Aug. 31: Mid-season Report 2023

Both Sachi and I agreed that today felt like a flashback to 2022 and not in an agreeable way. The normally light northerly began to build in ferocity early on and never gave way to the southerly as is customary in this valley. The “Tatlayoko Drizzle” struck multiple times but never enough to force us to fully shut down, yet just enough to keep us on alert throughout the morning.

We finally achieved double digits after five days in the single digit banding totals with 11 birds banded and 3 recaptures. Lincoln’s Sparrow topped the chart with three followed by Common Yellowthroat in the second spot with two banded. One of our three recaptures, a Swainson’s Thrush was first banded on August 30, 2022 and not detected again until today, a year and a day later.

The ever-mysterious Swainson’s Thrush – where have you wandered in the past year?

As is oft the case with somewhat tumultuous weather things were much more interesting on the observational front. As I exited the pines along the census route, I heard a repetitive “peep peep peep peep” call coming from a pair of old growth Lodgepole Pines. Immediately I thought, “No way, it cannot be” as Pygmy Nuthatch seemed too outlandish and a squirrel amped up on pine cones seemed more plausible. Suddenly a small compact nuthatch with a grey head bordered by a dark eyeline sailed into view before disappearing into another pine, calling all the while. Shocked, it took me a moment to gather myself and go about documenting this unexpected species. To bring some perspective, this is the second record for the Cariboo Region with the first from 1942 in Lac La Hache. Of the three nuthatch species in British Columbia (Red-breasted, White-breasted and Pygmy) Pygmys seem have strong site fidelity as in they don’t wander very far from their breeding habitat and/or range. The nearest record of this species is near Lillooet some 205 kilometres as the crow flies.

The TLBO’s first Pygmy Nuthatch – an outrageously delightful surprise!

We would add four more species to our season’s tally as Northern Shovelers joined the mixed raft of ducks in the lagoon. On the way back to the station a Blackpoll Warbler foraged through the aspens along the road. Our first flock of European Starlings were ousted from the snag by an American Kestrel as I neared the station. The final addition came in the form of a flock of 15 Horned Larks who flushed and flitted about in the north field to the delight of the Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels on the wing.

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148628293

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Species	Band	Recap
Lincoln’s Sparrow	3	1
Common Yellowthroat	2
Song Sparrow	1	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Swainson’s Thrush		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	11	Total Banded	664
Species Banded	8	Standard Banded	657
Birds Recapped	3	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	3	Total Recapped	137
Species on Census	47	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	64	Species Recorded	124

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Mid-Season Report

As is customary on this day the following portion of this post will be rather data-heavy as I will attempt to address our current numbers and how they fit into the broader trends, so bear with me. This August started out as the second busiest on record with respect to banding behind 2015. By the middle of the month new captures began to slow with an average of 10 birds banded over the past 10 days (see chart below). Our current season total of 664 is the fourth lowest with only 2020 (588), 2017 (534) and 2022 (511) having lower totals at this point (see second chart). Swainson’s Thrush at 235 banded is our major success story as this represents our second highest season total next to 2018’s 253. Over 17 years of monitoring this species we have seen a trend shift as in the first nine seasons (2006-2014) our highest total was 148 individuals banded in 2010. Over the past eight seasons the numbers have shifted as we have banded more than 200 individuals of this species in six of these seasons (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023). The increase in the numbers of this forest-breeding long-distance migrant is heartening at a time when so many other species are suffering.

Warbling Vireos and Chipping Sparrows currently sit at 52 birds banded apiece. For the former this is one of the lower totals as Warbling Vireos are often one of our staples midway through the season. Chipping Sparrows, though often present in large numbers in our study area, historically are very underrepresented in our banding totals. For perspective our current season total of 52 is only 12 less than our cumulative 16-season total of 64. This massive increase in capture rates appears to be due to a lack of good forage on the property which saw Chipping Sparrows congregating in the rose bush scrub just north of net 14 for the first half of August.

Northern Waterthrush and American Redstarts are early migrants and as such we don’t tend to capture too many over the coming month. At 39 birds banded Northern Waterthrush who were coming off two of their best seasons (2021 and 2022) are well below average. For the second season running American Redstarts have had a poor breeding season and are currently tied with 2017 for the worst on record at 28 banded.

Species of wet fields and meadows continue to struggle for the third year running with Common Yellowthroat at 27, Lincoln’s Sparrow 14, and Traill’s Flycatcher (including both Alder and Willow) at 8 banded. Common Yellowthroat are coming off their worst two seasons of all time (2021 and 2022) but even if they do arrive soon in numbers as are our long-term trend data would suggest they will still likely be way under average. The story is much the same for Lincoln’s Sparrow as 2021 and 2022 saw record low numbers banded along with 2013 (less than 100 in all three), which is quite the drop for a species that has topped our season totals for birds banded in many years. For the Traill’s Flycatcher complex (includes individuals who were identified to species as Alder or Willow) this is so far their third lowest season with 8 banded (four Willow, three Alder and one Traill’s Flycatcher) ahead of 2017 (3 banded) and 2022 (5 banded). Low numbers of these species could be in part due to the drought that has gripped our province throughout the entire breeding season of 2023.

Locally however Dusky Flycatchers have been successful with 14 banded which is well above our 16-season average of 11 and our fourth highest season total behind 2010 (15 banded), 2009 (20 banded) and 2020 (20 banded). The frugivore American Robin is having a great breeding season locally as well with 24 individuals banded which is our third highest total of all time behind 2007 (26) and 2015 (35).

