Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory
Migration Monitoring Fall 2017
Schoolchildren and Virginia Rail
Doug Brown Bander in charge
November 2017
The Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory is a project of the
Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance
In 2017, major funding was provided by the Canadian Wildlife Service.
The Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory also received funding from Oliver Kiwanis
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...... 5 METHODS ...... 6 WEATHER...... 7 EFFORT ...... 8 BANDING ...... 9 RECAPTURES ...... 15 NETS ...... 16 CENSUS ...... 17 OBSERVATIONS ...... 18 ESTIMATED DAILY TOTALS (ETS) ...... 20 NON-STANDARD BANDING (NSB) ...... 22 OWL BANDING ...... 22 MORTALITIES AND INJURIES ...... 24 OTHER WILDLIFE ...... 25 VISITOR PROGRAMS ...... 26 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 27 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 27 PHOTO CREDITS ...... 28 APPENDIX A: CHARTS ...... 29 APPENDIX B. ANNUAL TOTALS FOR ALL CENSUS METHODS...... 33
List of Tables
Table 1. Weather data 2007-2017………………………………………………………....8 Table 2. Effort data for last 10 years...... 9 Table 3. Mean birds and species banded per day and birds per net hour 2007-2017...... 11 Table 4. Rank and number for the top ten species banded...... 11 Table 5. Age and sex numbers for the top 10 banded species...... 13 Table 6. Age and sex ratios 2007-2017 for all banded birds...... 13 Table 7. Average weights for top 10 banded species...... 14 Table 8. Average fat levels for the top 10 banded species 2007-2017 ...... 15 Table 9. Top ten recaptured species for 2007-2017...... 15 Table 10. Recaptures other than VLBO 2017...... 16 Table 11. Net productivity...... 17 Table 12. Top 10 censused species in terms of numbers and number of days observed. ..18 Table 13. Top 10 observed species in terms of numbers and number of days observed. ..19 Table 14. Top 10 species in terms of numbers and number of days observed...... 22 Table 15. Total birds for all census methods 2007-2017…...... 22 Table 16. Total species for all census methods 2007-2017...... 23 Table 17. Owling effort and numbers for all years……………………………………….25 List of Figures (Appendix A)
Figure 1. Number of birds banded; daily mean: 2007-2017...... 32 Figure 2. Cumulative number of birds banded 2007-2017...... 32 Figure 3. Daily numbers of birds and species banded...... 33 Figure 4. Daily banded totals of top 5 species...... 33 Figure 5. Orange-crowned Warbler fat levels...... 34 Figure 6. Common Yellowthroat fat levels...... 34 Figure 7. Lincoln’s Sparrow fat levels...... 35
Introduction
This report is a summary of the activities and results of the 2017 fall migration monitoring season of the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory.
Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory (VLBO) is one of 9 migration monitoring stations operating in British Columbia. The other stations are Mackenzie in northern BC, Rocky Point and Pedder Bay on southern Vancouver Island, Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo, Colony Farm and Iona Island in the Lower Mainland, Tatlayoko Lake in central BC and Revelstoke in southeastern BC. As the only station in the dry southern interior the data collected at VLBO is very important to the continued monitoring of bird migration in B.C. VLBO is a member of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN) which collects data from stations across Canada.
This is the 17th consecutive season that the station has been run at its present location and the 12th year in a row with the same bander-in-charge. The station was first located at the north end of Vaseux Lake but was moved to its present location in 2001 due to increased public usage of the previous site. The present location is one kilometre north of Vaseux Lake and is on land that is part of the Vaseux Lake Migratory Bird Sanctuary. The original banding location was run by the CWS and was chosen because Vaseux is one of the narrowest parts of the valley and it was thought that this would funnel and concentrate migrants heading south. It is now known that most of the birds migrate along the ridges here but many of the valley bottom breeding species do pass through the area. This report will only consider data from the present location.
The area is a section of riparian habitat between Highway 97 and the channelized Okanagan River. The dominant trees in the area are Water Birch (Betula occidentalis) and various species of willow (Salix spp.) with a few Sitka Alders (Alnus crispa) scattered about. The shrub cover consists of Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), various species of wild rose (Rosa spp.), Blue Elderberry (Sambucus caerulea), Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia), Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) and Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus). Plants dominant in the area include Cattail (Typha latifolia), Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica), Hemp Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) and various grasses and sedges. Water is an important component of the area with most of the nets located along the banks of the old Okanagan River channel where it used to flow before the diking and straightening of the river. The area is bordered on the west by marshland and on the east by Highway 97, beyond which are open grasslands with scattered Ponderosa Pines. Much of the eastern edge is now vineyards. The habitat is assessed each year to monitor changes and any significant changes will have to be dealt with. Keeping the habitat with as few changes as possible assures the scientific integrity of the collected data. Looking north along the river
The station is often not as busy—in terms of birds netted—as some migration monitoring stations, but it does attract and catch good numbers of some species that are not well represented by other stations in British Columbia or Canada. As such it plays an important role in monitoring the avifauna of Canada.
This year we had a brand-new facility to work in. Okanagan College built us a brand new mobile banding lab which is a huge improvement on the tents we've used in the past. The new trailer has a port for releasing the birds and lights run on a solar panel system for dull lighting mornings and the owl banding. The old tent was still put up over the picnic table and used as a shelter for sitting outside and making observations.
Methods
Monitoring at the station has three components; banding, the daily census and the daily observations. The station is run daily from August 1 to October 15. This is the third year that the October banding has been included in the regular season as before the season ended on September 30th and the October banding was treated separately.
The banding effort consisted of 14 standard 12 metre mist nets opening half an hour before sunrise and remaining open for 6 hours. Banding outside of the 6-hour period or birds caught in other nets are excluded from the season totals and will be discussed separately as non-standard banding (NSB). Net locations are predetermined and are unchanged since 2006. Nets were closed if weather conditions such as rain or high wind endangered the birds’ health and safety. Birds cannot fluff themselves to keep warm when they are caught in the nets so nets are not opened if temperatures are too cold (below - 4ºC). This matches the protocols at Long Point Bird Observatory. Every effort is made to reduce the stress of capture on the birds. Birds that are badly tangled and take too long to extract are released immediately without being banded. Nets are checked every 20-30 minutes and the birds are extracted and brought back to the station for processing. This consists of banding, ageing and sexing the bird, measuring wing chord, weighing the bird and checking for fat levels and feather moult.
Monitoring also included a daily census. This was started approximately one hour after sunrise and lasted for 1 to 1.5 hours. It followed a predetermined route and was performed by experienced observers familiar with the species expected at the station. During the census period the observer recorded the numbers of all species seen or heard. The census covers parts of the survey area not covered by the banding and also records species that will not normally be caught in the nets. Census is done every day whether nets are opened or not.
The third aspect of monitoring is the daily observations. During the banding period station personnel record all birds seen and heard each day. The numbers for this part of the monitoring are usually the largest but the banding effort and other station activities can have a large effect on the numbers by limiting observation effectiveness.
At the end of the day the three monitoring methods are combined to come up with estimated daily totals (ET’s) for each species recorded. The numbers are used to extrapolate approximate abundance of each species. The relative visibility of a species is an important consideration in determining the species abundance. Species which are larger or more vocal are observed much more easily while skulking species such as wrens and sparrows are easily missed. Consultation with all observers is necessary to avoid duplication of counts on the more obvious species. ET’s cannot exceed the sum total of birds recorded by the 3 census methods.
Weather
Due to inconsistencies in data collection during the first 5 years only the last twelve years are being used for weather analysis. Weather during the 2017 season was extremely good with no hours being lost to weather. We did however lose considerable net hours at the start of the season due to high water levels flooding out many net placements. We could only get 8 of our 14 nets up at the start and it wasn't until August 24th that we got all our nets up. We also lost 2 days, August 25th and 26th due to bear problems.
