Teslin Lake update - September 5

young male Cape May Warbler - the 2nd record for TLBO

If the last period of August was an exciting one the first period of September was anything but. The weather was mostly cold and windy, the winds primarily from south and west, and nothing much happened bird wise. It seems that the strong northwesterlies of the previous period carried most of the last of the early migrants out of the Territory. There was a little more visible passerine migration but that was it. The banding totals and birds/net hr went down significantly as we only banded 120 birds (0.183 birds/net hr) for a season total of 1751 birds (0.341 birds/net hr) of 42 species. The period top six was Yellow-rumped Warbler 40, Boreal Chickadee 14, Dark-eyed Junco 9, Alder Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Orange-crowned Warbler each 7. The current season top five is Alder Flycatcher 824, Yellow Warbler 177, Yellow-rumped Warbler 118, Blackpoll Warbler 84, and Wilson’s Warbler 79. One very exciting bird was caught and banded and that was the TLBO’s second ever Cape May Warbler, a young male, on the 2^nd.

 

a year-old male Sharp-shinned Hawk

 As I already mentioned in the intro, the observations this period didn’t amount to very much. American Robin, Varied Thrush, American Pipit and Yellow-rumped Warbler became a common sight on the morning sky and the same was the case with Red-throated Loon on the lake. The first Lapland Longspurs were seen on the 2^nd. Small numbers of Parasitic Jaegers, Three-toed Woodpeckers,  Townsend’s Solitaires and Rusty Blackbirds were seen daily while both Boreal Chickadee and Red-breasted Nuthatch continued their movement. The highlights of visual migration counts were 43 Thayer’s Gulls on the 3^rd and 13 American Kestrels on the 5^th.

Parasitic Jaeger with a fish

Early morning migrant...

Shoreline fishing fleets - Common Mergansers on top and Loons on the bottom

Herring (L) and Thayer's (R) Gull

Thayer's Gull in flight

The complete list of birds banded at TLBO this season by Sept 5^th (last five days in brackets):

Sharp-shinned Hawk – 9 (1)

Merlin – 1

Solitary Sandpiper – 3

Belted Kingfisher – 6

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1

Western Wood-Pewee – 3 (1)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher –9

Pacific-slope Flycatcher – 1

Alder Flycatcher – 824 (7)

Least Flycatcher – 3

Hammond’s Flycatcher – 4 (1)

Dusky Flycatcher – 2

Warbling Vireo – 15

Black-capped Chickadee – 28

Boreal Chickadee – 33 (14)

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 10 (2)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 14 (7)

Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1

Swainson’s Thrush – 40 (6)

Varied Thrush – 1

Tennessee Warbler – 1

Orange-crowned Warbler – 36 (7)

Yellow Warbler – 177 (3)

Magnolia Warbler – 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler – 118 (40)

Townsend’s Warbler – 6 (2)

Blackpoll Warbler – 84 (3)

Cape May Warbler – 1 (1)

American Redstart – 20 (2)

Northern Waterthrush – 46

MacGillivray’s Warbler – 1

Common Yellowthroat – 34 (4)

Wilson’s Warbler – 79 (5)

Chipping Sparrow – 17

Savannah Sparrow – 16 (1)

Fox Sparrow – 4

Lincoln’s Sparrow – 7 (1)

White-crowned Sparrow – 12 (1)

Dark-eyed Junco – 68 (9)

Rusty Blackbird – 5 (2)

Purple Finch – 2

White-winged Crossbill – 2

Common Redpoll – 3

Pine Siskin – 3

= 1751 birds - 42 species - 0.341 birds/net hr (120 birds - 22 species – 0.183 birds/net hr)