Sept. 21: Return of the Saw-whets

One of last night’s Northern Saw-whet Owls.

After a long period of less than ideal weather, last night Sachi and Gabe were finally able to go owling for the first time in nearly a week. It was well worth the wait, as there were plenty of Northern Saw-whet Owls around who were impatient to be banded. Thirteen were captured in total, including a few more with signs of juvenile plumage. All of them were young hatch-year birds and, for once, they were all reasonably patient and well-tempered, and refrained from injuring TLBO’s bird banders too much!

A frosted Prickly Rose bush

A thick hoar frost lined the grasses and leaves this morning, making the fields and paths look pale and ghostly. At minus 5 degrees Celsius this was the coldest morning we’ve had so far in 2023, and there was no question of opening the mist-nets until after the sun had crested Potato Range. Instead I tucked a handwarmer into my pocket and headed out to make the rounds, walking the net loop and heading down to the oxbow to see what birds were out braving the cold. It was so calm that it was no challenge to pick out the distant chip calls of the Yellow-rumped Warblers flying overhead, or the chatter of the Black-capped Chickadees foraging in the fir trees northeast of the banding station. Down at the oxbow, the Sora was tucked in among the reeds preening itself as it waited for the sun to rise. On days like today it’s hard not to worry that the birds are as cold as we are, especially when they’re spending the whole day standing around bare-footed in the wet mud! Fortunately birds have several adaptations to prevent them from feeling frigid. The skinniness of their legs and feet is due to the fact that the muscles that contract their toes are concentrated at the tops of their legs close to their centre of mass. The lower legs and feet are instead moved by tendons, which require very little blood flow. The veins and arteries that do run through the legs are placed very close together, giving the opportunity for passive heat exchange: as blood that has been warmed inside the body moves from the heart down into the exposed feet, the heat that it carries diffuses into the cold venous blood moving in the opposite direction. In this way heat is kept inside the body, which is insulated by feathers, instead of being lost to the cold air.

Our local Sora, braving the cold.

The sun had only just reached the field in front of the banding station when it was time for census. The bright sun made it difficult to see but nevertheless its warmth was exceedingly welcome, especially as it seemed to stimulate the American Robins and Varied Thrushes, as well as a handful of woodpecker species (Northern Flicker along with Pileated, Hairy and Downy Woodpecker) into calling to one another across the valley. In the south field, the sun had melted the frost everywhere except for within the shadows that lay at the feet of the bushes and trees. Small groups of White- and Golden-crowned Sparrows foraged along the sides of the road in the company of a few Oregon Juncos, while in the lagoon Donald the Trumpeter Swan presided over a small group of ducks: American Wigeon, a miscellaneous Goldeneye (Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye are both possible here, but it’s difficult to get a close enough view to distinguish between them with confidence), and a flock of Ring-necked Ducks. At the end of the hour-long census period I felt quite pleased with all of the birds that I had been able to see – and yet there had been even more bird activity back at the banding station! Sachi had counted over three hundred Yellow-rumped Warblers moving along the Homathko River, along with a variety of sparrow species, a Warbling Vireo, and a single Yellow Warbler, a species that we haven’t seen since September 14th. A Rusty Blackbird and a pair of Brewer’s Blackbirds also stopped by, giving us an unprecedented diversity of blackbird species. And for once the weather was cooperating, with barely a breath of wind to stir the mist-nets. We were all hopeful that it would be a busy banding day – but in the end, last night’s owl banding was far more productive!

Mountain Bluebird – in spite of actually perching on the Pipit Fence, none were captured!

In total, four birds were captured of three species. We recaptured a Black-capped Chickadee that was banded in 2022 and a Song Sparrow from August 20th of this year, and banded a hatch-year Black-capped Chickadee along with what was unquestionably the most exciting capture of the day, an American Pipit! While this was the second American Pipit banded this season, it is the first one to ever be captured by TLBO in one of the standard mist-nets. (The Pipit Fence that has captured every previous American Pipit is non-standard and as such is not required for full coverage.) Unsurprisingly, it was captured in net 14, which has been by far our most productive net and 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 last net-round of the day! Like many birds that live on the tundra or grasslands, American Pipits have very long tertial feathers (the wing feathers closest to the body) that completely cover the rest of the flight feathers when their wing is folded, to protect them from sun damage:

American Pipit, with a close-up showing the extra-long tertial feathers.

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150434556.

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Species	Band	Recap
Black-capped Chickadee	1	1
American Pipit	1
Song Sparrow		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	2	Total Banded	826
Species Banded	2	Standard Banded	812
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	53
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	160
Species on Census	26	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	43	Species Recorded	140

Sep. 20: A day late for #TUVUTuesday…

A heavy rain paired with gusting wind thwarted any hopes that we had harboured of going out owling last night. We can only hope that tonight the wind will calm down by nightfall and thus allow us to go out and try and coax a handful or more of owls into our nets.