On the recapture front so far we have inter-annual recaptures spanning from last season (2022) all the way back to one from 2017 and each year in between. As has become the trend all of our oldest recaptures are Swainson’s Thrush with a Song Sparrow which we first banded in 2019.

The TLBO’s fifth Belted Kingfisher

August hasn’t been without its banding highlights thus far. Early on we banded our sixth Brown-headed Cowbird and 15^th Nashville Warbler of all time. More surprises were in store as we banded our seventh Steller’s Jay, fifth Belted Kingfisher and fourth Wilson’s Snipe. The highlight of our season on the banding front came on August 15^th when we caught and banded our first Clark’s Nutcracker (the station’s emblem) at the TLBO location. In the early years the first Bander-in-Charge did some exploratory mist-netting up on Potato mountain and caught a single Clark’s Nutcracker. Since then, it has been every bander’s dream to catch one as we both see and hear them fly over daily throughout the entire season.

Yours truly, speechless at my good fortune to have a Clark’s Nutcracker in my hand

Now to shift over to detections, this August was right on average with 11 249 comprised of 124 species. Since 2018 we have consistently detected greater than 10 000 individual birds in August with the only other year previous being 2007. As is often the case Yellow-rumped Warblers are our most detected species with 964. This is the most numerous warbler species and one that often ends up in our top 10 for the month of August and their numbers will only rise over the coming month. Chipping Sparrows have been numerous in and around the station with 697 detections which is double their average. Unsurprisingly Swainson’s Thrush detections have been high with 587 (above average) which mirrors our banding totals for this otherwise secretive species. Below is a table of our top 10 detected species for the month of August.

Aerial insectivores have been very scarce this season with only 88 detections overall comprised of five species of Swallows (Violet-green, Tree, Northern Rough-winged, Cliff and Barn) versus our average of 260 for this group and thus far we haven’t had a single observation of a Swift.

As with every year of monitoring August sees its fair share of observational highlights. On opening day August 3^rd, we had the TLBO’s first record of a Trumpeter Swan, second record of a Prairie Falcon and 13^th record of an Eastern Kingbird. We had our second-ever detections of a Black-headed Grosbeak (August 10^th) and Baird’s Sandpiper (August 27^th). The 28^th of the month saw our second detection of a Semipalmated Plover and fourth of a Lesser Yellowlegs. Finally, today on the 31^st we had the TLBO’s first detection of a Pygmy Nuthatch (2^nd in the Cariboo Region) and 13^th of a Blackpoll Warbler.

An immature Cooper’s Hawk – staring me down

All told it has been an exciting season thus far filled with great birds and lots of ups and downs on the banding front. Thank you for bearing with me through that data dump and I am sure you are all as excited as we are to see how the rest of the season unfolds.

Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	235	68
Warbling Vireo	52	3
Chipping Sparrow	52	2
Northern Waterthrush	39	21
Song Sparrow	31	17
American Redstart	28	5
Common Yellowthroat	27	0
American Robin	24	5
Savannah Sparrow	21	0
Yellow Warbler	17	3
Cedar Waxwing	15	1
Dusky Flycatcher	14	5
Lincoln’s Sparrow	14	4
Vesper Sparrow	14	1
Wilson’s Warbler	14	0
Orange-crowned Warbler	10	0
MacGillivray’s Warbler	6	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	6	0
Spotted Towhee	4	1
Willow Flycatcher	4	0
Red-eyed Vireo	4	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3	0
Alder Flycatcher	3	0
White-crowned Sparrow	3	0
Hammond’s Flycatcher	2	0
Cassin’s Vireo	2	0
Townsend’s Warbler	2	0
Oregon Junco	2	0
Western Tanager	2	0
White-throated Sparrow	1	1
Wilson’s Snipe	1	0
Belted Kingfisher	1	0
Least Flycatcher	1	0
Steller’s Jay	1	0
Clark’s Nutcracker	1	0
Black-capped Chickadee	1	0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	0
Nashville Warbler	1	0
Lazuli Bunting	1	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	1	0
Purple Finch	1	0
Traill’s Flycatcher	1	0

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Aug. 30: Silent Swainson’s

The calm that succeeded yesterday’s storm brought with it some exciting visitors to the Lincoln Creek Ranch House, which Sachi was the first to spot. “I know that’s not a Lewis’s Woodpecker, but it looks interesting,” he said as he pulled open the sliding glass doors, and then a moment later: “It’s a Lewis’s!” There followed a general scramble for binoculars, scope, tripod and camera before we trooped up the driveway to the pasture behind the field house, where not one but three of these distinctive and unique woodpeckers graciously posed amid the bare limbs of a dead aspen tree. Unfortunately for both us and them, the American Kestrels and Northern Flickers that were also out for the evening decided to take exception to this, and insisted on chasing the Lewis’s Woodpeckers off from wherever they settled. Sachi eventually succeed in getting a couple of photos and we both kept our fingers crossed that the family would come down to the banding station in the morning. Lewis’s Woodpeckers have a very unique appearance, having a greenish hue to their dark backs, and red faces. Their flight is quite distinctive, with strong, deliberate wing flaps. When perched, they frequently make short flights to capture aerial insects.

A Lewis’s Woodpecker behind the Lincoln Creek Ranch House.

