It so happens that this is my 151st blog post here and the first time that I have been tempted to post a single picture and leave it at that. It is very rare, even on a slow day, when a single photograph feels more adequate than any words I could type but, in this case, I think that it would. I have however quelled that urge and will instead leave you in suspense for a while longer on what image I thought would be truly worth 1000 words, or more.
We are currently in the middle of a heat wave that appears to be province-wide and gratefully “heat wave” in the Chilcotin means highs of 31°C which is far more manageable than many parts of the southern interior of our fair province. Clear skies, heat and calm nights are good for migration which is double edged as it means that birds are less likely to stop off in numbers at our site which in the past has led to what we call the “doldrums”.
Today was an excellent example of that as activity was muted around the station. The Chipping Sparrow flock that has been keeping us busy have abandoned the rose bush scrub north of net 14 and the young Dusky Flycatchers appear to be slowly moving on one by one. By day’s end we were unable to break the double digits with 9 new birds banded and 5 recaptures. It is no surprise that Swainson’s Thrush kept us in business with 5 birds banded and 3 recaptures. One of these recaptures was first banded on August 12, 2021 as an adult and sampled as part of a moult migration project for a researcher from Texas A & M. We captured this bird twice last year, August 5th and 7th and now today making it at minimum four years old.
There were two captures of note and as luck would have it, they both came on the same net round. The first and perhaps the most exciting of the season (possibly even of my tenure at the TLBO) was a Clark’s Nutcracker in net 14. If you haven’t noticed already, they are the species that we have on our logo and are near and dear to our hearts. In 17 seasons we have never caught one except for when the first bander Steve Ogle hiked up onto Potato to see if it was feasible to have a second site where we could monitor higher elevation species especially Clark’s Nutcrackers who are specialists of the endangered Whitebark Pine. During his time up there, he only caught one and it was decided that it was too remote to access and the weather was too unpredictable to add it into the station’s standard protocol. Since then, every bander who has worked at the TLBO has watched them sail over our heads multiple times daily and dreamed of the day when one might have a brief lapse in judgement and end up in our nets. Of all the days, today was that day and we were all delighted to get to see this handsome second-year male up close and personal!
The second highlight came later on during the same net round when Sachi and Thea found a Sharp-shinned Hawk awaiting them in net 19. This was our first banding record of this species this season and a first for Thea as she learned how to handle and band a larger species with talons.
The slow day in the nets gave us the opportunity to deal with some chores around the station. The site that we operate on is slowly giving way to aspen forests and we do some habitat management along our census route to try and slow the conversion of open meadows to deciduous stands. We also had amble time for observations as we would end the day with 56 species comprised of 365 individual birds. On census the Steller’s Jay that I encountered several days previous gave me a more intimate experience as it followed me for a portion of the census route all the while calling its raspy jay calls first from cover then in plain view and finally from atop a snag. A repeated breathy hoot from the slopes heralded our first Northern Pygmy-Owl of the season marking our 100th species detected of 2023!
Even on slow days there is always a delight in store which is both true for our time here in the valley as well as life in general.
To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S147363612
_
Species | Band | Recap |
Swainson’s Thrush | 5 | 3 |
Song Sparrow | 1 | 1 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | |
Clark’s Nutcracker | 1 | |
Spotted Towhee | 1 | |
Northern Waterthrush | 1 |
_
Daily | Season | ||
Birds Banded | 9 | Total Banded | 422 |
Species Banded | 5 | Standard Banded | 418 |
Birds Recapped | 5 | Species Banded | 35 |
Species Recapped | 3 | Total Recapped | 72 |
Species on Census | 49 | Species Recapped | 9 |
Species Recorded | 58 | Species Recorded | 100 |
So exciting!
Thank you.
Glad that you are enjoying it!
Great pictures! I am enjoying the blog.
Thank you!
Stellar reporting and pics! Magic all around!
Yes!
Holy!!! What an exciting day you guys had. I have never seen even a photo of Clark’s Nutcracker till now. Stunning. 🙌 Thanks for all your work.
[…] had previously captured such season’s highlights as the Clark’s Nutcracker that we banded on August 15th. It was a very unexpected pleasure to find this svelte and beautiful bird waiting for us on our […]
[…] banding highlights with the top being the TLBO’s first banding of our station’s emblem bird, a Clark’s Nutcracker! We would add a second species to the station’s banding list with our first banding record of a […]