Though present the wind was much more cooperative this morning as we were able to have nearly all of our nets open for the first few hours before the severity of the gusts increased, forcing our less sheltered ones to succumb and be closed prematurely. Though today was a huge improvement over yesterday, numbers of captures were still low with a total of 11 new birds banded and two recaptures. Amongst these new birds were some highlights the first of which was this season’s first Downy Woodpecker! One of the three Hermit Thrush that I heard calling from the shrubbery as I was opening nets eventually took the plunge marking our second banding record of this species and 800^th bird banded of the season!

Hermit Thrush: a fitting bird for our 800th of the season

Midway through the session we banded the Hermit’s more plentiful cousin, Swainson’s Thrush which turned out to be a rather momentous bird as it was our 254^th individual of this species banded this season! Since the 14^th of September we have been waiting with baited breath for this tie-breaking bird as the previous single season banding record for this species was 253 set back in 2018. Five Song Sparrows made the difference as they finally leapfrogged Warbling Vireos to take sole possession of the second spot on this season’s banding chart with 56. Both a recaptured and a new Black-capped Chickadee provided our current volunteer Gabe with an exciting introduction into banding and handling passerines.

A Golden-crowned Sparrow keeping an eye out along the road

For me the soundtrack of the final week of the season at the TLBO is always characterized by the scolding, cackling calls of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the low, flat “chip” calls of Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers as their numbers swell whilst those of their locally breeding counterparts Audubon’s diminish. The storm last night hastened migration as right out of the gates I had my work cut out for me as I endeavoured to kept track of flyover Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (season high of 92) chattering as they moved through the shrubbery. At the entrance to the south field there was a mixed flock comprised of the aforementioned species and as I scanned through the throng a flash of bright yellow caught my eye. A petite warbler quietly foraged amidst the clamorous court of kinglets. It had a grey hood with a white eyering and wingbars to match. A yellow throat continued down to its breast and belly to wrap around to its rump with faint streaks marking its flanks and olive back. It was our first Magnolia Warbler of the season and our 17^th record overall! Detections of this tastefully-patterned warbler are scarce at the TLBO with six seasons (2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017) having none and two (2007 and 2021) having three for an average of 1 per season. White-crowned Sparrows were also out in numbers (season high of 70) as flocks foraged amidst the wolf willows along the south field. Two Fox Sparrows stopped for moment to call out to me but without the proper response quickly lost interest as they continued on their way.  

A Merlin taking a short break atop the vacant “Kestrel Snag”

Down at the lagoon the Trumpeter Swan was joined by five species of ducks (Mallard, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal and Pied-billed Grebe) with an Osprey presiding as well as our second Rusty Blackbird of the season as it flew over the contentedly-feeding raft announcing itself with its characteristic low and harsh “chek” calls. As the day wore on raptors were abundant with seven species over the course of the day. A new TLBO high count of four Turkey Vultures (alpha code: TUVU) were seen languidly circling on thermals east of the station and seemingly unconcerned that they were a day late for “TUVU Tuesday”. Two Merlin’s chased each other around the north field as an adult and an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk attempted to play a similar game with the small murder of crows along the fence line. Two Northern Harriers silently glided overhead fiercely intent on their quest for rodents. On our way back from closing up the few nets that we had left at the end of the monitoring period Sachi spotted a large long-winged pale falcon soaring south of net 14. We all stopped to admire the raptor which was pale brown above and light below with faint streaking and dark wing lining that gave it the appearance of having dark “armpits”. To our delight this was a Prairie Falcon, our second of the season and only our third record in 17 seasons of monitoring in the Tatlayoko Valley.

An immature Sharp-shinned Hawk fighting the urge to look concerned

The day would end with 54 species detected comprised of 855 individual birds!

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150365121

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Species	Band	Recap
Song Sparrow	5	1
Black-capped Chickadee	1	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Hermit Thrush	1
Swainson’s Thrush	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	11	Total Banded	824
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	810
Birds Recapped	2	Species Banded	53
Species Recapped	2	Total Recapped	158
Species on Census	42	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	54	Species Recorded	140

Sept. 19: New Snow on the Niuts

A fresh dusting of snow on both the Niuts and the Potato Range provided plenty of opportunities for taking photos as we walked the net loop this morning. We happened to pull into the banding station at what turned out to be a rare moment of calm, though we could hear the lake roaring in the distance, a sign of the strong south winds to come. A flock of American Pipits were drifting about over the north field, Ruby-crowned Kinglets scolded us from the treetops, and Yellow-rumped Warblers were chasing each other back and forth above the banding station as a single late-season Cedar Waxwing passed overhead, trilling its distinctive call. With so many birds around, we were hopeful that it might be a busy banding day…

The wind, however, had other plans! There were only five mist-nets that could be opened to start with, and with each successive net run more had to be closed. The wind seemed to change direction constantly, coming first from the north, then the west, and sometimes the east, until the beginning of census when it was blowing hard from the south. I left Sachi and our new volunteer Gabe to watch over the mist-nets while I headed out to see what could be seen on the census trail.

