Almost September

Here is the board as of August 28:

We've hit 50 species! (Sort of...) Since my last post we've had a Western Tanager, a Fox Sparrow and....a Barred Owl!

I've been keeping notes now so here is a day by day breakdown of the last week or so:

August 20 - We captured this Winter Wren (we are still using Winter Wren at the station since all the paper work and programs still have it listed as Winter Wren and not Pacific Wren) with a few white feathers.

We also captured a young Swainson's Thrush with no back toes and a swollen leg (it was not banded but was otherwise doing okay). A highlight for me was getting another Downy Woodpecker which we haven't seen for awhile. Other highlight birds include Townsend's Warblers and Warbling Vireos. As well on this day Rick suggested we try a new net. Since nets 1 and 2 are often closed due to wind, he thought it would be interesting to try opening another on the other side of the pond across from net 2. This is a non-standard net but gives us a chance to band species that would be near the water and pond when nets 1 and 2 are closed. This net is now net 16.

August 21 - The first bird was captured in our non-standard net (16), a Lincoln's Sparrow! Not much else happened this day although we did get another Downy Woodpecker for the second day in a row.

August 22/23 - August 22 was my day off so I am combining these days. A female Western Tanager was caught on the 22nd:

Photo: Ann Scarfe

We had a couple of Great Horned Owls calling in the morning. We also captured a Black-throated Gray Warbler and a Marsh Wren, neither of which we have got for awhile. As well, Ian had a Vaux's Swift on obs this day. Oh yeah I stepped in wolf poop this day :( A lot of it. So much that it rubbed on the bottom of my pants and I had to change into my rain pants and wash my shoes off in the ocean it smelled so bad.

August 24 - Ralph the wolf-dog was seen on the island. We had lots of old recaps today including an Orange-Crowned Warbler and Chestnut-backed Chickadee banded last year and a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Orange-Crowned Warbler and Song Sparrow banded two years ago.

August 25 - Another recap Chestnut-backed Chickadee from 2008. There were two Red-Tailed Hawks on obs today and our first Fox Sparrow of the season was banded! There were a few other Fox Sparrows hanging around today as well.

August 26 - Well Brian had the day off. He was supposed to go on the pelagic trip out of Sooke but it was canceled so he enjoyed a lovely day off. I, on the other had, got to endure the Level 7 winds at Rocky Point! Needless to say we did not have a very busy day and only banded 16 new birds.

August 27 - Not much to report on this day either. There were more birds than the previous day. We did band a very young Golden-Crowned Kinglet, only our second one of the season.


Now onto...The Saga of the Barred Owl

Now there has been a Barred Owl hanging around the net lanes since August 18. Here it is near the banding station:

The vision of impending doom...

So far it hadn't come near the nets. We did find the remains of...well something else, probably a squirrel but no dead birds. I also got to experience the Barred Owl up close. It was perched a top the poles at net 6 so as we came around the corner it flew off over our heads. Apparently I was the only one to see this as Michael and Cheryl didn't see it. Here is my interpretation of what happened:

Drawing is to scale

As you can see it's pretty terrifying. Bringing us to yesterday....the Barred Owl showed up again only this time it had figured out that there were birds in the nets. It unfortunately managed to kill a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. Luckily, we had Ann that day! Staked out at net 12 and using the dead bird as bait (as well as some creative luring tactics aka dead bird attached to string and wiggled around) she successfully captured it! And here are the resulting photos:

Prepared to be banded!

Banding commences

Someone really didn't want his wing measured

An exciting end to a slow week!


Well September is on it's way. I hear rumors that things get busy then? :) Owl banding is almost two weeks way so that is sneaking up too. 

Just a friendly reminder that if you haven't done so already to please sign up or renew your membership for this year.

Volunteers get to do fun things like washing bird bags! Ann Scarfe likes to do it the old fashion way:

That's 97 bird bags hanging out to dry!

Thanks again!

Jessie 

Yikes! 30 days in!

And here we go!

We did it! Over 1000 birds banded as of August 19th. We reached 48 species today as well, banding our first Hammond's Flycatcher. New species since last time also include Steller's Jay and an "official" Oregon Junco.  We actually managed to catch 2 Steller's Jays in net 5, letting Brian and I both band one for the first time. We had a small influx of American Goldfinches in nets 1 and 2, increasing the banding totals for that species. We are only getting a Swainson's Thrush and Pacific-slope Flycatchers every other day now. Quite different from when we banded 25 PSFL in one day a few weeks back! It's been quite slow for the warblers lately, we only got TWO Wilson's warblers today. TWO. Here are some pictures:

Hammond's Flycatcher - August 19

Hammond's Flycatcher action shot!