The clouds loured above the mountains as we made our way down to the banding station this morning, infusing the air with a heaviness that hinted at rain. Nevertheless, both we and the mist-nets remained dry as we made our rounds, keeping our eyes and ears peeled to see what yesterday’s storm may have stirred up. An immature Sora that flushed by net 16 on our opening round and a large Cooper’s Hawk that swooped across the trail on a subsequent net round sparked hope that we might add to our list of species banded this season, but ultimately the day was a quiet one, with a total number of recaptures that almost equalled the number of birds banded.

A large flock of over a hundred American Crows began the morning drifting across and up the valley, but by the time I was beginning census they were gone. The number of Yellow-rumped Warblers flying overhead was less than on previous days and they seemed to be concentrated around the Homathko River, leaving me with comparatively few to record along the road and in the south field. In the lagoon, Donald the Trumpeter Swan was back in his accustomed place, reigning it over the Pied-billed Grebe and pair of Buffleheads that were diving and feeding in the still water. A stern and assertive ‘chip’ note emanating from the shrubbery next to the beach let me know that a MacGillivray’s Warbler was keeping a close eye on me, and it eventually hopped out briefly before vanishing back behind the leaves of the dogwood.

A quiet moment at the lagoon.

When I returned to the banding station, I found that a moderately strong north wind had sprung up, leading us to close a couple of our more exposed nets soon afterwards. As the sun began breaking through the clouds, leaving more and more patches of blue sky, the American Pipits grew more active, flying in a large flock over the north field. Banding-wise the day continued to be a slow one, with two net runs on which the only birds that were captured were ones that Sachi and I had already processed today. Since their measurements had already been taken once this morning there was no need to detain them further, so they were released immediately in order to disrupt their day as little as possible. Two of them were adult birds in heavy moult who clearly needed all their energy finish growing their new feathers!

Two of the new birds that we captured today were male Yellow Warblers. The first was a precocious hatch-year whose plumage already had a few faint red streaks that hinted at the mature plumage of the adult male that we banded later on. In songbirds, both young males and older females will often have plumages with characteristics and markings that are like those of the mature males only fainter and less extreme. Depending on the species, we may be able to use such characteristics to identify young males, though there can be considerable overlap between the plumages of young less-vibrant males and females of all ages.

Hatch-year (above) and after hatch-year (below) male Yellow Warblers.

From its overcast beginnings, the morning ended under a bright and sunny sky, with a faint heat-haze rising off of the north field that obscured our view of the Western Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows. Bird activity began to increase, with Song Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers foraging along the net lanes and a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers dropping by to investigate the woodpecker snag. Two Olive-sided Flycatchers arrived and began chasing each other through the trees, their acrobatic swoops, dives and twists somehow managing to avoid every one of our mist-nets. In spite of this increased bird activity there was no corresponding increase in banding activity, and we once again ended the morning with fewer than ten birds banded.

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148560583.

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Species	Band	Recap
American Redstart	1	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Yellow Warbler	2
Swainson’s Thrush		2

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	4	Total Banded	653
Species Banded	3	Standard Banded	646
Birds Recapped	3	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	134
Species on Census	32	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	55	Species Recorded	119

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Aug. 29: Butterflies in the Alfalfa and Lightning over the Niuts

I was jolted awake bleary-eyed to a scene from a film set. Thunder roared whilst the wind raged, setting the blinds in my two windows whipping about frantically, accompanied by the low frequency drum of the downpour of rain on our metal roof. Light flashed as a crooked finger of lightning shot across the sky and everything was illuminated for an instant before returning to darkness. Now awake I scrambled out of bed to close my windows thus reducing the cacophony to the comforting din of the rain to which I drifted once more into fitful sleep.

The day broke with moisture in the air and cloud banks marching across the sky. A river dragon slithered northwards along the Homathko. Waiting out the final few minutes before we would set out to unfurl our undoubtedly soggy nets a gull-like wail broke the silence immediately follow by the grating ‘cak-cak-cak’ call of an immature Cooper’s Hawk as it chased a smaller white shape down into the regenerating aspens. Sachi’s watch rang out announcing our imminent departure when suddenly the dark clouds that were obscuring the southern end of the Niuts irrupted in an answering rumble of thunder which was quickly followed by an arc of lightning.

The ventral or under-wing view of a Painted Lady

Needless to say, that stopped us in our tracks as thunder, lightning and the rain that would no doubt follow are not suitable conditions to band birds in. Our caution was quickly vindicated for as we walked the net loop a drizzle began to come down which quickly thickened into a proper torrent of rain. With our furled nets checked we retreated to the safety of the banding lab and settled in to drink hot tea and listen and watch for any sign of avian life in the rain-blurred world until it was time for yours truly to set out on census.

The ventral or under-wing view of a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell

My first bird was an American Crow which “cawed” at me from atop a Douglas-fir tree in commiseration of our shared plight. As you may have guessed the downpour hampered bird activity with much of the route quiet save for the patter of rain drops as they dripped from leaf to leaf. A small moment of activity in the southwestern corner of the pines gave me hope as I was greeted by a Western Wood-Pewee whom was joined by a quartet of ‘Oregon’ Dark-eyed Juncos and two ‘Audubon’s’ Yellow-rumped Warblers as they “chipped” at me whilst flitting from branch to branch. A brace of Warbling Vireos scolded me from the willows in the south field and when I arrived at the lagoon it was empty save for the pair of Buffleheads and a lone Pied-billed Grebe. For the first time this season there was no sign of the Trumpeter Swan who has become a familiar sight on these excursions.