The heavy clouds that had filled the sky began to thin, lending some welcome warmth since the morning grew chillier as the wind grew stronger. The Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets stayed low in the trees, calling to each other as they moved cautiously from branch to branch. As I was entering the south field, I heard a rustling noise behind me and looked back to find a red fox dodging in and out of the undergrowth along the edge of the field. It paused briefly when it saw me, then doubled back and disappeared into the brush. By coincidence, while I was on census Sachi and Gabe had their own close encounter with another red fox when one stepped out onto the trail ahead of them, carrying half a snowshoe hare. It was so pleased with itself that it took a moment to register that it wasn’t alone, and then had some further thinking to do before it took off to enjoy its lunch.

Caught red-handed! A red fox with a mid-morning meal.

White- and Golden-crowned Sparrows were active along the road as I made my way down to the lagoon, where Donald the Trumpeter Swan gave me a bit of a scare: he wasn’t in his usual spot and for a moment I thought that he might have left us, but as it turned out he was just around the corner in a more hidden spot, feeding contentedly while surrounded by a small group of American Wigeon. He seemed quite happy in their company, and I wondered if maybe we have been maligning him when we blame him for the lack of ducks in the lagoon – or maybe he finds American Wigeon, like the Pied-billed Grebe, to be uniquely congenial companions.

The sun was out by the time I reached the lake, and the water was a beautiful blue-green, the colour of sea glass. As I scanned the leeward section of the shore, where we sometimes see Spotted Sandpipers, I was surprised to instead find a pair of Ruffed Grouse foraging along the beach! Either they had wandered a long way east from the foot of the Niuts, following the line of trees, or they had come down across the road and flown over the Homathko to spend the morning by the lake – an unusual choice either way.

The south wind grew stronger as I was walking back to the banding station, and by the time I returned Sachi and Gabe had closed the few mist-nets that had managed to stay open. We stayed long enough to make some more observations and take another walk out to the oxbow, where we flushed a Wilson’s Snipe and got to see a couple of Song Sparrows out scratching in the mud, then returned across the field to shut up the banding station and head for home.

Lincoln’s Sparrow – one of three birds banded today.

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150286957.

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
Song Sparrow	1
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	3	Total Banded	813
Species Banded	3	Standard Banded	799
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	52
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	156
Species on Census	18	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	37	Species Recorded	139

Sep. 18: “Almost” #TUVUTuesday

A chill north wind saw to it that we had our fifth sub-zero start of the season today. The cranberry morning glow coated the rocky crags of the Niuts as the clouds were suffused with pastel colours ranging from pink through to light purple which added a warm glow to an otherwise frigid frost-rimed world. Peering south we could see that the far off mountains had been liberally dusted with fresh snow, reminding us that October is nearly upon us.

With our nets still closed we both crunched our way northwards along the barbed wire fence line through the frozen knee-high sedge. As we approached the lagoon, I pulled out my camera as quietly as I could manage hoping that the little Sora from the 16th was still about. After several quiet moments a plump shape carefully picked its way from amidst the long line of sedge that denotes where the waterline had been earlier on in the season. It was our immature Sora who continued on into the muddy margin and proceeded to look for an early breakfast. The light was poor so I had to content myself with some grainy record shots of our encounter before we decided to leave our friend in peace and search out some other migrants.

A grainy record shot of the nonplussed immature Sora

Thus far September has been a month of managing expectations where banding has been concerned. Eighteen days in and we have had three days where we didn’t band a single bird and an average of roughly 8 birds banded per day. Only on six days, which gratefully includes today, have we broken into the double digits of birds banded. The range has been from a low 0 birds banded to a high of 18 in a single day which has now occurred on two occasions, September 13^th and today! Needless to say, 18 birds banded along with three recaptures felt luxurious after such a dry spell.

The Ruby-crowned Kinglets who have been moving noisily through the valley finally arrived in our nets making the difference in our banding totals as we would band a total of seven, six of which came in one net run and almost all in the same net! After a three-week hiatus we caught and banded two surprisingly stealthy Warbling Vireos who joined our little kinglet flock in net 17. Being a local breeder and shorter-distance migrant, Song Sparrow capture numbers tend to stay fairly constant throughout the season and yet it was still a delight to add three freshly moulted adults today to our banding tally.

