Teslin Lake update - August 31 2016

Another pastel coloured sunrise. This time view towards southeast and the Aces

There were a few interesting sightings made during the last third of August. As common a bird as Killdeer is actually quite rare at TLBO but one juvenile stopped on the shore on Aug 27 and two more on Aug 30. The rest of the interesting sighting were all new migrants for the season - a Peregrine Falcon on Aug 27, Greater Scaup on Aug 28, Harlequin Duck and Mountain Bluebird on Aug 29, and Swainson's Hawk on Aug 31. Harlequin Duck is a very uncommon migrant through the site and the Mountain Bluebirds were very early. Usually we don't see them before the last week of September.

Juvenile Killdeer

Wilson's Snipe

Banding was much busier than in the mid-August period with a total of 690 birds banded including 182 on Aug 21, 132 on Aug 30, and 118 on Aug 31. The two most exciting birds caught were a Merlin on Aug 21 and a Wilson's Snipe on Aug 30. Both were only the fourth individual of their species banded at TLBO. A Townsend's Solitaire on Aug 27 was the second for the season making this year the only year we've ever caught more than one. American Tree Sparrow and Rusty Blackbird, both on Aug 24, were new banding species for the season too. The period top five is as follows:  Yellow Warbler 136, Alder Flycatcher 134, Orange-crowned Warbler 129, Wilson's Warbler 68, Yellow-rumped Warbler 61, and the season top five looks like this: Alder Flycatcher 416, Yellow Warbler 234, Yellow-rumped Warbler 201, Orange-crowned Warbler 163, and Blackpoll Warbler 108.

A Merlin (L) and a Sharp-shinned Hawk caught on the same net round

The banding totals as of August 31st (the number in brackets indicates the number banded since the last blog entry):

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5 (3)

Merlin - 1 (1)

Least Sandpiper - 1

Spotted Sandpiper - 1

Wilson's Snipe - 1 (1)

Belted Kingfisher - 4

Downy Woodpecker - 1

Northern Flicker - 3

Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1

Western Wood-Pewee - 2

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 13 (3)

Alder Flycatcher - 416 (134)

Least Flycatcher - 7 (2)

Hammond's Flycatcher - 17

Western Flycatcher - 1

Say's Phoebe - 1

Warbling Vireo - 22 (3)

Black-capped Chickadee - 12 (3)

Boreal Chickadee - 5 (2)

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 20 (11)

Townsend's Solitaire - 2 (1)

Swainson's Thrush - 38 (20)

American Robin - 3

Tennessee Warbler - 12 (3)

Orange-crowned Warbler - 163 (129)

Yellow Warbler - 234 (136)

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 201 (61)

Blackpoll Warbler - 108 (38)

Townsend's Warbler - 2

American Redstart - 14 (1)

Northern Waterthrush - 24 (7)

Common Yellowthroat - 31 (18)

Wilson's Warbler - 46 (68)

American Tree Sparrow - 1 (1)

Chipping Sparrow - 31 (3)

Fox Sparrow - 3 (3)

White-crowned Sparrow - 13 (4)

Dark-eyed Junco - 41 (20)

Savannah Sparrow - 12 (4)

Lincoln's Sparrow - 8 (5)

Song Sparrow - 1

Rusty Blackbird - 3 (3)

White-winged Crossbill - 46 (2)

Pine Siskin - 3

= 1646 (690) birds of 46 (5) species

A curious Porcupine