The ventral or under-wing view of a Clouded Sulphur

Wandering along the road whilst admiring the countless small eruptions from each puddle as the rain continued, I saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher pause atop a Douglas-fir to look me over before continuing on for cover. Reaching the road down to the lake I paused for one last look out over the lagoon and from my higher vantage I could make out the Trumpeter Swan in a back pond which was obscured by the tall sedge from the lower road. A smile brushed my face that we would not have a swan song today.

A blurry record shot of my first Purplish Copper in the valley

A distant gull encouraged me to cross the “bridge” that spans the Homathko to get a closer look. It turned out to be an immature Ring-billed Gull but since I had come so far down the beach, I decided to have a look at one of the larger ponds that is in our census area but which we seldom get a chance to inspect. Sure enough three Mallards, an American Wigeon and a Green-winged Teal were in residence, making much-needed additions to the day’s scant tally.

The “bridge” across the Homathko at the north end of the lake

The day would end as the rain continued to come down with no end in sight. We tallied up our observations which accounted for 37 species comprised of 120 brave birds. For lack of bird photos from today I have included the four species of butterflies that I chased after in the alfalfa field behind the field station in 31°C heat yesterday afternoon.

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148400996

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	649
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	642
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	131
Species on Census	17	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	37	Species Recorded	118

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Aug. 28: Surprising Shorebirds

Sunrise behind Potato Range.

A good, strong wind last night seemed to blow away some of the haze that has been hanging over the valley, so that this morning we had the clearest view down the valley that we have had in several days. The slight change in the weather did not bring with it a corresponding change in birds: once again, we counted high numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers and shook our heads over an absence of Swainson’s Thrushes and Cedar Waxwings, though we also welcomed some new birds for the season.

The banding station on a quiet morning.

Most mornings we have heard the calls of both Pileated Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers echoing off the sides of the mountains, but today on census was my first time getting a good close look at either of these birds this season. As I passed the outhouse, one Pileated Woodpecker flushed across the trail in front of me, leaving its companion clinging to the snag they had both been investigating and staring at me, bobbing its head and making suspicious ‘wik! Wik?’ sounds. Another pair of Pileateds flew over the south field as I was crossing it, and another was calling from over on the slopes of the Potato Range. Pileated Woodpecker pairs hold large territories that they vigorously defend so it is a little unusual to see so many within our study area, but it could be that these are this year’s young who are practising fending for themselves before striking out to find territories of their own.

The Northern Flickers were also quite active, with a pair in the south field and another that stopped by to perch on the snag behind the banding station. Most of them were Red-shafted Flickers, the western variety of which the eastern equivalent is the Yellow-shafted Flicker, but one was what we call a Flicker Intergrade – a hybrid bird that combines the field markings of both a Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted Flicker, in this case having the red nape of a Yellow-shafted Flicker and the red moustachial stripe of a Red-shafted Flicker. We also observed Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers.

Further down the road, the lake was perfectly still and glass-like, disturbed only by the ripples made by a single Common Loon which watched silently as I stood and scanned the rocky beach for shorebirds. The usual Spotted Sandpiper was out, bobbing its hindquarters in the exaggerated fashion that is characteristic of this species, but today it had a companion – a smaller shorebird that eschewed bobbing, and instead explored the beach in quick little spates of scurrying. Even at a distance I could see a dark band across its white chest, marking it as a Semipalmated Plover! By coincidence, Sachi had brought up the possibility of seeing one just this morning. This was only the TLBO’s second record of a Semipalmated Plover: the first was a fly-over in 2018. We had our own notable shorebird fly-over earlier in the morning when a distinctive ‘tew-tew’ call rang out above us. Though we listened hard, there was no third ‘tew’, thus letting us know that this was a Lesser Yellowlegs, the first of the season, instead of the slightly more common Greater Yellowlegs which has a three-part ‘tew-tew-tew’ call.

The dark head marks this young Oregon Junco as a male.

In the banding station, we captured more Song Sparrows, a late-season Northern Waterthrush, and an Empidonax flycatcher that turned out to be a Willow Flycatcher. It was another quiet banding day, with only eight birds captured (counting both banded birds and recaptures), though the wind cooperated to the extent that almost all of our nets were open for the full six-hours of banding, and we had the pipit fence and hawk nets open once again. Today was the last day at the TLBO for volunteer Thea, who has been with us for three weeks – almost our entire season to date! Her final TLBO bird (for 2023 at least!) was a handsome Oregon Junco, identifiable as a male by his dark head. Thea will soon be volunteering at the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in Victoria for several weeks, where we wish her all the best!

Western White butterfly – even on slow days, there’s lots to be seen around the station!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148333626.

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	2	1
Willow Flycatcher	1
Swainson’s Thrush	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
Common Yellowthroat	1
Oregon Junco	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	7	Total Banded	649
Species Banded	6	Standard Banded	642
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	131
Species on Census	37	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	56	Species Recorded	118

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Aug. 27: Pretty Steller

It was a blessedly cool yet uncharacteristically windless night and after being bundled up in multiple layers the heat would slowly arrive with the sun making the thermometer steadily rise and our layers disappear one by one. Calm, clear nights are perfect for migration and as a consequence we tend to get less of a build-up of birds in and around the station which leads to slower-paced days and vastly diminished banding totals.

Today was one such day as we would only capture a bird or two every round with many seeing us return to the banding lab empty-handed for a final tally of 8 birds banded and just a single recapture. The absence of Swainson’s Thrush was keenly felt as we did not band a single individual of this long-distance migrant which has up until now been keeping us busy this season with 234 individuals banded which is our second-best season total behind 2018 (253). That said, our only recapture of the day was a second-year female Swainson’s Thrush whom we first banded in breeding condition 20 days ago.