Both Sachi’s engaged in “stealth” photography

Mid to late September is when we begin to capture Black-capped Chickadees as family groups amalgamate and form up into mixed flocks. Of the four that we captured today one was new whilst the other three were recaptures. Of these three recaptures one was banded this season whilst the second was first banded in 2022 as a hatch-year. The third has the most interesting story as it was first banded on August 18, 2018 as an adult and caught twice in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Based on this data we know that this bird is at minimum seven years old which is pretty impressive considering that the oldest longevity record for this species is 11 years and 8 months!

Our elderly, wise and exceptionally feisty Black-capped Chickadee

The highlights of census were not new or rare birds but instead species that we have not detected very often this season. The first of these came in the form of an adult California Gull as it languidly flew along the Niuts northwards into the wind. I encountered two Pacific Wrens as they called harshly at me from the scrub as well as a Brown Creeper whose soft calls were much more pleasing to my ears. Though they are residents, we don’t tend to have as many detections of these two species as you would expect (the seasonal average is 8 for Pacific Wren and 4.8 for Brown Creeper) with the bulk of them coming in mid- to late September.

A calmer subject: adult female Orange-crowned Warbler of the “Lutescens” subspecies

On my return journey Northern Flickers were fairly abundant as I would log an individual of the “Red-shafted” subspecies along with the “Intergrade” bird which Sachi had seen yesterday (red moustacial stripe and yellow flight feathers). The final delight of the day came as I was busy clearing the “non-standard” MXY net lane near the lab. In between net checks Sachi noted some dark raptors soaring against the Niuts and as she zoomed in, she saw that they were three Turkey Vultures! This species has been undergoing a range expansion northwards over the past decade or two mainly due to climate change (net warming) and the increase in roadkill due to the rapid surge in the number of vehicles on our roads. This species was first sighted in the valley back in 2014 nearly a decade ago and has been detected every season except for 2017 albeit generally only one individual at a time. Since this species first arrived, we average about 3.5 detections per season (likely of just a single individual) with 2020 being the first season where we saw two individuals together which incidentally had our highest detection rate with nine. Now fast forward to the present where we currently sit at 16 detections with two occasions, August 25^th and today where we have seen three Turkey Vultures together! This is good news for a species that is so integral to the health of our ecosystems for Vultures are the great custodians of our the planet who benefit all creatures by reducing the spread of pathogens and disease as well as cleaning up decaying waste.

Forgive the slight tilt, but can you make out the fresh snow to the south?

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150227108 

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	7
Song Sparrow	3
Warbling Vireo	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Black-capped Chickadee	1	3
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	18	Total Banded	810
Species Banded	8	Standard Banded	796
Birds Recapped	3	Species Banded	52
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	156
Species on Census	31	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	46	Species Recorded	139

Sept. 17: Blowin’ in the Wind

We woke up to yet another morning of strong winds today, though for a change the wind was from the south right from the start, which kept temperatures warm. As we pulled into the parking lot a small flock of American Crows were indulging in some aerial acrobatics over the north field, letting themselves be lifted and carried this way and that by the strong gusts. An early-rising Golden-crowned Kinglet called at us from a tree above the banding station as we parted ways to go see if any mist-nets could be opened – though considering how the trees were bowing and swaying around us, our hopes were never high!

Wildfire smoke was visible towards the north end of the valley

Further north up the valley we could see wildfire smoke, which crept closer throughout the morning in spite of the strong winds. It helped lend some additional colour to what must have been a spectacular sunrise happening on the other side of the Potato Range, judging by the bright pink and purple hues that we could see reflecting off the undersides of the clouds. Small groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers were moving through the tops of the trees as we birded our way down to the oxbow, and a few Evening Grosbeaks flew by overhead, identifiable by their beautifully musical flight call. In the Pines, more Yellow-rumped Warblers and a flock of Oregon Juncos flashed past, heading for the greater shelter of the low stands of wolf willow and young aspens that make up the understory.

By the beginning of census, the sky was overcast and the south wind no longer felt so warm. As I followed the trail past the outhouse, I inadvertently flushed a Merlin who leapt up from the grass, calling angrily as it wheeled to hover over my head. With many apologies for interrupting it, I continued on my way, taking note of the Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows that I could hear calling from deep in the shrubbery. In the south field a Northern Flicker was carried past on the wind like a scrap of fabric. I had just had time to think to myself that its underwings had looked more yellow than red when it alighted on a snag long enough for me to confirm that, while the feather shafts in the wing were yellow, it had a red moustache and a predominantly grey face, making it a Northern Flicker Intergrade that combined the features of both a Yellow-shafted and Red-shafted Flicker.