Temperature after opening averaged 11.4 degrees in August, 0.4 degrees colder than average, while the September average was 7.8 degrees, 0.5 degrees colder than average and the October average was 3.7 degrees, 1.5 degrees colder than the average. The season ended with an average temperature of 8.6 degrees which is 0.6 degrees below the average. Temperatures at closing in August averaged 24.4 degrees, 1.1 degrees below the average, 19.2 degrees in September, 1.7 degrees below the average, and 13.3 degrees in October, 2.2 degrees below the average. The season finished with an average temperature of 20.3 degrees, 1.4 degrees below average. Sunshine, as indicated by cloud cover, was well below average this year, mainly due to all the smoky days. After opening 44.7% of the mornings got recorded with little or no cloud cover, below the average of 49.9%, while 22.4% of the mornings were overcast, below the average of 25.8%. At closing 35.5% of the mornings had little or no cloud, below the average of 47.0%, and 23.7% of the days had overcast skies, above the average of 17.9%. Overall the percentage of days with overcast skies was 23.7%, slightly above the average of 22.3%, but the number of days with little or no cloud was 39.9%, below the average which is 48.5%. Smoky/fog days were a major factor this year at 20.6%, well above the average of 1.2%.
Wind speed and direction can greatly affect migration. Average wind strength in August and October was slightly above average while September was exactly on the average. For the season the average wind speed was exactly on average. Wind direction analysis shows that days with north winds was 76.3%, above the average of 59.4% and days with south winds was 21.1%, below the average of 37.9%. Overall the weather this season was cooler for all 3 months. The smoke from the forest fires in central BC definitely kept August temperatures lower than they normally would have been. High winds in October certainly affected capture numbers. temperature days with days with cloudy smoke/ rainy wind wind wind temperature after closing little or no variable days fog days strength direction direction after opening cloud cloud days code N,NE,NW S,SE,SW 2006 8.8 21.8 49.6% 30.7% 14.9% 0.9% 1.3% 1.4 73.7% 23.6% 2007 8.6 20.3 39.5% 36.4% 20.6% 0.0% 3.0% 2.3 65.8% 34.2% 2008 8.6 20.8 49.5% 27.7% 20.6% 0.0% 1.6% 2.2 54.0% 39.6% 2009 9.2 21.7 57.0% 19.3% 18,8% 2.2% 2.6% 2.0 52.6% 39,5% 2010 7.1 20.1 37.3% 30.7% 28.5% 3.5% 0.9% 2.5 69.7% 30.2% 2011 9.6 23.7 52.6% 24.5% 20.6% 0.0% 0.9% 2.8 56.6% 43.5% 2012 8.7 24.0 68.9% 20.2% 11.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.4 53.9% 36.8% 2013 11.3 24.0 43.0% 20.2% 31.6% 0.0% 3.5% 2.4 51.3% 47.4% 2014 10.8 22.3 45.6% 28.1% 24.1% 0.0% 2.2% 2.4 68.4% 28.9% 2015 9.2 21.4 41.7% 22.4% 28.9% 6.6% 0.4% 2.8 52.0% 48.0% 2016 8.8 20.5 48.7% 26.3% 25.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.5 55.3% 44.7% average 9.2 21.9 48.5% 26.0% 22.6% 1.2% 1.5% 2.3 59.4% 37.7% 2017 8.6 20.3 39.9% 15.8% 23.7% 20.6% 0.0% 2.4 76.3% 21.1%
Table 1. Weather data 2006-2017 Effort
The start of the 2017 season was very challenging. On opening day only 8 of our 14 nets could go up due to extreme high water levels. Only nets 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 18 were open to start. Net 9 went up on the 5th, net 19 on the 11th, net 15th on the 18th, and the final 3 nets went up on the 24th. Deer were not a huge problem this year however there still were several nets damaged. Bears also put holes in 2 nets at the start of the season. Net-hours for the season totaled 5616 out of a possible 6384, which converts to 88.0 % of the possible hours. Season net-hours averaged out at 73.9 net-hours per day out of a possible 84 net-hours. August had 1836 net-hours and 59.2 net-hours per day, while September and October recorded ther full 84 net-hours per day. Net coverage codes averaged 2.17 for the season; 1.69 for August, and the full 2.5 for September and October. Net-hour numbers for the season are the lowest ever and the net coverage code is the 2nd lowest ever, surpassed only by the 2005 numbers.
Year Average # Total Person Average Total net Average net Average net Average final observers per observer days observer hours hours per day coverage coverage day hours coverage code code code
2007 3.2 1144.0 190.7 1.71 6229.0 82.0 2.45 4.16 2008 2.8 1016.0 169.3 1.74 6367.7 83.8 2.46 4.25 2009 3.5 1198.5 199.8 1.94 6299.5 82.9 2.47 4.41 2010 3.2 1082.0 180.3 1.97 6272.0 82.5 2.43 4.39 2011 2.9 975.1 162.5 1.90 6029.0 79.3 2.34 4.24 2012 2.9 924.6 154.1 1.80 6195.0 81.5 2.42 4.21 2013 3.2 976.5 162.8 1.74 6170.5 81.2 2.38 4.23 2014 3.3 1159.5 193.3 1.88 6342.0 83.4 2.48 4.32 2015 2.5 840.3 140.0 1.74 6173.5 81.2 2.41 4.15 2016 2.5 1055.3 175.9 2.03 6266.0 82.4 2.43 4.45 average 3.0 1037.2 172.9 1.85 6234.4 82.0 2.43 4.28 2017 2.8 1129.8 188.3 2.09 5616.0 73.9 2.17 4.26
Table 2. Effort data 2007-2017
This year 17 people put in 1129.8 observer hours which converts to 188.3 observer days based on the six-hour banding period. For August, there were 404.75 observer-hours while September had 494.5 hours and October recorded 214 observer- hours. This converts to an average of 13.1 hours per day for August, 16.5 for September and 15.4 for October with the season average being 14.9 hours per day. The average number of observers per day was 2.5 for August, 3.0 for September and 2.8 for October with the season average being 2.8. Due to differences in observer skill levels the observer coverage code is often a better indicator of the station effort. Observer hours are adjusted according to the skill levels of the observers and these adjusted hours are used to come up with the coverage code. Observer coverage code averaged 2.02 for August, 2.20 for September and 2.03 for October out of a maximum of 2.5 with the season average being 2.09. The final coverage code is the combination of the net and observer coverage codes. Final average coverage codes were 3.71 for August, 4.70 for September and 4.53 for October with the season average being 4.26 out of a maximum of 5. Table 2 shows the effort data for this year and the previous 10 years.
Banding
The 2016 season got off to a poor start on opening day due to our only having 8 of 14 nets up. As a result we only banded 30 birds the first day which is normally one of our top days all season. Our best day this season was September 21st when we banded 77 birds. This was followed by September 24th with 70 birds banded and August 10th with 50 birds banded. This season we again banded hummingbirds and with the station now having our own pliers we were able to band all we captured.
August was a decent month of banding with the total being a bit below the average for the month. Considering the fact that we didn't have all our nets up until the 25th and were closed completely for 2 days, we did quite well. August finished with 862 birds banded, below the average of 695.8. Weeks 1 and 2 both finished well above the average, while weeks 3 and 4 were well below average. This was due to the 2 days closed in week 4 and the heavy smoke from the forest fires which greatly reduced the numbers. September was also a good month with 868 birds banded, more than 160 birds above the average. The first half of the month numbers were below the average but in the second half the numbers were well up and for week 9 we had our second highest banding total ever. The reason for our good September was the Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers. Throughout the second half of September and October there were good numbers of warblers foraging in the willows around net 15. October this year was very good with both weeks being above average and week 10 having a new record high banding total. For the month we banded 248 birds for a new October record. We finished the season with 1748 birds banded, about 100 birds above the average. The mean birds per day finished at 23.8 which is well above average. This gave us 0.39 birds per net hour which is well above the average and is our second highest number ever. Another reason for this year's low August numbers was a poor breeding season for the local breeders. Species like Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler and Willow Fly catcher were in very low numbers this season. Because of the very wet spring and early summer, the local breeders started nesting later and as a result they had one less brood. This also meant that they finished nesting earlier and so started leaving in July, before the station opened.