Ruffed Grouse: An undesirable early morning surprise in net 10

With this shift came a shift in our daily banding tally as Common Yellowthroats topped the leader board with 3 banded. The numbers of this species in our nets has diminished greatly since 2020 with last season (2022) shattering the previous all-time low of 55 (2021) with 25 banded. To put this in perspective over the past 16 seasons we have banded an average of 116 per season. So far this year we have only banded 24 Common Yellowthroats which is still low but if the trends bear out they will still be passing through for the remainder of the season.

Common Yellowthroat

With few birds and higher temperatures there were more butterflies out on the wing than I had seen in days previous. After a close encounter with my first Painted Lady in the valley I elected to bring my camera along on a net run in the hopes of getting a better picture. A Mourning cloak was fluttering in the sedge south of net 16 so I bounded ahead to try and photograph this common yet beautiful butterfly. Turning the corner I expected to see the butterfly posing in the mud but was instead caught by surprise by the sight of a Steller’s Jay in the bottom pocket. This is further proof that we aspire for quality at the TLBO over quantity as this is only our 7^th capture of this species, the last of which was in 2020 as well as the first time that Sachi has had the pleasure of banding one!

The station’s 7th banding record and Sachi’s first of a Steller’s Jay

Yellow-rumped Warblers ( also known as butterbutts) were on the move again today as we observed a total of 195 individuals during our monitoring period. Census consisted mainly of keeping track of the numbers of butterbutts as they flew overhead in both directions. In situations like this we will often only count birds flying southwards so as to try and mitigate double counting. As I approached the lake shore, I could see a sandpiper feeding at the mouth of the Homathko. Taking a step closer with my camera in hand, an adult Bald Eagle suddenly took off from atop a nearby cottonwood. The Sandpiper immediately took to the air flying out over the lake proportionally long wings propelling it westward as it called a distinctive “kreeep” that had a slight trill-like quality. It was a Baird’s Sandpiper and the station’s second record with the first coming last season in early September.

Poor quality iPhone record shot of a Painted lady (left) and a Mourning Cloak (right)

Our second Northern Pygmy-Owl of the season announced itself as its breathy toot-like calls could be heard intermittently from the coniferous forest on the western side of the Homathko. Later on, we were joined by a young and curious Brown-head Cowbird who spent several net rounds chasing grasshoppers and other possible prey items in the close vicinity of the lab. The day would end with 57 species detected comprised of 481 individual birds!

Our comrade: a Brown-head Cowbird

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148252876

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Species	Band	Recap
Common Yellowthroat	3
Song Sparrow	2
Steller’s Jay	1
American Robin	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
Swainson’s Thrush		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	8	Total Banded	642
Species Banded	5	Standard Banded	635
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	42
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	130
Species on Census	39	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	57	Species Recorded	116

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Aug. 26: Buffleheads and Butter-Butts

This morning’s commute to the banding station was enlivened by some fun wildlife sightings, as we passed by both a small grizzly bear standing in the pasture across from our field house and a red fox by the side of the road that appeared to be an intermediate between a classic red fox and a melanistic or black red fox, as it had a lot of dark fur in its coat. While mammals are of course not a focus at the bird observatory we do take note of any that are seen inside our study area, and as biology enthusiasts we always find it exciting to see the other animals that call the Tatlayoko valley home.

Sunrise over the Potato Range.

Once again, today was a day for rubber boots and rain pants! With how dry it’s been this season even my hole-filled hiking boots have been enough to keep my feet dry so far, but ever since our day of rain the ground has been damp and the grass covered with dew. It’s been rather nice to see, especially when paired with how rejuvenated the plants and lichen look. While on census I paused in the Pines to take some photographs of the latter, something that was easy to find the time for as while bird diversity was reasonably high (60 species counted in total), bird abundance was not. There were a few exceptions, most especially when it came to the Yellow-rumped Warblers (sometimes fondly referred to as ‘butter-butts’) who were present throughout the morning flying by at the level of the tree-tops in small groups of three or four. By the end of our six-hour monitoring period we had counted 85 of this distinctive warbler, our highest daily total so far. This early in the season the only Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies that we’ve seen is the Audubon’s Warbler, but soon we will begin picking out the more easterly Myrtle subspecies as well. Some small flocks of Oregon Juncos helped to push their numbers up and a large flock of Pine Siskins flying overhead gave a foretaste of what’s to come later in the fall, but most of the species that we counted today were only present in ones or twos. The most dramatic decrease was in the number of Swainson’s Thrushes: only two were captured (one banded and one recaptured) and three were observed, a far cry from the mornings in the not-so-distant past when the undergrowth resounded with their calls! We are confident that we have not seen the last of them quite yet, though as the fall progresses they will gradually be replaced by the closely-related Hermit Thrush, whom we are still awaiting the first arrival of.

One of our last Swainson’s Thrushes of the season, perhaps?

In the lagoon, the Bufflehead that Sachi had counted yesterday had been joined by a friend, and the pair of them were foraging peaceably along the edge of the vegetation while the three Pied-billed Grebes formed a clique of their own a little ways away. When I came back along the road the two Bufflehead were engaged in synchronized preening, each of them running their feathers through their beaks, tossing their heads and shaking out their wings in what looked like a well-choreographed routine. A Spotted Sandpiper was also present in the lagoon, running about on the little strip of land that our resident Trumpeter Swan favours as a resting area, and I could hear a Killdeer calling continuously but never saw it.