Our resident Trumpeter Swan in a quiet moment at the lagoon

The continuous strong winds were powerful enough that even Donald the Trumpeter Swan was being pushed around by them as he fed in the lagoon, where he reigned in solitary splendour. A careful scan of the lake failed to uncover anyone bobbing about in between the whitecaps, and the grey sky was empty – not a surprise under such extreme conditions! Confident that the mist-nets would still be closed when I returned, I took my time on the walk back and counted a few more Yellow-rumped Warblers and a single Song Sparrow. Back at the banding station, Sachi had been able to find a flock of Mountain Bluebirds that we had glimpsed but then lost track of before getting an accurate count, but otherwise bird activity had slowed down. We stayed a while longer, working at some paperwork related to the habitat monitoring that we’ve been doing and keeping an eye out for more birds, before returning to the Lincoln Creek Ranch House. As we pulled in and parked the car, we surprised a flock of Mountain Bluebirds that were hanging out in the back pasture with a group of American Robins and European Starlings, and which made for our busiest sightings of the morning!

Getting paperwork done at the banding station!

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150135146.

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(There was no bird banding today due to high winds)

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	792
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	778
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	52
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	153
Species on Census	12	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	22	Species Recorded	139

Sep. 16: SORA-ing Migrants

A playful cloud over Potato that casually took possession of the northern horizon

The riotous southerly finally died down in the night and made way for a fairly stiff northerly whose breath was erratic and cool but not so frigid as to freeze up our nets. The wind would keep us on our toes as it would make what seemed like calculated minute adjustments to its direction throughout the morning before the southerly returned with a deafening roar just as we were closing.

With most nets unfurled we already had our first bird, a Lincoln’s Sparrow before our first net check! Though captures were low it was a treat to actually be open and banding birds. Three of the 36 Ruby-crowned Kinglets that we detected throughout the morning would take the plunge and receive shiny new bands in recompense. We would also band their non-migratory cousin, a Golden-crowned Kinglet which was our first of the season and 52^nd species banded.

Gentle and hardy: Golden-crowned Kinglet

The ratio of Audubon’s to Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers shifted in favour of the latter subspecies so it was fitting that we would band our first two of the season. Four species of sparrow, led by Song with three which was closely followed by Lincoln’s with two, would round out the day’s 13 new birds banded for a current season total to 792 (inclusive of non-standard banding). In brief, standard banding includes birds caught in our 12 songbird mist-nets whilst non-standard includes everything else which currently is our three hawk nets and the “pipit fence”. After such a strong start to the season where our banding totals were the second highest on record behind 2015 for the first two weeks things have really cooled off as our total of 778 birds banded (through standard means) is the lowest of all time behind last season where we had banded 790 by September 16^th. To put this in perspective our daily average of birds banded over those first two weeks was 31 while our average over the past month has been 12. I had a moment of excitement when I saw a Swainson’s Thrush in net 16 but as I began extracting it, I noticed that it was a recapture from the 13th and not our record breaking 254^th of the season.

The boreal-breeding Myrtle subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler

On the observational front we would start the day off right as Sachi and I were able to sneak up on a hatch-year Sora as it unconcernedly foraged in the exposed mud of the nearly dry oxbow next to a Song Sparrow. This is our third detection of this cute little rail species which is below our 16-season average of 5.3.  As I set out on census Yellow-rumped Warblers glided overhead with the quality of their “chip” calls separating them into the two subspecies as I scanned the tree line. A large raptor erupted from the thick Douglas-fir and White Spruce stand to the west and alighted atop the tallest tree in sight. The barrel chest and body builder-like body along with the slate grey-blue upperparts, prominent white eyeline and lightly barred white underparts denoted it as an adult Northern Goshawk, the avian ruler of the mature forests in the valley. Struck by the majesty of the moment I could do nothing but admire this impressive predator before remembering what I was about and wandering off to count more birds.

Regal in defeat: Peregrine Falcon

At the lagoon the Trumpeter Swan preeningly surveyed its kingdom whilst two Hooded Mergansers skulked in the sedge at the northern end. Two raucous Belted Kingfishers chased each other around lightheartedly until a larger shape came out of nowhere into their midst. Somehow the Kingfishers seemed to know a moment before the Peregrine Falcon arrived and scattered screaming their metallic rattling calls as evasive maneuvers were employed leaving the Peregrine no other choice but to alight atop a snag in momentary defeat. Throughout this drama an adult Bald Eagle, the undisputed top of the avian food chain calmly watched nonplussed with an air of disinterest from the top of a nearby tree.

