Teslin Lake update - September 20, 2016

There was so little happening that we had time for a fiesta at the banding table!!

The mid-September period was really a quiet one. We had very few sightings of interest and banding was slow as well. In fact, it felt like October with leafs falling and the forest all quiet.

Common Loons

Cameron Eckert (L) and Boris Dobrowolsky (R) scanning the lake

In spite of the quiet, there were a few highlights. One of them was a high-flying southbound Northern Hawk Owl on Sep 13 and on the same day we finally saw our first Jaeger of the season. Unfortunately the views were distant and brief so we couldn't determine the species. Likely the same bird gave nice views on Sep 16 and was identified as a Parasitic Jaeger. The season 1st Glaucous Gull, a juvenile, landed briefly on the sandbar on Sep 15 and the season 1st Snow Geese, a flock of 74, gave excellent views to an unusually numerous crowd of observers on Sep 18. The first two Swans flew high overhead the same day but could not be identified to a species. There wasn't much action with birds flying by. A few to a few tens of raptors were seen most days and Lapland Longspurs would zip by in ones and twos per morning. The only higher counts were made of White-winged Crossbill (151 on Sep 16) and American Robin (430 on Sep 17).

Snow Geese

Merlin showing a Raven who is the king of the airspace at the tip

 We banded only 209 birds during this period. An American Pipit on Sep 12 was a season 1st as was a Common Redpoll on Sep 20. Two young male Golden-crowned Kinglets were a nice treat on Sep 18. The period top five was Dark-eyed Junco 66, Yellow-rumped Warbler 30, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 21, Orange-crowned Warbler 17 and Boreal Chickadee 16. The current season top five is Alder Flycatcher 498, Yellow Warbler 449, Orange-crowned Warbler 359, Yellow-rumped Warbler 279 and Dark-eyed Junco 199. 

American Pipit

The banding totals as of September 20th (the number in brackets indicates the number banded since the last blog entry):

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10 (2)

Merlin - 1

Least Sandpiper - 1

Spotted Sandpiper - 1

Wilson's Snipe - 1

Belted Kingfisher - 4

Downy Woodpecker - 4

Northern Flicker - 3

Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1

Western Wood-Pewee - 3

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 16

Alder Flycatcher - 498 (4)

Least Flycatcher - 7

Hammond's Flycatcher - 19 (1)

Western Flycatcher - 1

Say's Phoebe - 2

Warbling Vireo - 24 (1)

Black-capped Chickadee - 22 (9)

Boreal Chickadee - 38 (15)

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3 (2)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 71 (21)

Townsend's Solitaire - 2

Gray-cheeked Thrush - 8 (1)

Swainson's Thrush - 82 (2)

Hermit Thrush - 4 (3)

American Robin - 3

America Pipit - 2 (2)

Tennessee Warbler - 13

Orange-crowned Warbler - 359 (17)

Yellow Warbler - 449 (6)

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 279 (30)

Blackpoll Warbler - 134 (4)

Townsend's Warbler - 2

American Redstart - 15

Northern Waterthrush - 34

Common Yellowthroat - 57 (6)

Wilson's Warbler - 170 (7)

American Tree Sparrow - 17 (4)

Chipping Sparrow - 31

Fox Sparrow - 9 (3)

White-crowned Sparrow - 15

Dark-eyed Junco - 199 (66)

Savannah Sparrow - 17 (1)

Lincoln's Sparrow - 12 (1)

Song Sparrow - 1

Rusty Blackbird - 5

White-winged Crossbill - 46

Common Redpoll - 1 (1)

Pine Siskin - 3

= 2702 (209) birds of 50 (2) species