Teslin Lake update - August 25th

HY male Rusty Blackbird

From Aug 21st through Aug 25th Teslin Lake averaged 64.4 birds/day and 0.543 birds/net-hour for a total of 322 birds banded. Three new species for the season were banded: Brewer's Sparrow on the 22nd, Rusty Blackbird on the 24th and Golden-crowned Kinglet on the 25th. The Brewer's Sparrow was an obvious choice for the banding highlight of the period. Other unusual ones were the Golden-crowned Kinglet and two HY Dusky Flycatchers. The top five species banded during the period were Alder Flycatcher (139), Dark-eyed Junco (34), Boreal Chickadee (24), Yellow Warbler (23), and Common Yellowthroat (20). The current season top five species banded are Alder Flycatcher (463), Yellow Warbler (231), Swainson's Thrush (77), Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler (72), and Dark-eyed Junco (71).

The first three Thayer's Gulls for the season flew by the observatory on the 21st and on the same day three Say's Phoebes were seen. Many species typically associated with September have been showing in decent numbers already including American Robin, American Pipit, and Bohemian Waxwing. Boreal Chickadees and Three-toed Woodpeckers are moving but it is too early to say if there is going to be a real irruption of them. By far the most numerous species seen in the migration watches has been Pine Siskin. On the 25th 680, plus over 150 redpoll/siskins, were counted!


Jarmo "Bosley" Pirhonen - already famous in the Yukon!


HY female Golden-crowned Kinglet


SY Pacific Loon


Photos ©Jukka Jantunen

The complete list of bird banded at Teslin Lake Bird Observatory this season as of August 25th (the last 5 days in brackets).

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Solitary Sandpiper - 3
Belted Kingfisher - 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 5
Northern Flicker - 1
Western Wood-Pewee - 3 (2)
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 5
Alder Flycatcher - 463 (139)
Least Flycatcher - 10
Hammond's Flycatcher - 24 (3)
Dusky Flycatcher - 5 (2)
Northern Shrike - 1
Warbling Vireo - 16 (1)
Black-capped Chickadee - 36 (4)
Boreal Chickadee - 25 (24)
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 11 (2)
Swainson's Thrush - 77 (3)
Hermit Thrush - 2 (1)
American Robin - 11 (1)
Bohemian Waxwing - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 26 (9)
Yellow Warbler - 231 (23)
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler - 72 (5)
Yellow-rumped "Audubon's" Warbler -1
Townsend's Warbler - 4
Blackpoll Warbler - 52 (7)
American Redstart - 32 (1)
Northern Waterthrush - 40 (2)
Common Yellowthroat - 38 (20)
Wilson's Warbler - 49 (9)
Chipping Sparrow - 26 (2)
Brewer's Sparrow - 1 (1)
Savannah Sparrow - 12 (5)
Fox Sparrow - 3
Lincoln's Sparrow - 7 (2)
White-crowned Sparrow - 20 (15)
Slate-colored Junco - 71 (34)
Rusty Blackbird - 2 (2)
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Purple Finch - 1
White-winged Crossbill - 1
Common Redpoll - 4 (1)
Pine Siskin - 6 (2)
= 1422 (322) birds of 46 species
0.335 (0.543) birds/net-hour

Albert Creek update - August 25th

Ted and Y2C2 crew

First off, we'd like to apologize to our readership for the very infrequent updates. We've been experiencing some technical difficulties lately.

From Aug 21st through Aug 25th Albert Creek averaged 47.2 birds/day and 0.329 birds/net-hour for a total of 236 birds banded. White-crowned Sparrow on the 23rd, Golden-crowned Sparrow on the 24th and Western Wood-Pewee and Townsend's Warbler both on the 25th were new banding species for the season. One of the banding highlights of the period included a recapture of a Sharp-shinned Hawk from last fall on the 22nd. The top 5 most numerous species banded during the period were Yellow-rumped Warbler (55), Common Yellowthroat (28), Alder Flycatcher (25), Boreal Chickadee (22) and Wilson's Warbler (16). The current season top 5 is Northern Waterthrush (174), Tennessee Warbler (149), Yellow-rumped Warbler (117), Common Yellowthroat (111) and Alder Flycatcher (91).

At Albert Creek the banding totals seem to reflect quite well the bird activity in the area. The field observations highlighted increasing numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers and clear movement of Boreal Chickadees.

A four person Y2C2 crew spent time at Albert Creek and helped to repair existing and build new boardwalks. Two of their greatest achievements were building a boardwalk in the far end of census #2 and another one between nets #s 8 and 9 restoring the original net-round abandoned years ago when the water levels started to rise. Many, many thanks to the crew! We would also like to thank Abril Heredia and Gwen Baluss (of Juneau, AK) for donating their time and expertise for the station!