Keeping an eye on the plebs: Bald Eagle

White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos were still flocking and on the move along the road with a few Golden-crowned and a single White-throated Sparrow mixed in. Song Sparrows tagged along calling out but never seemed to quite catch up to the larger group of their cousins.

The ubiquitous breeder of the boreal forest: White-throated Sparrow

It was our first big migratory push of American Robins as multiple smaller flocks kept moving through calling to each other as they alighted momentarily before moving on for a total of 75 on the day. Varied Thrush were also more prominent as we would have our second highest count of the season with six behind September 14^th’s high of seven. When the day was done and dusted, we detected a total of 50 different species comprised of 578 individual birds.

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150055038

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3
Song Sparrow	3
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
Swainson’s Thrush		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	13	Total Banded	792
Species Banded	7	Standard Banded	778
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	52
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	153
Species on Census	35	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	50	Species Recorded	139

Sept. 15: Something’s In the Wind

The slight north wind yesterday evening was light enough that it did not keep Marko and I from enjoying another night of Northern Saw-whet Owl banding which, though far from being as busy as the night of September 13^th, still had its highlights. Six Saw-whets were banded of a mix of ages, from an after second-year that showed three different generations of feathers in its wing, to a pair of young birds that still bore heavy traces of their juvenile plumage. Already this year we have captured a high number of owls who still have at least some juvenile feathers – perhaps a sign of a very successful Saw-whet breeding season, if these are birds from second broods raised after the first batch of young have fledged.

Two Northern Saw-whet Owls with partial juvenile plumage – the one on the left is doing a threat display

I arrived at the banding station in my frost-covered car to find Sachi pacing the net lanes and the banding station trying to keep warm in the face of a brisk north wind. The thermometer finally rose above zero degrees Celsius just as I was preparing for census, and as I left Sachi also headed out, to see which mist-nets could be opened. Aside from the chill wind the weather was beautiful, with a crisp blue sky that harmonized beautifully with the yellow-green of the aspens. It was therefore with some concern that I realized I was neither seeing nor hearing birds! The north field remained empty no matter how many times I scanned the trees, snags, and rosebushes (a Hairy Woodpecker that had been calling before the start of census declined to speak up once I was actually supposed to be writing down observations), and the walk down the census trail was enlivened only by a small number of Myrtle Warblers flying overhead. A Spotted Towhee making its cat-like mew call in the Pines reassured me that I hadn’t gone mysteriously deaf, and I was further heartened by hearing the sweet chip note of an American Redstart a little further along, though I wasn’t able to see it among the long needles of the coniferous tree it was moving about in. As events would prove, the reduced bird activity may have been a portent: perhaps they were all hunkered down in anticipation of the change in the weather that was to come…

The wind was still from the north as I crossed the south field, squinting into the sun, but the roar of the lake off to my right let me know that there was a change in the air. Sure enough, when I reached the lagoon I found a warm south wind scudding across its surface, ruffling the feathers of our Trumpeter Swan and making the trees along the beach sway and dance. As I stood on the beach I tried to take a photograph of the whitecaps on the lake and almost got pushed over by a gust of wind, leading to a slight jog in the middle of the panorama shot!

An interesting photographic effect, created by almost falling over in a high wind!

With little to hear over the roar of the wind and few birds to see among the swaying branches, I hurried back to the banding station where Sachi and Marko were hastening to close our wind-battered mist-nets, which were now filled with leaves. Fortunately there were no captured birds that needed our attention and with a lot of hard work we were able to extract all the leaves and safely furl the nets – though I was briefly delayed when I was hurrying to catch up with Sachi and Marko, and a black bear stepped out onto the trail ahead of me! Between the strong winds and the bright sun it was a bit difficult to get its attention, but eventually we were able to communicate effectively and it headed off south into the brush while I made a detour around it and went to help close the rest of the nets.

With no mist-nets open and little chance of observing many more birds, we felt more than justified in closing up and heading home early for a rare shortened workday. It seems unlikely that we will be owling tonight, but we look forwards to seeing if the wind has blown in any rarities tomorrow!

Wildfire smoke moving south down the valley this afternoon

To see our eBird list for the day, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S149953480.