This year there were 59 species banded which is well above the average of 55.3 species. The highest species diversity for the season was reached on August 1st when 17 species were banded, followed by August 6th with 16 species and August 2nd with 14 species. Mean species per day worked out to be 8.1 which is below the average of 8.4 species per day. Table 3 shows the mean per day for the last 10 years as well as birds per net hour.
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 average 2017 mean birds/day 15.8 19.6 14.9 22.5 20.1 19.5 18.4 21.4 26.2 27.1 20.6 23.0 mean species/day 6.8 8.3 7.5 8.8 8.7 8.9 7.2 8.0 9.6 9.3 8.3 8.1 birds/net hour 0.19 0.23 0.18 0.28 0.26 0.25 0.23 0.26 0.34 0.33 0.25 0.39
Table 3. Mean birds and species banded per day and birds per net hour 2007-2017
As usual, there were many highlights to this season. There was only 1 new banded species for the station this year, a Wood Duck that was banded on September 23rd. This brings the station banding total to 112 species. Other notable species and numbers were Alder Flycatcher-1 (2nd banding record), American Redstart-2, Brown Creeper-1 (7th banding record), Brown-headed Cowbird-3 (ties fall season high), Clay-colored Sparrow- 2, Cooper's Hawk-1 (10th banding record), Flicker hybrid (Red x Yellow-shafted)-1, Fox Sparrow-4 (new season high), Hairy Woodpecker-1 (7th banding record), House Finch-1 (5th banding record), Hybrid passerine-1 (Clay-colored x Chipping Sparrow), Lark Sparrow-1 (3rd banding record), Least Flycatcher-4, Mourning Dove-1, Northern Waterthrush-47 (new season high), Sora-4 (new season high), Vesper Sparrow-1 (6th banding record), White-throated Sparrow-3 and Yellow-breasted Chat-4. Also of interest was a probable eastern Willow Flycatcher (E. T. campestris), a subspecies never before recorded at the station and a probable hybrid empidonax flycatcher. The hybrid had markings and wing morphology that matched no species of empid and was probably a Western Wood-pewee crossed with an unknown empid.
Rank and Number Banded 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Orange-crow ned Warbler 1 229 4 175 1 258 4 120 6 47 3 134 7 73 1 251 2 120 1 219 5 97 Common Yellow throat 2 211 1 262 4 190 2 165 1 227 1 166 2 159 2 239 3 91 3 111 4 117 Lincoln's Sparrow 3 206 5 172 2 208 6 86 5 69 8 67 5 110 6 108 5 71 6 71 3 120 Song Sparrow 4 191 2 240 3 204 3 142 2 185 2 143 1 189 4 132 4 84 4 110 2 131 Gray Catbird 5 136 3 195 5 169 1 261 3 179 4 132 4 136 3 153 1 122 2 160 1 194 American Goldfinch 6 83 24 7 112 10 45 8 34 10 32 39 19 5 18 5 Cedar Waxw ing 7 78 33 31 9 46 22 5 77 10 42 31 9 8 57 7 Audubon's Warbler 8 74 8 98 10 46 8 51 12 9 58 10 7 86 7 52 9 35 12 Willow Flycatcher 9 61 7 121 6 124 5 103 4 111 5 77 8 61 8 66 8 33 7 70 6 66 Marsh Wren 10 53 45 16 10 12 13 6 82 12 16 30 10 24 Table 4. Rank and number for the top ten species banded
Adult male MacGillivray’s Warbler
Overall there were 36 of the 59 species that were banded in above average numbers and 8 species tied or set new record highs. This means that only 23 species were caught in below average numbers. Of the top 10 banded species this year, 8 were recorded in above average numbers and those 10 species made up 75.6% of our banded birds. Orange-crowned Warbler was the most abundant species this year, mainly because of the warbler concentration around net 15 in late September. Dusky Flycatcher and Nashville Warbler were missed entirely for the first time and Swainson's Thrush tied its record low. The low flycatcher numbers were probably due to the smoke from the forest fires. Many of the mid-elevation species that come through in August and early September migrated through at higher elevations to avoid the valley smoke. Table 4 shows the numbers and rank for this year’s top 10 banded species This year 1393 of the 1814 captured birds were hatch year and 421 were adults, which works out to be 76.8% hatch year birds. This percentage is above the season average of 71.8%. There were no birds that went unaged. This is due to better aging techniques and knowledge from the early years of the station. A look at the age ratios for the top 10 species shows that 7 of the 10 species had an above average ratio of hatch year birds. Cedar Waxwing had the highest ratio of hatch year birds with 98.7% while Audubon’s Warbler had the lowest percentage at 62.2%. Audubon’s Warbler had the poorest difference with 16.0% fewer hatch year birds than average while Orange- crowned Warbler had the best difference with 49.9% more hatch year birds than the average. Table 5 shows the age and sex ratios for the top 10 banded species this year. Table 6 has the age and ratios for the last 10 years. HY AHY %HY Species %male %female %unknown 180 49 78.6% Orange-crowned Warbler 46.3% 53.7% 0.0% 168 42 76.4% Common Yellowthroat 53.2% 8.2% 38.6% 191 18 91.4% Lincoln's Sparrow 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 152 51 74.9% Song Sparrow 0.0% 4.4% 95.6% 114 37 75.5% Gray Catbird 0.0% 3.3% 96.7% 54 32 62.8% American Goldfinch 48.8% 51.2% 0.0% 77 1 98.7% Cedar Waxwing 15.4% 23.1% 61.5% 46 28 62.2% Audubon's Warbler 83.8% 12.2% 4.1% 44 21 67.7% Willow Flycatcher 0.0% 15.4% 84.6% 41 12 77.4% Marsh Wren 0.0% 9.4% 90.6%
Table 5. Age and sex numbers for the top 10 banded species
YEAR HY AHY Unknown Male Female Unknown 2007 67.5% 32.5% 0.0% 17.1% 17.1% 65.8% 2008 68.6% 31.3% 0.1% 26.6% 20.7% 52.7% 2009 72.9% 27.1% 0.0% 26.3% 21.4% 52.3% 2010 76.0% 24.0% 0.0% 27.3% 25.7% 47.0% 2011 75.2% 24.8% 0.0% 21.0% 22.6% 56.4% 2012 78.8% 21.2% 0.1% 23.2% 22.2% 54.6% 2013 70.2% 29.8% 0.0% 18.9% 19.6% 61.5% 2014 69.1% 30.9% 0.0% 21.6% 19.4% 59.0% 2015 69.8% 30.2% 0.0% 23.6% 22.4% 54.2% 2016 72.1% 27.9% 0.0% 26.3% 20.7% 53.0% AVERAGE 72.0% 28.0% 0.0% 23.2% 21.2% 55.7% 2017 76.8% 23.2% 0.0% 25.7% 20.6% 53.7%
Table 6. Age and sex ratios 2007-2017 for all banded birds.
This year 480 of the captured birds were sexed as male, 385 were sexed as female and 1004 were sexed as unknown. Hatch year Common Yellowthroats can only be sexed as male or unknown at this time of year which leans the ratios heavily toward male but birds with brood patches help to even out the sex ratios. Differences in migration timing between males and females for some species, with males usually appearing earlier in the season, also results in uneven ratios. Day to day differences in weather can also affect the sex ratios as good weather while one sex is more prevalent can result in more birds of that sex passing over and missing the nets. Of course, bad weather has the opposite effect and can result in more birds being captured. This season numerous species had uneven sex ratios due to the effects listed above. The weights of the birds were quite good this year with 8 of the top 10 species recording above average weights and only 2 species having below average weights. This was probably due to the birds having one less brood this summer. Instead of starting a new brood the adults were able to take more time fattening up the young they already had. Of interest was a recaptured Lincoln's Sparrow that flew into one of the owl nets as they were being opened. The bird had a 4 fat level and weighed 16.4 grams. The bird was captured again the following morning on the opening round. The bird had a fat of 2 and weighed 14.9 grams. This means that in 12 hours overnight the bird lost 1.5 grams and half its fat. Interesting! Table 7 shows average weights for the top 10 banded species.