It was a slow morning for banding so I took my time on the walk back to the station, lingering among a group of Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrows and stopping to scrutinize every Dusky Flycatcher in case one of them turned out to be another Empidonax species (none of them did). Sachi and Thea had not captured a single bird in the hour that I was away, so when I returned Sachi took advantage of the lull to repair some of the mist-nets while Thea and I took over checking the nets, including the routine attempt to flush birds into the pipit nets which were put up yesterday. It is not always easy to feel enthusiastic about making the hot trek across the dried field, trying not to get caught up on the rose bushes while the hordes of grasshoppers bounce off your legs and fly into your face, all while watching the birds fly up and over the pipit nets, but today we were rewarded with the capture of a Savannah Sparrow – a bird that is a delight to band at any time but was doubly so this morning, as we happened to be entertaining visitors and would otherwise have been returning to the banding station empty-handed! Instead we had a charming subject who helped us explain the ins and outs of bird banding and posed nicely for photographs before being released. Our visitors, who were from William’s Lake, had heard about the bird observatory through an article recently published in the William’s Lake Tribune that is available to read here.

A pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers showing off their ‘butter-butts’.

By the time the nets were closed and all of the day’s data was entered, the temperature had risen from 4 degrees Celsius to 26, making it a perfect afternoon to cool off in Tatlayoko Lake!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148164942.

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Species	Band	Recap
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Swainson’s Thrush	1	1
Song Sparrow	1	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	7	Total Banded	634
Species Banded	6	Standard Banded	627
Birds Recapped	3	Species Banded	41
Species Recapped	3	Total Recapped	129
Species on Census	37	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	60	Species Recorded	115

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Aug. 25: Bird Blog… for Toads – by Thea

The morning started chilly and foggy, with low sky visibility. As the sun rose, we were just able to see the mountains and tree lines through the haze. On our opening net round (not a true net-checking round, but where we just open all the nets), we were surprised that we weren’t greeted by the normal croaking of the two Sandhill Cranes that have recently taken to stopping in the field outside of the field station. The Ruffed Grouse (or forest chickens, as I endearingly refer to them) were present in abundance this morning with a high count of 15, luckily none of them decided the net was a good place to flush. As they are game birds we cannot band them and they often are quite destructive to the song bird nets, overall proving to mostly be a nuisance. As Sachi and I rounded the corner to net 19 we were berated by the calls of Warbling Vireo, a wheezy sort of “mechhhh” sound.

We started off the morning with FOUR Common Yellowthroats to band! They have a very pretty warm creamy yellow color on their throats and bellies, and the males tend to be more vibrant than females. They are very small-feeling in the hand, and tend to get quite tangled in the nets due to their arguably stubby wings and long legs and toes.

A sassy likely female Common Yellowthroat with a creamy throat and olive tail

The morning continued as one Sachi went off on census, and the other Sachi and I had a few rather slow net runs. The fog cleared up, and we were able to observe some common visitors: the Herring Gull and our old reliable Sandhill Crane couple! We captured a Savannah Sparrow, which I mistook initially for a Lincoln’s. During my time at TLBO I have been able to learn a lot of sparrows and other western birds in general. Though my ID from afar is still lacking, in hand I have become familiarized with many of our frequent visitors and how to age and sex them!

Can you tell which sparrow is which? The answer can be found at the end of this post. 

As Sachi and I finished banding our current batch of birds, the other Sachi returned from census and did a net run on his own. He spotted a bird that would be fun to capture, so on our next net rounds we made sure to keep an eye out for Selener who in this case was a Canada Jay. Alas, the Jay was not to be captured today, but we did get to hear its rather screechy call as we walked around.

Our following net rounds proved slow and steady, and the weather slowly warmed up. We attempted to corral some pipits into the “Pipit Fence” (a low two panel mist net, about 3 feet tall, set up in the field where the American Pipits have been hanging out), and we even attempted some pipit-summoning calls (hereeee pipipipipit), but they evaded our capture. We had some very friendly Swainson’s Thrushes who decided to take a breather in our hands after banding, perhaps due to the warmth on the chilly day, before fluttering off into the trees. There were also three new species observed today: Gray Catbird, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and Bufflehead, all observed by Sachi on census today!

Swainson’s Thrush taking a moment before take off

Our very last observation of the day was not that of the feathered variety, but rather a warty little friend. The first Western Toad I have ever seen and it was not actually all that little!

The resident of net 6: Western Toad

Answer to the Sparrow Quiz: Left to right: Photos 1 and 2 are of a Savannah Sparrow, Photos 3 and 4 are of a Lincoln’s Sparrow.

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148078418

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Species	Band	Recap
Common Yellowthroat	9
Swainson’s Thrush	5	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Song Sparrow	1	1
Cedar Waxwing	1
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
American Robin		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	20	Total Banded	627
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	621
Birds Recapped	4	Species Banded	41
Species Recapped	3	Total Recapped	126
Species on Census	46	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	68	Species Recorded	114

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Aug. 24: Festive Bunting

With yesterday’s rain in our rear-view mirror we once again began our day at the TLBO’s banding station, where some of our first observations were of the pair of Sandhill Cranes that have taken to feeding in the north field every morning. With their loud, trumpeting calls heralding their arrival during our opening net-rounds, their daily routine has been almost as predictable as our own!

The morning’s fog, hiding the Niuts.

