migration monitoring.

A brief moment of stillness with one of the two playful Mountain Bluebirds.

Otherwise, there were a few more special moments in the steadily warming valley. One such moment occurred in, you guessed it, the Pines as I beheld a silent and svelte Townsend’s Solitaire perched atop a dead tree. On my way back from census I encountered two Mountain Bluebirds as they frolicked and flitted from tree to tree eventually alighting on a dead aspen. They proceeded to chase each other from branch to branch which nearly thwarted my efforts to capture the moment. Not long after as I was enjoying a mixed flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers and a lone Golden-crowned Kinglet when I heard a distinctive ringing “tew” call in triplicate as a Greater Yellowlegs flew over! This is our second sighting of this lovely member of the genus Tringa this season and our 18th record in 16 seasons of monitoring. The last delight came as Sachi and I were working through our daily tallies to determine our DETs when an immature Northern Goshawk soared into view and proceed to turn in several large lazy circles over the field before eventually gliding north and out of sight.

With a decent rest last night and the prediction of calmer winds this evening we hope to be out owling once night descends upon the valley!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119110255

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	3	Total Banded	833
Species Banded	2	Standard Banded	829
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	97
Species on Census	31	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	44	Species Recorded	134

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Sept 19: Duck, Duck, Grebe

Last night’s owl banding session was abundant with visitors, but less so with owls! Fortunately two Northern Saw-whet Owls were eventually captured to delight those visitors who were able to stay for an extra net round, and to repay the hard work of Sachi and Jim Sims, who very helpfully volunteered for the night.

A striking sunrise over Potato Range.

After yesterday’s chill, conditions this morning felt comparatively balmy at 0 degrees Celsius. While opening the mist-nets I glimpsed a Swainson’s Thrush flying across the net lane, which would be our only detection of this species today. It was very calm and still out, without even a breath of wind. All of the mist-nets were able to be opened, but to little effect as the first net runs of the day captured only a small number of birds. Two were Orange-crowned Warblers, including one that was a recapture from yesterday. This species has become a mainstay of our banding list as we move into the fall, persisting after the earlier-migrating American Redstarts and Yellow Warblers have fallen away and remaining consistent where Yellow-rumped Warblers appear in bursts and starts. Like the Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warblers are later migrants compared to most warbler species thanks to their comparatively diverse diet. In the fall they occasionally drink sap out of the holes drilled by sapsuckers, and they sometimes visit feeders to eat suet and peanut butter. They also eat berries on their wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America, which are farther north than most warblers’. With a comparatively short distance to travel and many different types of food to feed on, Orange-crowned Warblers are free to migrate late in the fall and return to their breeding grounds early in the spring.

Orange-crowned Warblers are a reliable presence in the late fall.

On census, a flock of twenty American Crows were the most obtrusive birds I saw, as the various sparrows and kinglets that were around kept mostly to themselves. A few groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers passed by overhead, with approximately a fifty/fifty split between Audubon’s and Myrtles, which has been the typical ratio over the past few days. And, at long last, the lagoon was filled with ducks! Forty Ring-necked Ducks and some American Green-winged Teal were floating about in the north end as I approached along the road. I hid as best I could behind a sheltering dogwood shrub to count them, and then when I stepped out from behind my cover they all flushed, revealing a few less-nervous Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintail, and American Wigeon. While the first two species have names that describe identifiable field markings (the large bill of the Northern Shoveler and the long thin tail of the Northern Pintail), the origins of ‘wigeon’ are less obvious: it is probably derived from a Middle French word meaning ‘to whine’ or ‘to shout’, though this does not quite seem to fit the sounds that the American Wigeon makes, which are more of a soft, nasal whistle (the Eurasian Wigeon has a similar call). ‘Grebe’ is another bird name that may be derived from French, possibly from the Breton word for ‘comb’. Two grebe species were out in the lagoon and the lake respectively today, the usual Pied-billed Grebe and two Horned Grebes.

Ring-necked Ducks in the lagoon.

As I was returning to the banding station I was met by a strong gust of wind from the north which signalled a drastic change to the previously calm and peaceful day! Mist-nets had to be closed, reluctantly as Sachi had spotted a Pacific Wren in the net lanes: this was our third record of one this fall, but as of yet we haven’t banded any. Conditions kept us guessing as the wind gusted off and on, but ultimately we closed all of the mist-nets an hour early, which still gave us time to acquire a few more observations including of a Golden-crowned Sparrow. This was a rare treat for me, as we have seen very little of this western species this fall and have only banded one!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit https://ebird.org/checklist/S119049499.

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	1
American Robin	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	8	Total Banded	830
Species Banded	5	Standard Banded	826
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	97
Species on Census	28	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	46	Species Recorded	134

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