Steller's Jay - August 16

Yesterday, (August 18) we had some California Quail hanging out right by the banding station after net opening. Sure enough as soon as we headed to check the nets they all got flushed out including four into net 6. Although we don't band them, we took a few pictures:

California Quail - August 18

And now a few interesting birds we've got in the last little while.

Wilson's Warbler - Originally banded 4 years ago!

Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow with one white tail feather

We also got a few of these Orange-Crowned Warblers today:

This is either the orestera or celeta subspecies. Any ideas? Here is the lutescens subspecies for comparison.

There has been a Great Horned Owl hanging around the area for at least a week. Yesterday it sat on the net 1 poles as we opened the nets! As well a Barred Owl has been present for the last two days in the same spot during the first net round. Today it perched right a top a dead tree about 5 feet from the path. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. Here is the best picture I have of the Great Horned:

Well that's all for now! We're hoping things start to pick up soon. After a dismal week of 30 birds or less per day we had over 50 today. At least the weather has been holding out!

Till next time,

Jessie

Things are picking up

We've made it to day 22. Here is the current board:

As you can see we've had quite the jump in numbers. Almost 800 new birds banded so far! Not bad. We had our biggest day on Monday with over 80 birds banded. As well we've beat the record for Rufous Hummingbirds at 25, the old record was 24. It seems to be a good year for RUHUs in the area. MAPS at Witty's Lagoon was banding over 30 RUHUs a day for at least three Saturdays in a row. Wilson's Warblers are by far leading for numbers caught in the net. We affectionately refer to them as "socks". Opening a bird bag is like opening a Christmas present and getting a Wilson's Warbler is like getting socks, not that exciting but you're still getting a present.

A few new species banded include Black-Throated Gray Warblers and Lincoln's Sparrow.

Lincoln's Sparrow - August 11

Black-Throated Gray Warbler

Would just like to add this amusing picture. We picked up this White-Crowned Sparrow who was replacing it's rectrices all at once.

And finally volunteer Megan Lyden sent me some of her pictures from her 10 days with us. Thanks for all your help and the pictures Megan!

Banders working hard!

"Ah yes I believe this IS a Red-Shafted Flicker!"

The most deadly of all flycatchers...the Olive-Sided. Just look at it attack!

This really shows how tiny the Northern-Pygmy Owl really is

My first Cedar Waxwing! My favourite bird

Cheers!

Jessie

13 days in!

Well we're almost two weeks into migration.  Things have been relatively slow still although we did have over 50 birds on Sunday.

Here is the board as of Friday, July 31:

Some of the new species this week include Audubon's Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Savannah Sparrow, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Violet-green Swallow and a Dark-eyed Junco. Oh and I almost forgot...our first Sharp-shinned Hawk!

Olive-sided Flycatcher - July 31

Townsend's Warbler - August 1

And finally some Sharp-shinned Hawk pictures. It was near the end of the day and we hadn't had many birds. As I was coming back from the front nets I saw this gal fly into net 5. I basically ran while grabbing my radio yelling for Brian to get to net 5. It was a nice end to a slow day.

And I also got a video of the release. You should probably ignore the part when I mention it being a Cooper's Hawk...

On a sadder note, we also got a White-crowned Sparrow that either had several tumors on it's head or some type of pox. As well we had our first mortality when one of our volunteers came upon a headless warbler in net 7. We think it was actually a river otter that got to it as we saw it slinking away a short time later.

Many thanks to Ann for hosting the beginning of season party on Saturday. It was nice to see everyone all in one place and meet some new faces. Thanks to everyone who brought food!

A few people also asked me for the recipe for the shrimp pancakes so here it is:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups chopped, peeled shrimp (I just used the pre-cooked ones but you can use raw shrimp)
4 green onions, chopped

Whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt, stir in 2 cups of ice water until smooth. Beat in eggs just until blended. Stir in shrimp and green onions. I also throw in a dash of chili flakes. Use a bit of oil (I use a spray) in the pan and a large tbsp of batter per pancake. Cook just like pancakes (golden on both sides).
For the sauce mix together 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 4 tsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sesame oil and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Good hot or cold! Oh and supposedly each pancake is only 39 calories.

Have a good week everyone!

Jessie