Thankfully the wildfire smoke that had been plaguing us was gone today, replaced instead by a low fog that entirely covered both the Potato Range to the east and the Niuts to the west. The rain still lingered on the leaves and blades of grass as we proceeded around the net loop, walking carefully so as not to slip in any of the muddy puddles left along the trail – and also to avoid stepping on any of the many small, white slugs that were out enjoying the increased humidity! They could have made a filling meal for the Wilson’s Snipe that flew overhead on our first net-run of the day, but its high calls soon tapered off as it continued flying south towards the lake. With the recent influx of water, the bare banks of the Homathko River which had been exposed are now underwater once again and the mosquitoes, which had been plaguing us less, have unfortunately found their second wind.

Though we were disappointed in our hopes of encountering yesterday’s Say’s Phoebe again, some of the other flycatcher species were still present. A few Western Wood-pewees could be heard singing their nasal pee-er song, and Olive-sided Flycatchers were present both around the banding station and on census. These two species in the Contopus family of flycatchers are notable for their blocky heads, upright posture, and dark waistcoats, though the Olive-sided Flycatcher’s is more distinctive and strongly-marked. They were easy to spot on census owing to their preference for perching on high, bare branches, where they were silhouetted against the low fog banks. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks were also out enjoying the view from some high snags: at least one was an immature and thus didn’t have a red tail, and another appeared to be a dark morph with very heavy streaking that entirely covered its body.

Volunteer Thea Mills with our third (and largest) Sharp-shinned Hawk banded this season.

In the lagoon, Donald the Trumpeter Swan was out as usual feeding alongside a single Mallard and three Pied-billed Grebes. Out on the beach, I was watching a Spotted Sandpiper when five smaller shorebirds suddenly took off for a brief, curved flight out over the water. It was a small flock of Least Sandpipers, not quite a first for the season but the first time we’ve seen more than one of them at a time. A true first for the season were the flocks of American Pipits which were seen throughout the day as they periodically flushed up from the north field, making their distinctive ‘pi-pit’ call. These rather undistinguished songbirds breed on the tundra and in alpine meadows, and like to forage in fields of short grass and on beaches in the winter, where they can be incredibly difficult to spot owing to their sand-coloured plumage.

Banding today was steady, with Swainson’s Thrushes once again topping the list of birds banded. We captured several Common Yellowthroats as well and welcomed another recaptured Swainson’s Thrush from 2021, but the unquestioned highlight of the morning came when we approached net 1 and found a small, deceptively modest-looking songbird waiting to be extracted. Its warm brown and buffy plumage gave little indication that it was in fact a Lazuli Bunting, the first to be banded at TLBO since 2020! As someone who has primarily banded in eastern Canada I have banded many Indigo Buntings in the past but this was my first time seeing a Lazuli Bunting up close. When they are immature these two species look very similar, but the Lazuli Bunting can be distinguished by its more distinct pale wing bars. The Lazuli Bunting makes an interesting case study at TLBO, as it is a species whose banding totals have seen a noticeable decrease, from a high of twenty in 2010 down to zero in recent years. This is probably owing to changes in the vegetation around the mist-nets which have made the habitat less attractive to them, as they are still definitely present in the valley and are often seen and heard around the Lincoln Creek Ranch House.

TLBO’s first Lazuli Bunting banded since 2020.

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S148010487.

A sunny end to the morning!

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	8	7
Common Yellowthroat	4
Warbling Vireo	2	1
American Robin	2
Wilson’s Warbler	2
Song Sparrow	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Dusky Flycatcher	1
Northern Waterthrush	1
American Redstart	1
Lazuli Bunting	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	27	Total Banded	607
Species Banded	12	Standard Banded	601
Birds Recapped	8	Species Banded	41
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	122
Species on Census	35	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	60	Species Recorded	111

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Aug. 23: Wet, Cool, Clean and Refreshed

The rain that was promised came in the night, soothing us to sleep with its gentle patter on our metal roof. We awoke to the same comforting sound and took the opportunity to roll over in the predawn darkness to get a much-needed extra hour of rest.

Mist-netting birds comes with a long set of responsibilities and its own code of ethics that we as banders strictly adhere to. Weather is a very important factor when it comes to banding and bird safety, and as such we do not open our nets in harsh conditions like rain, freezing or excessively hot temperatures, and of course strong wind. Thus, with a reasonably stiff southerly and the clouds releasing months of pent-up rain, we arrived at the station in time for me to set off on census.

These weather days are always a challenge as bird activity is often quite muted. Our feathered friends are much more prudent than us humans as they stay comfortable in their sheltered roosts until the weather becomes favourable again. Most of the hour-long walk to the lake was spent chasing after every little bit of movement or the faintest chip call. Initially the lagoon looked to be completely empty save for our ever-present Trumpeter Swan, but through the slanting rain I noted two drab ducks with blue grey bills and a buffy cast to their long slender necks: Northern Pintails, first of the season!

Meanwhile Sachi was walking the net loop up at the station both to get observations and to stave off the damp chill. On one such trip she encountered a Western Toad near net 15. Even though we are here to monitor birds we still are naturalists at heart and get excited about all of the other creatures and plants that make the banding station home. Here is where I will plug iNaturalist, if you want to know more follow the link: https://www.inaturalist.org/

Western Toad

Once back at the station we decided to take a tour through the old growth Douglas-fir stand to the northeast of the lab. Some of the aspen was turning yellow and the choke cherry varying shades of brilliant red. Perhaps the prolonged drought has brought on fall early for in some years we don’t get to see the yellowed aspen leaves until we exit the valley onto the plateau in early October. Our tour of the Douglas-firs saw us adding a second new species for the season when a triplet of “tew-tew-tew” calls came from overhead. Looking up we saw a medium-sized shorebird with long yellow legs outstretched sailing northwards, a Greater Yellowlegs!

