Teslin Lake update - August 10, 2016

Purple sunrise!

The first ten days of August offered some warm temperatures and sunshine combined with pretty mediocre banding. However, we had highlights too biggest one of which was a juvenile Northern Rough-winged Swallow on the 4th that flew a couple of loops around the creek mouth offering great binocular views! Unfortunately no photos were obtained of this exciting first record for TLBO.

Juvenile American Golden-Plover

 Other sightings of interest included a juvenile American Golden-Plover and two early Say's Phoebes on the 3rd, the first good count (55) of Red-necked Grebes on the 4th, three Red-breasted Nuthatches on the 5th, and Red-necked Phalaropes on the 6th (1) and the 7th (3).

Western (Pacific-slope) Flycatcher - the 2nd record for TLBO

The biggest banding highlight was the observatory's second ever Western (Pacific-slope) Flycatcher on the 4th. Other banding highlights included the observatory's first banded Least Sandpiper and the fourth ever banded Olive-sided Flycatcher, both on the 10th!

Juvenile Least Sandpiper

Otherwise banding was steady but rather slow. The total for the period was 323 birds, the top five being Alder Flycatcher 76, Yellow Warbler 42, Yellow-rumped Warbler 41, and Blackpoll and Wilson's Warbler both 24. The current season top six is Yellow-rumped Warbler 104, Alder Flycatcher 88, Yellow Warbler 74, White-winged Crossbill 38, and again both Blackpoll and Wilson's Warbler 37. 

Olive-sided Flycatcher

  

The banding totals as of Aug 10 (the number in brackets indicates the number banded since the last blog entry):

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (1)

Least Sandpiper - 1 (1)

Spotted Sandpiper - 1

Belted Kingfisher - 4 (1)

Downy Woodpecker - 1 (1)

Northern Flicker - 3

Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1 (1)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 7 (5)

Alder Flycatcher - 88 (76)

Least Flycatcher - 4 (2)

Hammond's Flycatcher - 15 (5)

Western Flycatcher - 1 (1)

Say's Phoebe - 1 (1)

Warbling Vireo - 12 (6)

Black-capped Chickadee - 8 (3)

Boreal Chickadee - 2 (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3 (2)

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 6 (1)

Swainson's Thrush - 14 (9)

American Robin - 3 (2)

Tennessee Warbler - 7 (5)

Orange-crowned Warbler - 14 (8)

Yellow Warbler - 74 (42)

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 104 (41)

Blackpoll Warbler - 37 (24)

Townsend's Warbler - 2 (2)

American Redstart - 9 (1)

Northern Waterthrush - 15 (4)

Common Yellowthroat - 9 (4)

Wilson's Warbler - 37 (24)

Chipping Sparrow - 24 (13)

White-crowned Sparrow - 4 (2)

Dark-eyed Junco - 18 (8)

Savannah Sparrow - 2 (2)

Lincoln's Sparrow - 2 (2)

White-winged Crossbill - 38 (22)

Pine Siskin - 2

= 575 (323) birds of 38 (9) species

Big hornet nest near net #2