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(No birds were banded today)

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	0	Total Banded	779
Species Banded	0	Standard Banded	765
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	152
Species on Census	18	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	33	Species Recorded	139

Sep. 14: No Longer EUST-less

Our current volunteer Marko from Slovenia enjoying a moment with one of 15 Northern Saw-whet Owls that visited us last night

After three consecutive nights of poor owling weather Marko and I were able to head out for our fourth session of the 2023 owling season. The first net check yielded a single owl which is all that I dare hope for most seasons, as I like to maintain high hopes paired with low expectations. The subsequent check yielded a further three owls for four on the night which had our hopes high that by the night’s end we might beat the opening night’s total of seven. In our wildest dreams Marko nor I would have been ready for what lay in store for us on the third net check of the night. As we approached, the first two nets were empty but turning the corner four owls came into view in our third net. The next four nets would yield a further seven owls for a total of 11, one of which was a same night recapture which we released, whilst the other 10 were new! This could very well be the biggest net round in the 11 seasons of Northern Saw-whet Owl monitoring program at the TLBO! The closing round yielded one more owl bringing our night’s tally to 15 and our season total to 33. At this rate we very well could beat the regular season record of 62 which was set back in 2019.

A frost-rimed grasshopper’s view of Skinner mountain in the morning light

It was another beautiful frost-rimed Tatlayoko morning as the mercury read -2°C which kept our nets closed for some time. In the predawn light a flock of our first Canada Geese since August 25^th flew overhead as Sachi surveyed the frigid landscape. Census was an improvement on the past few days but still on the slower end of the spectrum. The first highlight of the day came as I was making my way back to the station from census when a flock of 35 Icterids flew overhead vocalizing. The low “chek” calls paired with the dark plumage and light eyes of the few males in the group told me that they were our first Brewer’s Blackbirds of the season. This is a species that breeds locally yet is a rare visitor to our study area whilst we are here as last season was the first detection that we have had of this species since 2017.

The lagoon with the characteristic “Tatlayoko Tilt”

The next addition to our season’s list came as both Sachi’s were busy in the banding lab. A “pik” call caught my ear which though distorted by the walls sounded too much like an American Three-toed Woodpecker to not investigate. I stuck my head out the back door to have a look at the “Woodpecker Snag” and sure enough my ears had not deceived me as a beautiful American Three-toed Woodpecker was foraging and calling its heart out on the snag.

The TLBO’s first banding record of a European Starling (alpha code: EUST)

With reduced net hours due to the cold morning banding was a subdued affair. The pipit fence would have its best daily performance of the season and perhaps of all time as we would capture two Savannah Sparrows on one net round and a TLBO first banding record (as well as for myself) on another. As the morning wore on the field was alive with life as a large mixed flock comprised of Western Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, American Pipits and European Starlings foraged near the pipit fence. On one such occasion we tried in vain to encourage the Meadowlarks to take the plunge but were unsuccessful until we realized that a member of the large flock of European Starling’s had to our good fortune found its way into the pipit fence! This is the first banding record of this species at the TLBO and my first chance to get to see this European transplant up close and personal. A point of interest is that though not overly large, European Starlings have disproportionately thick legs and beautifully iridescent feathers!

Always a fan favourite: “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler

Later in the day we would also capture and band our 253^rd Swainson’s Thrush of the season which now has us tied with 2018 for the single season banding record for this species. To top the day off we would capture and band our final bird of the day, a stately adult female “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler, our seventh of the season. Let us hope that she is just the beginning of the horde that will find our nets over the next two weeks!

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S149888848

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Species	Band	Recap
Savannah Sparrow	3
Song Sparrow	2
Swainson’s Thrush	1
European Starling	1
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	8	Total Banded	779
Species Banded	5	Standard Banded	765
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	51
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	152
Species on Census	32	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	50	Species Recorded	139

Sept. 13: Fair Winds Bring Fair Birds

Mount Skinner wore a jaunty cap of sun-hued clouds when we arrived at the banding station this morning, and though a cold north wind kept us chilled it was moderate enough that we could open almost all of the mist-nets – a welcome change after several days with almost no banding! The birds were gracious enough to oblige by putting in an appearance, and within just a couple of net runs we added two new species to our list of birds banded this season. The first was one that we have been awaiting for some time now: our first Fox Sparrow of the season was spotted on September 1^st but it wasn’t until this morning that we encountered one in the net. As short-distant migrants (wintering on the west coast and in the southeastern United States), these large, boldly-marked sparrows can afford to wait to migrate until long after long-distance migrants have departed their breeding grounds, making them a true sign of fall.

First banded of the season: Fox Sparrow (left) and Varied Thrush (right)

Our other season’s first was a beautiful Varied Thrush! We have been hearing these striking birds calling from the mountainsides around the banding station, but this was the first one to be captured. With its slate-blue back and beautiful burnt-orange undersides, the colours of this distinctive western thrush seem to anticipate October and the upcoming Halloween season. Also on the thrush front, after a short intermission we have banded a further three Swainson’s Thrushes, bringing our season’s total to 252 and getting us that much closer to breaking 2018’s all-time record of 253!