Although the differences in the table are small, the large numbers of birds for these species means that any difference is significant. Marsh Wren showed the highest average weight gain. Cedar Waxwing showed the highest weight loss, probably due to the poor Saskatoon crop. Table 8 shows the average fat levels for the top 10 banded species. As with the weight table the large numbers for these species makes any differences significant. Of this year’s top 10 species 4 showed above average fat levels, 5 had below average fat levels and 1 species had average fat level. Interestingly all the species with low fat levels were species that came earlier in the season while the later species had above average fat levels. The reasons for these low fat levels this year are not clear but the low levels certainly will have an effect on the migration survival. This year we again saw birds with fat on the sides even though the furculum was not full. The reasons for this are unclear but more muscle mass would be the most likely explanation.
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 average Orange-crow ned Warbler 9.0 9.1 8.8 8.9 9.2 9.0 8.8 9.3 9.1 9.0 9.0 Common Yellow throat 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.1 10.5 10.2 10.0 10.1 9.9 9.9 10.1 Lincoln's Sparrow 15.5 15.7 16.1 15.8 15.6 15.4 16.2 15.9 15.4 15.4 15.7 Song Sparrow 21.2 21.3 20.9 21.0 21.0 21.2 21.2 21.3 21.0 21.1 21.1 Gray Catbird 36.7 36.8 36.9 36.9 37.0 36.7 37.1 36.7 36.9 36.3 36.8 American Goldfinch 11.8 12.6 12.8 13.2 12.5 12.7 12.9 13.1 12.7 13.1 12.7 Cedar Waxw ing 30.0 32.0 31.0 30.4 31.8 30.5 30.7 30.3 30.6 31.1 30.8 Audubon's Warbler 11.7 12.0 11.7 11.9 12.2 11.7 11.8 11.9 11.7 12.2 11.9 Willow Flycatcher 12.2 12.4 11.9 12.1 12.2 12.3 11.8 11.9 11.8 11.9 12.1 Marsh Wren 11.3 11.2 11.2 11.1 11.3 11.4 11.1 10.3 11.0 11.0 11.1
Table 7. Average weights for top 10 banded species 2007-2017 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 average 2017 Orange-crow ned Warbler 1.5 1.2 0.9 1.1 1.5 1.1 0.8 1.4 1.4 0.5 1.1 1.6 Common Yellow throat 1.2 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.6 0.5 0.9 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.7 1.0 Lincoln's Sparrow 1.7 1.6 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.3 2.2 1.5 0.9 0.6 1.5 1.6 Song Sparrow 1.4 1.1 1.1 0.9 0.5 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.8 0.5 Gray Catbird 1.1 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.2 American Goldfinch 0.8 0.6 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 Cedar Waxw ing 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.9 0.2 0.1 0.9 0.4 0.2 Audubon's Warbler 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4 Willow Flycatcher 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 Marsh Wren 0.9 0.8 0.5 1.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.7
Table 8. Average fat levels for top 10 banded species 2007-2017
Recaptures
This year there were 445 recaptures of 27 species. The recap number is just above the average and the species total is well above the average. Overall this year’s total works out to be 20.3% of all captures, which is well below the average of 22.5%. There were no new recaptured species this year. The number of species recaptured remains at 53. Two species set a new record high recap number, Downy Woodpecker and Fox Sparrow, while Least Flycatcher tied its previous high. Table 9 shows the numbers and rank for the top 10 species recaptured.
Rank and number recaptured Species 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Song Sparrow 1 131 1 115 1 142 1 94 1 121 2 78 1 196 2 109 1 58 2 63 1 120 Common Yellow throat 2 52 3 86 2 100 2 76 2 65 1 86 2 63 1 173 3 41 1 66 3 77 Black-capped Chickadee 3 47 4 37 5 30 4 32 4 38 3 30 4 29 4 35 4 25 4 47 4 43 Gray Catbird 4 42 2 95 3 65 3 60 3 52 4 28 3 42 3 41 2 47 3 49 2 89 Lincoln's Sparrow 4 42 8 4 38 7 14 2 9 8 7 15 7 14 8 7 7 4 5 15 Orange-crow ned Warbler 6 38 6 19 6 20 7 14 3 5 19 6 5 28 5 17 5 26 9 6 Willow Flycatcher 7 13 5 30 6 20 5 29 5 18 6 13 6 9 7 3 7 4 7 11 Northern Waterthrush 8 9 3 4 8 6 14 8 10 8 12 1 10 4 10 3 3 Audubon's Warbler 8 9 5 5 1 1 Marsh Wren 8 9 9 13 4 4 3 10 6 5 19 3 2 4
Table 9. Top ten recaptured species 2007-2017
Our busiest day for recapture numbers and diversity was September 26th when 18 birds of 8 species were recaptured. Many birds were caught multiple times so only 320 birds account for the recaptures and 75 birds were recaptured more than once. The most frequent visitor to the nets was an adult Song Sparrow that was banded this year and was recaptured 10 times throughout the season in 6 different nets. There were also hatch year Song Sparrows that were recaptured 7 and 8 times over the season. The oldest bird caught this year was a female Gray Catbird that was banded as a hatch year bird on August 6, 2012 at VLBO. This makes the bird at least 6 years old. Out of the 337 birds recaptured this year 67 were from past years, CWS banding projects or Barry Lancaster (MBL). There were 2 bands which we could not account for, an adult Song Sparrow and an adult Gray Catbird. It’s likely these are CWS banded birds. Table 10 outlines all captures not banded this year by VLBO. Notable captures and numbers not already noted are; Brown- headed Cowbird-2 New fall record high), Downy Woodpecker-6 (new record high), Fox Sparrow-2 (3rd +4th recap records; new record high), Least Flycatcher-1 (2nd recap record), Red-shafted Flicker-1 (7th recap record) and Virginia Rail-1.
MBL 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Oliver fall fall fall fall fall 2016 unknow n Song Sparrow 2 3 7 1 13 Veery 3 3 Yellow Warbler 2 1 2 5 American Goldfinch 2 1 3 Gray Catbird 1 1 2 2 9 1 16 Common Yellow throat 1 4 1 3 9 Black-capped Chickadee 1 1 2 5 9 Oregon Junco 1 1 Willow Flycatcher 1 3 1 5 Dow ny Woodpecker 1 1 2 Red-shafted Flicker 1 1 totals 2 6 9 12 35 1 2 67
Table 10. Recaptures other than VLBO 2017. Nets
All nets this year remained in the same locations as last year. Nets 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18 and 19 were the lighter Avinet nets while nets 5, 10 and 20 were Spiderteck nets which are a bit heavier with larger pockets. This year the gates of deer fencing to block off sections of the net lanes from the pesky deer were not needed as there were few deer around. Deer numbers did go up near the end of the season when the flooded areas dried up. Although there were still nets damaged and destroyed by the deer the damage was small compared to the bad deer seasons.
Over the season the average number of captures per net was 159.6, well above the average. The most productive net this year was net 15 with 335 birds and 15.0% of the captures. This was followed by nets 18 and 9 with 324 and 212 birds respectively. Net 18 set a new record high for captures. The poorest net this year was net 10 with just 64 birds caught followed by nets 5 and 17 with 82 and 95 birds respectively. This year net 18 had the best diversity with 30 species caught followed by nets 8 with 29 and net 1 with 27 species. The poorest diversity net was net 20 with just 13 species captured. Net productivity is a bit misleading this year as not all nets were open at the start of the season due to the high water levels. Table 11 shows statistics on net productivity.