Abril Heredia exploring the marvels of boreal forest during her 5 day visit to Albert Creek


Syd Cannings (L) and Ted studying a Northern Waterthrush


Y2C2 crew working on cencus #2 boardwalk

Photos © Gwen Baluss (top and bottom) and Abril Heredia (two middle ones)


Complete list of birds banded at Albert Creek as of Aug 25 this season (latest 5 day period in brackets):

Green-winged Teal - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5 (1)
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Solitary Sandpiper - 2
Least Sandpiper - 2
Belted Kingfisher - 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 7
Western Wood-Pewee - 1 (1)
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 4 (2)
Alder Flycatcher - 91 (25)
Least Flycatcher - 44 (3)
Hammond's Flycatcher - 19 (2)
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Warbling Vireo - 60 (8)
Gray Jay - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 9 (1)
Boreal Chickadee - 34 (22)
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 12 (1)
Swainson's Thrush - 68 (6)
American Robin - 4 (1)
Varied Thrush - 8
Tennessee Warbler - 149
Orange-crowned Warbler - 24 (14)
Yellow-Warbler - 68 (8)
Magnolia Warbler - 19
Cape May Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler - 117 (55)
Townsend's Warbler - 1 (1)
Blackpoll Warbler - 15 (4)
American Redstart - 50 (3)
Northern Waterthrush - 174 (9)
MacGillivray's Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 111 (28)
Wilson's warbler - 45 (16)
Chipping Sparrow - 2
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Fox Sparrow - 6 (2)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 52 (8)
Swamp Sparrow - 11 (1)
White-crowned Sparrow - 11 (11)
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 1 (1)
White-throated Sparrow - 19
Dark-eyed Junco - 12 (1)
Western Tanager - 7
Rusty Blackbird - 3 (1)
Pine Siskin - 22
= 1303 (236) birds of 48 species
0.304 (0.329) birds/net-hour

Lesser Black-backed Gull - Finnstick #2's immediate impact!

Today, Wednesday, yours truly (Jukka - Finnstick #1) picked up our latest long term volunteer Jarmo Pirhonen (Finnstick #2) from Whitehorse airport. As we were taking care of our necessary chores (groceries etc) in downtown Whitehorse, Jarmo suddenly asked "hei, onks toi tummaselkanen lokki lennossa tuolla?" and sure enough it was. After a frantic search the gull was relocated sitting on the roof of Family Hotel from where it moved to the roof of the old Canadian Tire building. Thanks to the super friendly staff of Family Hotel we were able to view and Pam Sinclair and Helmut Grunberg twitch the bird from a 3rd floor hotel room! This is, if my memory serves me correct, only the second record of the species for the Yukon!

Welcome and thank you Jarmo! Not a bad start. Yukon 2nd within hours of your arrival!



Photos ©Jukka Jantunen

Teslin Lake Aug 22nd - Timberline Sparrow!

On August 22nd we were treated with a hatch-year Brewer's "Timberline" Sparrow. This is the third one of it's kind to be banded at the station and was a lifer for all the Angels!

At TLBO, Bad-boy Brewer's and other birdies are discovered and caught by Jukka's Angels! (Shyloh, Kelly, Abril)


Photos ©Jukka Jantunen

Teslin Lake update - August 20th

adult Pacific Loon

Perhaps the most prominent feature of late has been the lousy weather that continued through the entire period and prevented us from running the nets on two consecutive days. From Aug 16th through Aug 20th Teslin Lake averaged 56.7 birds/day and 0.45 birds/net-hour (excluding weather days Aug 19th and 20th when no banding took place) for a total of 170 birds banded. There were no new species for the season banded in this period. The top five species banded during the period were Alder Flycatcher (74), Yellow Warbler (23), Swainson's Thrush (9), Wilson's Warbler (8), and Dark-eyed Junco (7). The current season top five species banded are Alder Flycatcher (324), Yellow Warbler (208), Swainson's Thrush (74), Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler (67), and Blackpoll Warbler (45).

Some of the observation highlights included 508 Greater White-fronted Geese on the 17th, 76 Red-necked Grebes and 5 Olive-sided Flycatchers (incl. Contopus sp) on the 18th.


Olive-sided Flycatcher

HY Tennessee Warbler

HY Hammond's Flycatcher
photos ©Jukka Jantunen

The complete list of bird banded at Teslin Lake Bird Observatory this season as of August 20th (the last 5 days in brackets).

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3 (1)
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Solitary Sandpiper - 3
Belted Kingfisher - 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 5
Northern Flicker - 1
Western Wood-Pewee - 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 5 (1)
Alder Flycatcher - 324 (74)
Least Flycatcher - 10
Hammond's Flycatcher - 21 (2)
Dusky Flycatcher - 3
Northern Shrike - 1
Warbling Vireo - 15 (1)
Black-capped Chickadee - 32 (6)
Boreal Chickadee - 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5 (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 9
Swainson's Thrush - 74 (9)
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 10 (1)
Bohemian Waxwing - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 4 (1)
Orange-crowned Warbler - 17 (3)
Yellow Warbler - 208 (23)
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler - 67 (5)
Yellow-rumped "Audubon's" Warbler -1
Townsend's Warbler - 4
Blackpoll Warbler - 45 (4)
American Redstart - 31 (2)
Northern Waterthrush - 38 (2)
Common Yellowthroat - 18 (4)
Wilson's Warbler - 40 (8)
Chipping Sparrow - 24 (1)
Savannah Sparrow - 7 (3)
Fox Sparrow - 3 (2)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 5 (3)
White-crowned Sparrow - 5 (2)
Slate-colored Junco - 37 (7)
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Purple Finch - 1
White-winged Crossbill - 1
Common Redpoll - 4 (1)
Pine Siskin - 4 (3)
= 1100 (170) birds of 44 species
0.303 (0.45) birds/net-hour