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| A fleet of Common Loons off the point |
Teslin Lake Bird Observatory opened the 2015 fall season
on Jul 26. Unlike last year there was plenty of exposed shoreline already at
the start due to low snow pack last winter and a fairly dry summer.
Unfortunately the dryness has since come to an end and in the last three weeks we've had exactly one day when it didn't rain
at all. Luckily most of the rain has come in the afternoons and we haven't lost
very much of operation time. However, it has been tough for our volunteers as
they've often been confined to indoors or their tents after the work due to
some pretty heavy rain. This year we have two volunteers, Hélène Dion-Phenix and
Francis Bordeleau-Martin, from Quebec for the whole season. Allyn Esau from
Edmonton, Alberta, has been with us almost from the start, Gwen Baluss from
Juneau, Alaska, did her usual and much appreciated four day stint last week,
and quite a number of other volunteers have been helping out particularly on
the weekends.
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| Hélène Dion-Phenix banding a Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| This young male Yellow-rumped Warbler was the 1000th bird banded this fall season |
The banding has been quite good and steady, and the
season total 1218 is the second highest for the date in the observatory's
history. The current top 5 is as follows: Alder
Flycatcher 548, Yellow Warbler
156, Wilson's Warbler 101, Yellow-rumped Warbler 79, and Blackpoll Warbler 49. Some of the
banding highlights have included an Olive-sided
Flycatcher on Jul 27 (only the 2nd for fall banding), a Say's Phoebe on Aug 14 (the 1st since 2010),
a Common Raven on Aug 18 (the 3rd
ever), and an American Pipit on Aug
13.
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| This Olive-sided Flycatcher was only the 2nd ever banded in fall at TLBO |
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| Say's Phoebe is a fairly common migrant through the site but not often banded. The previous one was in 2010. |
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| Male (L) and female (R) Red-breasted Nuthatch |
So far we've had two sightings of rare birds this fall. The
observatory's 2nd and the Yukon's 5th record of Black Turnstone, a juvenile, was seen on the south beach on Aug 12
and the observatory's 1st record of Short-billed
Dowitcher, also a juvenile, spent Aug 16 to 18 in the pond giving great
views to everyone.
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| This juvenile Black Turnstone was only about the 5th record for the Yukon |
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| Juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher photographed on the first morning (Aug 16) of its three day stay |
The visual migration counts have revealed very little
movement of bigger birds. There have been several flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese, the first
ones very early in August and definitely ahead of the expected schedule, and
one flock of nine Sandhill Cranes on
Aug 13, also very early. Very few raptors have been on the move but an adult
male Peregrine Falcon on Aug 15 put
up quite a show and in the end captured an Arctic
Tern. Other observations of interest have been daily Red-throated Loons and local Merlins,
the first few Thayer's Gulls in
mid-August, early sightings of Northern
Shrike on Aug 6 and Black-backed
Woodpecker on Aug 17, and a few small groups of Boreal Chickadees in the past week perhaps indicating a beginning
of movement.
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| A female Red-breasted Merganser with her little ones |
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| A Blackpoll Warbler still partially in juvenile plumage |
Of the non-feathered friends of ours There must be more than ten Red Squirrels in the area and a few Least Chipmunks are chucking away on most mornings. Porcupines have been present almost daily providing us with endless entertainment. A Black-tailed Weasel, or Ermine (your pick), has visited the banding table area a few times. Luckily it hasn't caused any issues at the nets.
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| Yummy! |
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| So cute, so deadly |
The banding totals as of Aug 20:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6
Solitary Sandpiper - 3
Belted Kingfisher - 4
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1
Western Wood-Pewee - 2
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 8
Alder Flycatcher - 548
Least Flycatcher - 3
Hammond's Flycatcher - 4
Say's Phoebe - 1
Warbling Vireo - 5
Common Raven - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 12
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 20
Swainson's Thrush - 28
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 2
American Pipit - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 31
Yellow Warbler - 156
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 79
Townsend's Warbler - 2
Blackpoll Warbler - 49
American Redstart - 19
Northern Waterthrush - 34
Common Yellowthroat - 19
Wilson's Warbler - 101
Chipping Sparrow - 25
Savannah Sparrow - 14
Fox Sparrow - 1
Lincoln's Sparrow - 11
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
= 1218 birds of 36 species