Total % #species Net # Banded Recaps captures captures per net 1 98 33 131 5.9% 27 2 88 44 132 5.9% 24 4 123 32 155 6.9% 23 5 70 12 82 3.7% 22 6 143 32 175 7.8% 24 7 113 35 148 6.6% 24 8 153 29 182 8.1% 29 9 170 42 212 9.5% 24 10 52 12 64 2.9% 14 15 270 65 335 15.0% 23 17 79 16 95 4.3% 17 18 278 46 324 14.5% 30 19 72 28 100 4.5% 23 20 81 18 99 4.4% 13 Average 127.9 31.7 159.6 7.1% 22.6
Table 11. Net productivity
Census
This year there were 11,418 birds of 122 species recorded on the daily census. This is well below the season average of 12,062.1 birds. The total species is the second lowest, well below the average of 131.4. For the season census averaged 150.2birds and 29 species per day. The highest diversity was on August 1st when 41 species were recorded, followed by August 26th with 40 and August 25th with 37 species. The highest number of birds was tallied on September 9th when 359 birds were counted followed by October 12th with 310 and September 29th with 257 birds.
There was only 1 new species recorded on census this year, a Magnolia Warbler that was seen on September 16th. This brings the census species list to 210 for all years. New high counts were set for 8 species and 3 species tied their record highs. As well 50 additional species were recorded in above average numbers. Species in notably high numbers included Bufflehead, Fox Sparrow, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Lincoln's Sparrow, Mallard, Marsh Wren, Mountain Chickadee, Northern Waterthrush, Pacific Wren, Peregrine Falcon, Pileated Woodpecker, Redhead, Red-necked Grebe, Spotted Towhee and Turkey Vulture. Notable species other than those already mentioned include American Bittern (3rd record), American Redstart (13th record), Black-chinned Hummingbird (9th record), Caspian Tern (4th +5th records), Eurasian Collared-dove (8th record), Fox Sparrow (13th +14th records), Lark Sparrow (10th+11th records), Least Flycatcher (14th record), Olive-sided Flycatcher (4th record), Pacific Wren (12th-15th records), Peregrine Falcon (17th-31st records) and Varied Thrush (8th record). Table 12 shows the top 10 census species for numbers and number of days recorded.
Total # # Days Species observed Species observed Canada Goose 1126 Song Sparrow 76 Cedar Waxwing 854 Mallard 76 Red-winged Blackbird 765 Marsh Wren 75 Mallard 692 Red-shafted Flicker 72 Song Sparrow 517 Wood Duck 70 American Goldfinch 509 Canada Goose 67 Wood Duck 482 American Goldfinch 67 Barn S wallow 462 Red-winged Blackbird 66 Gray Catbird 452 Virginia Rail 65 Common Yellowthroat 448 Black-capped Chickadee 64 Table 12. Top 10 censused species in terms of numbers and number of days observed.
There were only 9 species recorded in record low numbers this season. Brewer's Blackbird, Cliff Swallow and Vaux's Swift were missed on census for the first time. Species in notably low numbers included American Kestrel, American Pipit, Bank Swallow, Bullock's Oriole, Cassin’s Vireo, Common Merganser, Dusky Flycatcher, European Starling, Evening Grosbeak, White-crowned Sparrow, Herring Gull, House Finch, Killdeer, Northern Harrier, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Pine Siskin, Red- breasted Nuthatch, Ring-necked Duck, Savannah Sparrow, Solitary Sandpiper, Tree Swallow, Vesper Sparrow, Violet-green Swallow, Warbling Vireo, Western Bluebird, Wilson's Warbler and Yellow-headed Blackbird. A summary of the numbers for each species can be found in Appendix B.
Observations
Daily observations this year recorded 8,611 birds of 104 species. This is the lowest total birds number ever and the lowest species number as well. Throughout the season the lower number of birds and diversity was quite noticeable. This was probably due to the smoke from the forest fires which made the birds go higher in the mountains to avoid the smoke. The daily average was 113.3 birds and 28.0 species per day. The highest diversity was achieved on August 25th when 43 species were noted followed by September 23rd and August 15th with 38 species. The highest number of total birds was on September 25th when 370 birds were recorded followed by September 22nd and October 10th with 215 and 195 birds respectively.
Juvenile Belted Kingfisher
There were no new species for the daily observations this year. The total species list is remains at 210 species. New season highs were set by 5 species and an additional 38 species were recorded in above average numbers. Species in notably high numbers included California Quail, Eastern Kingbird, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Peregrine Falcon, Ring-necked Pheasant, Sora and Turkey Vulture. Notable species other than those mentioned above included American Redstart (8th +9th records), Bufflehead (10th +11th records), Eurasian Collared-dove (8th -10th records), Flicker intergrade (Red x Yellow- shafted) (4th record), Varied Thrush (6th record), Vesper Sparrow (10th record) and White- throated Sparrow (15th record).
This year there were 5 species that were missed entirely on the daily observations for the first time: Cassin's Vireo, Clark's Nutcracker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red Crossbill and Violet-green Swallow. Record low totals were set by an additional 4 species and 2 species tied their previous record low number. Species in notably low numbers included Green- winged Teal, American Coot, American Pipit, American Wigeon, Bank Swallow, Black- billed Magpie, Bullock's Oriole, Canada Goose, California Gull, Chipping Sparrow, Common Merganser, European Starling, Herring Gull, House Finch, House Sparrow, Killdeer, Nashville Warbler, Northern Harrier, Pine Siskin, Redhead, Red-winged Blackbird, Sandhill Crane, Savannah Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Western Bluebird, Western Wood-pewee and Wilson’s Warbler. A summary of the numbers for each species can be found in Appendix B.
Total # # Days Species observed Species observed Canada Goose 1142 Song Sparrow 76 Cedar Waxwing 723 Red-shafted Flicker 76 Red-winged Blackbird 669 Canada Goose 76 Mallard 450 Virginia Rail 76 Gadwall 446 Mallard 75 Song Sparrow 334 Black-capped Chickadee 72 Black-capped Chickadee 315 American Goldfinch 72 American Goldfinch 294 Marsh Wren 72 Yellow-rumped Warbler 266 Red-winged Blackbird 60 Turkey Vulture 243 Common Yellowthroat 60
Table 13. Top 10 observed species in terms of numbers and number of days observed.
Estimated Daily Totals (ETs)
The estimated daily total is compiled each day from the three census methods; banding, census and observations, and represents the estimated number of each species present within the survey area each day. By consulting with all observers over the day the bander in charge comes up with these numbers.
This year there was a total of 18,948 birds of 139 species recorded. This is the lowest birds total and the second lowest total species number. The daily average was 249.3 birds and 39.5 species per day. The birds per day and species per day averages are both well below the average. The highest diversity was on August 25th when 50 species were recorded followed by August 12th, 15th and 26th and September 23rd and 27th with 47 species. The highest number of total birds was October 12th when 496 birds were recorded followed by August 25th and September 9th with 483 and 436 birds respectively.
There were no new species for the station this year so the all-time species total remains at 235 species. New record highs were set for 7 species this year and 1 species tied the previous record high count. As well an additional 49 species were recorded in above average numbers. Species in notably high numbers included Bufflehead, Eurasian Collared-dove, Fox Sparrow, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Least Flycatcher, Lincoln's Sparrow, Mallard, Mountain Chickadee, Nashville Warbler, Peregrine Falcon, Redhead, Red-necked Grebe and Turkey Vulture. Notable species other than those mentioned above include Alder Flycatcher (2nd record), American Bittern (5th record), Brown Creeper (8th record), Caspian Tern (12th +13th records), Eurasian Collared-dove (15th-18th records), Flicker intergrade (Red x Yellow-shafted) (12th +13th records), Lark Sparrow (12th-14th records), Magnolia Warbler (4th record), Olive-sided Flycatcher (8th record) and Varied Thrush (17th +18th records).