As the rain and chill began to penetrate our layers we began packing up. A medium-sized bird sallied out from an aspen along the fence line, dark of head, back and wing with an orange belly. The way it flew gave off the feeling of a flycatcher even though the colouration matched that of a bad look at an American Robin. Thinking the same thing we both hurried out into the field to get a look and sure enough it was a Say’s Phoebe! I rushed back to grab my camera and attempted to get some identifiable pictures in the slanting rain and low light. This is the station’s second record of this species, the first of which was on August 13, 2010. Though not “rare”, records of this species are sparse this far west on the plateau with the majority concentrated more towards the eastern end and around Williams Lake. That said there have been two nearby sightings of this species in 2023, one at Eagle Lake by our local birder Jim Sims in late April and another by my friend Gary Davidson in mid-June both of which suggest that perhaps they bred somewhere locally.

Say’s Phoebe in the rain

Our three hours of monitoring would end with 44 species detected consisting of 132 individual birds.

 

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S147936553

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	580
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	575
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	40
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	114
Species on Census	26	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	44	Species Recorded	110

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Aug. 22: One Swainson’s At A Time…

Smoke over the south field.

The rush of Swainson’s Thrushes continued today, with 18 of our 27 birds banded belonging to this stalwart species! We’re now at 220 banded for the season, which beats both 2015 (204 Swainson’s Thrush banded) and 2022 (213 banded). Among the Swainson’s Thrushes that we captured today were many individuals that were in heavy moult, growing out fresh feathers for their migratory journey, and some interesting recaptures. Our first recapture of the morning was originally banded in 2018 and yet this is the first time it has been recaptured – either it decided to breed elsewhere for a while or else because it has been very lucky and avoided the mist-nets in the intervening years! Another recaptured Swainson’s Thrush, originally banded in 2019, was unusual in that it had some traces of white in its outermost tail feathers. It looks like this individual has a touch of leucism, which is the name given to the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal. Unlike albinism, leucism does not affect the eyes and may be very localized, causing partial leucism and creating a ‘pied’ or ‘piebald’ effect. Interestingly, though this individual was recaptured in both 2020 and 2021, and even had some biological samples taken for a project studying moult and migration, there is no mention of any leucism in its previous recapture records. Perhaps this lack of pigmentation is somehow an effect of age or overall condition?

A partially leucistic Swainson’s Thrush.

As was the case yesterday, today was another good morning for raptors. A group of three Sharp-shinned Hawks was winging across the road as I returned to the banding station from census, and the north field was crowded with a total of four Northern Harriers. One of them was a beautiful grey, ghost-like adult male, and two of the immatures entertained themselves by teasing both each other and a Great Blue Heron that landed next to the oxbow. A total of seven American Kestrels divided their time between hunting over the field and perching in the Kestrel Snag, which at one point was briefly monopolized by an immature Red-tailed Hawk before the irate kestrels ousted it and drove it away.

The last bird banded of the morning turned out to be something of a puzzler! As Sachi has written before, the Empidonax group of flycatchers are rather difficult to tell apart in the hand, often requiring a painstaking suite of measurements before they can be identified to species. Today we spent a good fifteen minutes examining the individual pictured below, measuring not just wing length (a standard measurement for all the birds we band) and tail length, but also the difference in length between individual flight feathers (comparing the ninth primary to the fifth primary for example) as well as bill length and bill width, before ultimately deciding that it was a Hammond’s Flycatcher – which is what Sachi thought it was from the start! But simply stating that a flycatcher has a small bill and a big head is not enough to identify a bird with one hundred percent certainty, so we had to take all of the measurements regardless.

Our first Hammond’s Flycatcher banded of the season, impatient to be on its way!

Birds aside, today was also a good day for sightings of other wildlife. On our drive in to the banding station just before sunrise we came around a corner and unexpectedly caught up to a grizzly bear! When we stopped the car it stopped as well and turned to stare at us, but of course vanished into the trees as soon as Sachi and I pulled our phones out to take a picture. During census, a quick-tempoed (and surprisingly loud) rustling in the undergrowth turned out to be a weasel, who stuck its head up out of the bushes to get a good look at me before vanishing. And Sachi spotted a gorgeous red fox in the net lanes going about its business, which thankfully didn’t include hanging around the mist-nets hoping for an easy meal!

The Niuts, looking imposing.

With comparatively still conditions last night, the wildfire smoke from yesterday was still hanging around in the valley today. It lightened through mid-morning, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the Niuts looking more than usually intimidating, then grew more dense towards noon. As today was also quite overcast the temperature stayed relatively cool, and by the time we were packing up to leave there was a distinct feel of rain in the air. Considering how dry it has been in the valley, we hope we’ll see some precipitation soon!

A fun sighting – our banded Clark’s Nutcracker (see the right leg) visits the station!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S147877097.

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Species	Band	Recap
Swainson’s Thrush	18	7
Song Sparrow	2	2
Cedar Waxwing	2	1
Vesper Sparrow	2
Hammond’s Flycatcher	1
Dusky Flycatcher	1
Common Yellowthroat	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	27	Total Banded	580
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	575
Birds Recapped	10	Species Banded	40
Species Recapped	3	Total Recapped	114
Species on Census	33	Species Recapped	14
Species Recorded	59	Species Recorded	107

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