Swainson’s Thrush #250

Though the weather was much more amenable today, census was almost as quiet as it had been yesterday, with only 26 species recorded. Down by the lake conditions were almost perfectly calm, with only a few ripples far out on the water. As I watched a pair of Spotted Sandpipers flying off down the shore, my eye was caught by several white, fluffy feathers floating on the surface of the lake, which must have belonged to Donald the Trumpeter Swan. He was all alone in the lagoon this morning, without a single duck or grebe to be seen, and I wondered if perhaps moult had made him too irritable to tolerate company!

When I returned from census the wind had died down around the banding station and all of the mist-nets were open, just in time to capture some birds for us to show today’s visitors from Nagwuntl’oo School in Anahim Lake! The students were able to see Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Lincoln’s and a Song Sparrow, and (very fortuitously) a second Varied Thrush being banded, and even joined us for a net run to see the mist-nets in action and learn more about how we capture birds. Their infectious enthusiasm buoyed us through the latter half of the morning, and we greatly appreciate their fortitude in travelling such a long way to come and visit us.

Marko and Sachi getting in some observation hours

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S149820093.

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Species	Band	Recap
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	3
Swainson’s Thrush	3
Lincoln’s Sparrow	3
Varied Thrush	2
Song Sparrow	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Wilson’s Warbler	1
Fox Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	18	Total Banded	771
Species Banded	10	Standard Banded	760
Birds Recapped	0	Species Banded	50
Species Recapped	0	Total Recapped	152
Species on Census	26	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	50	Species Recorded	137

Sep. 12: Huff and Puff and a HAFL in your Net

The ferocious southerly that kept our nets closed yesterday blew relentlessly through the night and still was not out of breath by the time we made it down to the station to assess our nets. Upon our arrival the wind had lessened enough for us to open up a handful of our most sheltered nets which gave us hope for the day. The wind was unusually chaotic even for Tatlayoko, as we would soon realize that on the east side of the valley it appeared to be a stiff southerly whilst on the western side along the Homathko it was coming out of the north.

All we could do was shrug our collective shoulders and monitor what nets we had open as the gusts came and went much like the strong ebb and flow of the tide. The day’s effort was not completely wasted for we would band three new birds with one recapture. Two of these were individuals of our most prevalent Zonotrichias, White-crowned Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow which our volunteer Marko has now become quite familiar with.

Hammond’s Flycatcher

The third bird was an Empidonax flycatcher which always provides some excitement as they more often than not present a delightful challenge to identify. After a few measurements my first impression of this cute little flycatcher was confirmed as it indeed was our third Hammond’s Flycatcher of the season. This is our third lowest banding total of this species beating only 2017 (2) and 2022 (1) and well below our 16-season average of 7.7 for this species. In general we have seen a downward trend in the numbers of flycatchers that we band with the exception of Dusky Flycatcher which has fluctuated from a low of 2 banded in 2021 to a high of 20 banded in both 2009 and 2020. This range is likely heavily influenced by how many pairs successfully breed close to our netting area as when they do we tend to capture and band the entire family group. The single recapture was an adult female American Robin whom we had first banded on September 1^st in breeding condition which suggests that she had a late brood locally.

An unbanded female American Robin

The large murder of crows that has been growing in numbers and laying claim to the north field since the 5^th of September was present yet again much to the chagrin of the American Kestrels. The local Merlin showed a rare moment of discernment and chose to engage in a game of tag with the male American Kestrel instead of the gang of Crows in the north field. With a head start it appeared that the Kestrel would easily get away but all of a sudden, the Merlin seemed to kick into a higher gear which closed the distance between itself and its quarry in a split second before they both cavorted and wheeled through the trees and out of sight.

The female American Kestrel preening in peace

Census was a quiet affair with the wind obscuring most vocalizations and keeping all but the most adventurous birds to ground. The lagoon was devoid of avian life save for its sole resident the Trumpeter Swan who upon seeing me roused itself from preening on the muddy island and flew straight at me, stopping not five metres away where it regarded me in sidelong silence.

Incoming Trumpeter Swan!

We would end the day with 41 species detected comprised of 523 individuals which sounds rather impressive until you factor in that 300 of those were our unruly flock of teenage American Crows.

To see our eBird list for today, please visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S149739992

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Species	Band	Recap
Hammond’s Flycatcher	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
American Robin		1

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Daily		Season
Birds Banded	3	Total Banded	753
Species Banded	3	Standard Banded	742
Birds Recapped	1	Species Banded	48
Species Recapped	1	Total Recapped	152
Species on Census	24	Species Recapped	17
Species Recorded	41	Species Recorded	137