Clay-colored Sparrow
There were 4 species that were missed entirely for the first time: Brewer's Blackbird, Cliff Swallow, Red Crossbill and Vaux's Swift. Record low totals were set by 10 species and a further 1 species tied the previous record low. Species in notably low numbers included American Coot, American Pipit, American Wigeon, Bank Swallow, Black-billed Magpie, Bewick's Wren, Bullock's Oriole, Cassin’s Vireo, Cinnamon Teal, Clark's Nutcracker, Common Merganser, Common Loon, Dusky Flycatcher, European Starling, Evening Grosbeak, Golden Eagle, Greater Yellowlegs, White-crowned Sparrow, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Herring Gull, House Finch, House Sparrow, Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Nashville Warbler, Northern Harrier, Pine Siskin, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red- breasted Nuthatch, Ring-necked Duck, Red-naped Sapsucker, Red-winged Blackbird, Sandhill Crane, Savannah Sparrow, Solitary Sandpiper, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Warbling Vireo, Western Bluebird and Yellow-headed Blackbird. A summary of the numbers for each species can be found in Appendix B.
Total # # Days Species observed Species observed Canada Goose 2110 Canada Goose 76 Cedar Waxwing 1377 Marsh Wren 76 Red-winged Blackbird 1286 Mallard 76 Mallard 959 Song Sparrow 76 Song Sparrow 886 Red-shafted Flicker 76 Common Yellowthroat 703 Virginia Rail 76 American Goldfinch 676 Black-capped Chickadee 75 Gray Catbird 638 American Goldfinch 75 Lincoln's Sparrow 633 Wood Duck 73 Gadwall 545 Common Yellowthroat 67 Red-winged Blackbird 67
Table 14. Top 10 species ET’s in terms of numbers and number of days recorded.
mean/ mean/ mean/ mean/ mean/ banded day recap day census day obs day ets day 2007 1192 15.7 467 6.1 14580 191.8 14149 186.2 27551 362.5 2008 1483 19.5 367 4.8 15164 199.5 9698 127.6 23628 310.9 2009 1098 14.4 295 3.9 12113 159.4 15794 207.8 26490 348.6 2010 1707 22.5 497 6.5 10558 138.9 16255 213.9 25031 329.4 2011 1524 20.1 501 6.6 12417 163.4 13928 183.3 24569 323.3 2012 1468 19.3 403 5.3 10614 139.7 14912 196.2 24314 319.9 2013 1393 18.3 406 5.3 12248 161.2 23564 310.1 34238 450.5 2014 1627 21.4 428 5.6 10381 136.6 14674 193.1 24502 322.4 2015 2002 26.3 517 6.8 10712 140.9 9721 127.9 20132 264.9 2016 2053 27.4 511 6.8 11800 155.3 8812 115.9 20205 265.9 average 1554.7 20.5 439.2 5.8 12058.7 158.7 14150.7 186.2 25066.0 329.8 2017 1748 23.0 445 5.9 11418 146.1 8611 113.1 18948 248.6
Table 15. Total birds for all census methods 2007-2017.
mean/ mean/ mean/ mean/ mean/ banded day recap day census day obs day ets day 2007 49 6.8 26 3.6 135 32.0 140 34.5 158 45.4 2008 59 8.3 28 3.2 136 32.8 137 33.8 160 45.9 2009 60 7.5 30 2.9 125 30.5 139 35.0 159 45.6 2010 60 9.0 23 3.5 126 31.8 148 41.2 162 50.7 2011 54 8.9 27 3.8 133 33.9 131 34.1 154 46.8 2012 66 9.1 30 3.7 132 33.4 136 36.7 157 48.6 2013 64 7.3 21 3.2 126 29.9 120 32.4 150 43.5 2014 62 8.3 23 3.5 137 31.0 123 29.4 155 43.0 2015 64 9.9 27 4.3 138 30.9 113 28.8 152 43.7 2016 61 9.5 30 4.2 137 32.6 113 29.8 156 44.0 average 59.9 8.5 26.5 3.6 132.5 31.9 130.0 33.6 156.3 45.7 2017 59 8.4 27 3.7 122 29.0 104 28.0 139 39.5
Table 16. Total species for all census methods 2007-2017
Fox Sparrow, an uncommon visitor to the station
Non-standard Banding (NSB)
Any banding done outside of the daily six-hour period or with extra nets is recorded as non-standard banding (NSB) and has not been included in the season results. While doing the owl banding there were 3 Lincoln's Sparrows that flew into owl nets and got banded. There was also a Lincoln's Sparrow and an American Robin that got recaptured.
This year we again banded Northern Saw-whet Owls at night. All these birds were caught outside of normal net hours and as such were recorded as NSB but the owl banding will be discussed separately in this report.
Owl Banding
This season a program of Northern Saw-whet Owl banding was again run with the starting date being September 15th. This is the ninth season for the owl banding program. A triangle of nets was set up by net 5 with one net (Owl net 1) aligned northwest from the junction of nets 4 and 5 and the second (Owl net 2) running north from near the west end of net 5. Net 5 was used as the third side of the triangle. The owl nets were all Russian- made nets which were a bit shorter in length, 11 instead of 12 metres, but were taller, 4 instead of 3 metres, and had 6 instead of 4 shelves. These nets were used because they were the only nets available at the station. The two owl nets were placed higher than our normal nets, almost 20 feet high, with the bottom panel at a height of about 1 metre. This net placement is like that used by the Long Point Bird Observatory. As well as the triangle of nets our regular nets 4, 6, 15 and 20 were opened each night as well. A CD player with a continuously running Saw-whet Owl call was placed near the centre of the triangle to attract the owls. Nets were checked every 45 minutes. Nets were opened half an hour after sunset and kept open for at least 6 hours, weather permitting. Of the 31 possible nights for banding there were 5 nights when weather kept the nets shut and the first 2 nights the nets were closed due to problems with the cd player. There was also 3 nights when net hours were shortened due to bad weather. There was a total of 941.25 net hours put in which works out to an average of 30.4 net hours per night, 72.3% of the possible hours. There was a total of 169 volunteer hours put in which averages out to 5.45 hours per night.
This year we had a very good owl banding period. We started the season with clear skies and no moon, conditions that were good for Saw-whets to migrate in. Unfortunately we had problems with the cd player the first 2 nights and the 3rd night there was rain so we didn't get opened until the 18th. There were 7 owls caught that night, the best September night we've had. We ended up banding 56 Saw-whets for our second best owl season ever. This averages out at only 1.8 captures per night. The average capture time this year was 11:24.
