I would like to welcome you all back to another fall season of migration monitoring in the beautiful windswept Tatlayoko Valley! Sachiko Schott (a.k.a. Sachi) is joining me for her second season at the TLBO after another summer spent monitoring grassland bird species in the prairies. We are fortunate to have her breadth of skill and knowledge on board again this season as well as the gift of her delightful prose which we will all get to enjoy every other day right here. I have returned for my sixth season and second at the helm after a spring and summer spent working with Western Screech-owls, Western Toads, and breeding birds, along with chasing the odd butterfly in between.
We are also very pleased to be joined by Adam and Stephen for the second year running as they have made the journey all the way from Vancouver Island to spend the coming week volunteering with us.
Each season has its own flavour and we never know what surprises lay in wait for us. The banding lab after about 15 years has a new look with a fresh coat of paint both inside and out. The drought conditions that grip the province made for a much reduced effort when it came to clearing the normally jungle-like grasses in the net lanes. Fortunately the deciduous vegetation around our nets appears to be healthy and was in need of only a few touch-ups before the nets were set up. We also lost a long-dead pine to the strong winds that buffeted it once too often. This is a loss as it was a favoured spot for woodpeckers and will be dearly missed.
After record low banding totals last year the TLBO’s 17th season of monitoring kicked off with gusto! Despite the chilly sunrise at 2ºC we captured five new birds and one recapture whilst opening the nets. This would set the pace of the morning with more birds finding their way into our nets on each subsequent round before finally dying off at 11:15. As we have been accustomed to, Swainson’s Thrush made up almost half of our captures with 21 birds banded one of which was a female that was still in breeding condition which suggests that she raised a brood locally. Northern Waterthrush had the next highest banding total with 7 which bodes well for the local population. Other highlights were two Vesper Sparrows who provided some excitement for Adam along with two freshly fledged Spotted Towhees whose nest is likely in the thick patch of dogwood between net 13 and the lab. Our final tally of 46 birds banded is the 5th highest for an opening day and comfortably above the long term average of 42. Despite having three seasons where the station didn’t operate on the opening day of August 3rd (2006, 2007 and 2017), it takes the crown for the day with the highest average number of birds banded next to September 20th and 17th with 40 and 39 birds banded respectively. This makes intuitive sense as the first day is when we capture the majority of the local breeders and their newly fledged young.
These first few weeks are when we tend to recapture birds which we banded in previous seasons as well whilst the adults are still on territory. This season was no exception as we recaptured five birds: two Song Sparrows, an American Robin, a Yellow Warbler, and a Dusky Flycatcher, all of which were first banded last season (2022). All of these birds were aged as adults in 2022 which means that in all likelihood this is at least their second season of raising young on the property!
The start of census was slightly delayed due to a busy preceding net round. Once all the birds were safely processed and released I set out into the rising sun to count avifauna. For those of you who are new, the daily census is a 60-minute standardized count that follows a trail that winds its way through mixed deciduous and conifer forest, wet meadows, grassland and finally along riparian scrub before finally ending at the north end of the lake. It is always a delight for it enables one to focus on only the birds along the trail.
With a clean slate every species was “new” for the season so I revelled in every addition. Despite that mindset there were still some that piqued my interest but these I would have to wait patiently for. At the beginning of every season we speculate on which will be the new additions to our species list. We usually go for the slightly more outlandish choices with the hopes of a “rarity” so it was much to my surprise when I looked out on the lagoon and beheld a lone Trumpeter Swan! These are rather common migrant in many parts of the province, albeit during early spring and late fall, so this individual was quite unusual given the place and time. As a consequence it is our 209th species in 17 seasons of monitoring.
We are often starved for shorebirds and gulls in the valley during migration so it was exciting to see a lone Least Sandpiper working the muddy margin several feet away from the swan as well as both an immature Herring and Ring-billed Gull who sailed overhead before gliding off to join a larger group gulls further out on the lake. Unbeknownst to me my return journey held a few more surprises, the first of which was an Eastern Kingbird which is an uncommon visitor to the valley: this is only our 5th season with a detection. The highlight for me came just as I was nearing the station, when a large pale brown falcon soared overhead and alighted atop a snag that is favoured by raptors of all species. Zooming in with my camera I was able to confirm that, yes indeed, it was a Prairie Falcon! An uncommon visitor to the valley this is only our second record during passerine monitoring with a third record last October during the owl banding extension.
All in all it was quite the day with a total of 56 species detected comprised of 499 individuals!
Stay tuned for day two!
To see our eBird checklist for the day, follow the link: https://ebird.org/checklist/S146369876
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Species | Band | Recap |
Swainson’s Thrush | 21 | |
Northern Waterthrush | 7 | |
American Redstart | 4 | |
Savannah Sparrow | 4 | |
Spotted Towhee | 3 | |
American Robin | 2 | 1 |
Vesper Sparrow | 2 | |
Song Sparrow | 1 | 2 |
MacGillivray’s Warbler | 1 | |
Common Yellowthroat | 1 | |
Dusky Flycatcher | 1 | |
Yellow Warbler | 1 |
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Daily | Season | ||
Birds Banded | 46 | Total Banded | 46 |
Species Banded | 10 | Standard Banded | 46 |
Birds Recapped | 5 | Species Banded | 10 |
Species Recapped | 4 | Total Recapped | 5 |
Species on Census | 44 | Species Recapped | 4 |
Species Recorded | 56 | Species Recorded | 56 |
Welcome back! Obviously the birds were equally grateful for your return and showed up in numbers. An avian celebration of sorts. That Prairie Falcon is totally magical. Bravo Sachi’s, los dos!!
Yes thank you! It was a fabulous day to kick the season off with.
Welcome back! The season is looking positive already. Cute typo for the Dusky Flycatcher photo – I’m sure he is really “ducky” 🙂
Thank you Kathleen, we are pleased to have you with us for another season! Oh boy… Yes that particular type escaped my notice 🙂
Fabulous! Love the commentary and the amazing photos.
Thank you!
Hi Sachi, I am new here and looking forward to learning about fluffy flying friends in the prairies. Great photos and very interesting report! Thanks 🙏
Oh good! I am glad that you are going to be joining us on our journey this season.
The Trumpeter Swan as been on the Lagoon all summer. I have seen it there on every trip I have made down to the valley.
So interesting, I would love to know why it has been here all this time.
[…] as surprises albeit in different fashions. On the opening day I observed the TLBO’s first ever Trumpeter Swan in the lagoon. We later learned that this bird had arrived with a possible mate in the spring and […]