Of this year’s birds 51 were hatch year, 91.1%, and 5 were adult birds, 8.9%. The percentage of hatch year birds is our highest ever, well above the average of 74%. The high number of hatch year birds is probably an indicator of a later breeding season this year. Most of the early migrants are hatch year birds and the adults come later in the migration timing. Running the owl banding later probably would have resulted in more adults being captured. The adult birds were 1 second year bird and 4 after second year birds. It is no longer considered possible to age Saw-whets beyond this. Of the owls we caught this year, 27 were female, 48.2%, 11 were male, 19.6% and 18 were not able to be sexed, 32.1%. This is the second highest percentages of males and probably indicates that the birds are anticipating a bad winter for them. Apparently in good winters most males stay north to stake out territories for spring. A good winter for Saw-whets is little snow as they cannot hunt through snow like larger owls. There was only 1 Saw-whet recapture this year, a hatch year female bird that was almost certainly from a local nesting. All owl banding gets recorded as NSB as it is outside any regular banding hours. days net obs Aver # year open hours hours observers bands recaps 2009 14 570 95.5 1.0 25 0 2010 12 519 74.0 1.0 44 3 2011 17 658 111.0 1.0 46 5 2012 27 1158.5 188.0 1.0 45 3 2013 22 852.25 137.3 1.0 16 2 2014 27 992.75 175.5 1.1 36 1 2015 27 1437.75 186.8 1.0 79 5 2016 23 955.5 188.0 1.0 28 6 average 21.1 893.0 144.5 1.0 39.9 3.1 2017 24 941.25 169.0 1.1 56 1
Table 17 Owling effort and numbers for all years Great Horned Owls were heard on a nightly basis but were not seen at all this year. A Long-eared Owl was heard around the station on only 1 night. This year there were over 30 visitors for the owl banding, by far the highest number ever. Hopefully these numbers continue or increase as the Saw-whet banding is a real highlight for the station. Mortalities and Injuries
Unfortunately, this year we did have some mortalities. On August 14th a Gray Catbird and a Song Sparrow were found dead in the bag upon returning to the banding lab. Both birds had been extracted without problem from net 18 along with 3 other birds. These two mortalities are totally unexplained. Apparently Barry Lancaster had the same thing happen to him a few days before. For something like this to happen to two highly experienced banders like Barry and myself suggests that something beyond our control accounts for these mortalities. It was suggested that the smoky conditions may have put a strain on the bird's lungs which put a strain on their cardio-vascular system and caused them then to succumb easier to the stress of capture. If there had been another such incident we would have had to think about closing due to the smoke but there were no more incidents. On August 23th, an adult male American Goldfinch was taken from net 9 by a bear. As with past bear predation there were no more incidents. On August 29th, a juvenile Song Sparrow was killed in net 7 by a Cooper's Hawk. There were no mortalities attributable to banding station staff this year.
Hybrid Flicker with orange underwing and tail feathers
There were also a few injuries to birds. A Sora was found in net 1 with a badly dislocated right leg which the bird had done struggling in the net. The bird had only been in the net a few minutes as nets 1 and 2 are frequently checked for rails and ducks. The bird was banded and released and showed no hesitation as it left so hopefully it survived the injury. A Song Sparrow was found to be bleeding from the mouth due to unknown cause. Most likely the bird damaged his tongue on the netting. The bird was banded and released and flew away strongly. There were other problems noted with the birds. A Virginia Rail and a Gray Catbird had deformed upper mandibles. An Orange-crowned Warbler and a Song Sparrow were found to be missing their right eye from an old injury. A Northern Waterthrush was missing a toe on his right foot, probably from an old case of avian pox. There were 4 cases of avian pox this year, 2 Song Sparrows, a Lincoln's Sparrow and a Spotted Towhee, all with pox on their feet. A Song Sparrow and an Orange-crowned Warbler both had deformed left legs from an old injury. Finally an adult Willow Flycatcher was missing its left leg below the knee from an old injury.
Other Wildlife
This year there were not a lot of deer sightings around the net lanes at the beginning of the season but towards the end the deer numbers increased. The deer don't like the flooded conditions we had at the start of the season. Due to the low deer numbers the deer fence gates did not get put up this year. Mule Deer were seen many times this year but there was only one sighting of a White-tailed Deer. At the start of our season we had the most bear scat in the net lanes that I've ever seen at the station. A female with 2 cubs was seen several times in the first week but after that only the cubs were seen and they mostly kept away from the net lanes. Muskrats were seen quite a few times in the slough this year and also in the river. Beavers were seen in the river quite a few times over the season. No River Otters were seen this year but scat was noted on the dyke. Coyotes were heard a few times and one was seen on the dyke. A Moose cow and calf were seen one day by net 18 and an adult was photographed in the slough during the open house. A Yellow Pine Chipmunk was seen twice near net 1. An adult and a young Raccoon were seen once early in the season and a family was seen later in the year. Tracks were also seen by net 10. Finally a Short-tailed Weasel was seen between nets 8 and 9 one day for the first station record of this species.
Common and Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes were seen many times sunning themselves along the trails including some good-sized ones. A Gopher snake was seen one day crossing the path. Yellow-bellied Racers put in a good showing with at least 4 sightings. Early in the season a large Rattlesnake was seen a number of times near the south end of the dyke for the first station record.
As always there was a good assortment of dragonflies buzzing about the area and often getting caught in the nets. Time restraints gave little chance to identify species but darners, meadowhawks and spreadwings were certainly seen. With data collection for the BC Butterfly Atlas taking place an effort was again made to note the numbers of all species seen. This year we recorded 17 species. Species seen were Cabbage White, Woodland Skipper, Lorquin’s Admiral, Clouded Sulphur, Purplish Copper, Red Admiral, Western Tiger Swallowtail, Two Tailed Swallowtail, Common Wood-nymph, Orange Sulphur, Mourning Cloak, Milbert's Tortoiseshell, Melissa's Blue, Great Spangled Fritillary, California Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady and Northern Crescent. Four of these species; Two-tailed Swallowtail, Orange Sulphur, Milbert's Tortoiseshell and Painted Lady were new species for the station.
Visitor Programs
Family Day
This year OSCA again acquired some funding from Nature Canada to run school programs. In late September and October, we were visited by grade 3 and 4 students on 10 days from 9 different schools from throughout the south Okanagan. Two interpreters were hired to run the program. Students were divided into 3-4 groups with one group going for a walk out to the dyke, one group getting a talk on bird adaptation in the second tent and one group going out with me to check the nets and then coming back to watch the birds get banded. Each activity took about half an hour and then the groups would switch around so each group got to do all 3 activities. As with last year the program was a huge success with all the children having a great learning experience. As well as the school program OSCA hosted a family day one weekend when the public was invited to the station to learn about the banding station and what we do. This year the event was better publicized and there were 90+ people who came to the station. When you combine the numbers from the school program, the family day and the daily visitors we had around 600 people visit the station this year.
Schoolchildren watching a bird being banded
Recommendations
With the banding station now having run for 17 years at the present location it has become a smoothly run enterprise however if the station is going to continue to progress there needs to be some changes. The steering committee which was suggested 4 years ago, needs to be put in place so we can get new ideas on how to improve the station and to better manage the connection with OSCA. Having a steering committee will bring new minds to the running of the station so that hopefully additional funding sources can be investigated so that new research projects can be looked at. Many of the CMMN stations work on research projects to further our knowledge of the various species and this is a direction that Vaseux should be looking at.
We do right now have a few equipment needs. We have banding pliers for band sizes x to 3 but no proper pliers for larger bands. We need to make an effort to get these larger pliers so that the bands are properly applied.
The new trailer is a huge improvement to our station but some things need to be addressed with the trailer. The banding table is a bit too high and should be lowered. The window screens need handles for opening them to avoid damaging the screens and the screens need corner braces to make them sturdier. Some better solution to the window shutters needs to be found. Right now the shutters only go up 45 degrees which means they block much of the light and also most of our vision outside. The cover at the bottom of the solar tube is opaque and it should be transparent. We do not need diffused light; we need brighter natural light. Lastly there needs to be a drawer where the bander sits for storing equipment. This should be put in the table to the right of the bander. The current table depth is enough to support this as the drawer needs to only be a few inches deep. Right now when additional equipment is needed such as the long ruler, caliper, band extraction pliers, etc. we have to rummage through the banding kit to get them. These items should be available to the bander without having to move and a drawer would accomplish this. A second drawer next to the first one for storing additional sizes of bands would also be a good idea. Right now they are stored in a cardboard box which has to be rummaged through to find the correct bag when we get any bigger birds.
Acknowledgments
Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory could not be run without the funding received from the Canadian Wildlife Service through the constant support of Wendy Easton. They also this year provided the funding for Okanagan College to build our new mobile banding lab, a huge improvement to the station.
No banding station can run efficiently without the help of volunteers and this station is no exception. This year we again had a paid assistant bander. Mel Thorn came 10 times and helped with the data recording. Marianne Hutterli came out 9 times over the season, helping with extraction and data recording. Manda Maggs managed to get out 7 times this fall. Late in the season Leanne McDonald, a young biologist from OK Falls, started volunteering and she got out 15 times to help with banding, extraction and data recording. Other people who lent time to the station this year either with extraction, banding or data recording include Mike Maggs, Johan van de Vyver, Lisa Scott, Kailey Bruckshaw, John Lewall, Eric Newton, Myles Radchenko and Greg Byron. Volunteers who came out for owl banding include Janine McManus and Mel Thorn.
Census requires daily volunteers and this season a number of people helped out with the census. Despite his busy schedule Dick Cannings managed to do the census on 4 dates in August. Eva Durance came out weekly throughout the season. Eric Newton came out twice for the census. The rest of the time the census was done by myself or the assistant bander, Janine McManus. As well as the work with the birds there were other jobs that volunteers helped with. Matthias Bieber looked after the station's website for much of the season and set up the “Sign-up” app for volunteers to sign up. Mel Thorn came on both July 30th and 31st to help with cutting out the net lanes, putting up the nets and putting up the tent. Barry Lancaster came in one day with his chainsaw so that some larger trees that were down could be removed. Finally, Dwayne Flexhaug came in one day and made some adjustments on the banding lab door so that it would close more easily.
As was already stated we again had an assistant bander this year. The position was filled by Janine McManus from Manitoba. Throughout the season Janine and I alternated banding and census duties and she performed both with complete professionalism. Any time that nets needed to be replaced she didn't hesitate to stay to help with these extra tasks. She also stayed and helped with taking down the nets and packing up the station on October 16th, a job I usually end up doing by myself. The fact that we had no mortalities or injuries caused by station personnel this season is a tribute to her skills and professionalism. She was definitely our greatest asset this season.
Lastly there is our new station manager, Sharon Mansiere, who took over this year from Matthias and Jason Bieber. It was her initiative that got us our new banding lab and she dealt with the CWS people for getting the funding. She also made sure we had the supplies we needed for running the station.
My heartfelt thanks go out to all these volunteers and staff who were instrumental in the smooth running of the station and making the season a big success.
Photo Credits
Schoolchildren and Virginia Rail-Matthias Bieber Looking north along the river-Matthias Bieber Adult male MacGillivray’s Warbler-VLBO Juvenile Belted Kingfisher-VLBO Clay-colored Sparrow-VLBO Fox Sparrow, an uncommon visitor to the station-VLBO Banding and measuring a Northern Saw-whet Owl-Alan McKenzie Family Day-Matthias Bieber Schoolchildren watching a bird being banded-Matthias Bieber Hybrid Flicker with orange underwing and tail feathers-VLBO
Appendix A: Charts
90
80
70
60 average 2017 50
40
MEAN MEAN BIRDS 30
20
10
0
DAY
Figure 1. 2017 Daily banding total vs average
2000 1800
1600 average 2017 1400 1200
1000 BIRDS 800 600 400 200 0
DAY
Figure 2. 2017 running total vs average 18
16
14 2017
12
10
8
BIRDS 6
4
2
0
DAY
Figure 3. Daily number of species banded.
45 40 35 OCWA COYE 30 LISP SOSP 25 GRCA 20
15 BIRDS 10 5 0
DAY
Figure 4. Daily banded totals of top 5 species.
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
2013 8.0 2014 2015 6.0 2016
FAT 2017 4.0
2.0
0.0
DAY
Figure 5. Orange-crowned Warbler fat levels
9.0
8.0
7.0 2013 6.0 2014 2015 5.0 2016 2017
FAT 4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
1 4 7
16 49 10 13 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 DAY
Figure 6. Common Yellowthroat fat levels 14.0
12.0
10.0 2013 2014 8.0 2015 2016
6.0 2017 FAT 4.0
2.0
0.0
DAY
Figure 7. Lincoln’s Sparrow fat levels
Appendix B. Annual totals for all census methods.
New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 AGWT 0.1* 1* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1* 1* AGWT 0.1 1 0.0 0 79.9 224 61 57.3 153 17 134.1 284 76 ALFL 0.1 1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 1 AMBI 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 1 0.1 1 0.2 2 1 AMCO 0.0 0 0.0 0 333.9 1199 245 802.9 4004 1 1125.5 4012 246 AMCR 0.0 0 0.0 0 82.8 170 58 415.8 2146 207 479.1 2230 258 AMGO 39.5 112 83 5.5 11 6 504.6 647 443 349.4 624 294 769.5 1161 676 AMKE 0.0 0 0.0 0 3.3 8 1 2.7 6 4 5.9 14 5 AMPI 0.0 0 0.0 0 31.1 98 10 16.3 75 4 46.9 164 14 AMRE 0.9 3 2 0.1 1 0.8 4 1 0.4 3 2 2.1 5 3 AMRO 3.3 9 5 0.1 1 1 185.0 554 213 207.0 587 145 373.6 1075 355 AMWI 0.1 1 0.0 0 63.6 251 43 131.8 581 26 185.6 677 69 ANHU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 ATSP 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 AUWA 59.7 250 74 2.5 23 9 148.4 229 77 146.4 526 1 322.3 717 149 AWPE 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.9 18 4.0 20 5.8 20 BAEA 0.0 0 0.0 0 16.7 61 29 25.9 73 35 34.3 89 46 BAGO 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.3 14 3 0.1 2 2.3 14 3 BANS 0.1 1 0.0 0 46.8 129 9 22.6 58 1 67.1 172 10 BARS 0.0 0 0.0 0 434.1 914 462 209.9 487 131 587.9 1160 528 BASA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.2 1 BAWW 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 BBMA 0.0 0 0.0 0 56.9 191 30 901.5 4302 39 943.4 4353 49 BBPL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 BCCH 22.9 38 28 46.0 74 47 331.7 505 244 346.1 479 315 617.7 888 488 BCHU 1.2* 4* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.2* 4* BCHU 0.9 6 1 0.0 0 0.5 2 1 2.1 4 1 3.5 10 3 BCNH 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 4 0.2 3 0.6 7 BCVI 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 BDOW 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.4 3 BEKI 1.3 5 1 0.0 0 90.1 133 51 78.0 104 57 121.1 211 76 BEWR 1.5 8 1 2.5 15 1 12.1 87 9.5 63 20.7 123 2 BHCO 1.0 3 3 0.2 1 2 12.0 45 10 7.9 25 12 20.2 55 21 BHGR 5.6 14 6 0.6 3 13.4 26 11 25.9 59 15 39.6 79 27 BLJA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.2 3 0.3 3 BLPW 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 BLSW 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 6 3.0 42 3.4 42 BLTE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 BNOW 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 1 0.1 1 0.3 2 BOBO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.0 0 0.1 2 BOGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.4 13 4.3 41 5.2 42 BRBL 0.0 0 0.0 0 38.9 151 1653.4 20641 1696.9 20668 BRCR 0.4 4 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.4 4 1 BRSP 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only
New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets
Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2016 BTPI 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.1 2 BUFF 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 3 2 0.6 3 2 0.9 5 4 BUOR 1.0 7 1 0.1 1 11.5 17 4 10.5 28 4 20.8 42 7 BWHA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 BWTE 0.3 3 0.0 0 16.3 36 12 7.8 49 23.9 56 12 CACG 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 3 0.3 4 0.3 4 CAFI 0.4 3 0.0 0 0.9 7 1.9 15 3.3 22 CAGO 0.0 0 0.0 0 764.5 1195 1126 2532.4 5933 1142 3101.2 6949 2110 CAGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 42.1 167 24 46.6 183 20 77.8 280 40 CAHU 2.1* 10* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.1* 10* CAHU 0.6 3 0.0 0 0.3 1 2.7 10 3.6 13 CANV 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 CANW 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.4 8 0.1 1 2.5 8 CAQU 3.4* 24* 0.0 0 61.1 162 114 57.4 338 95 109.1 381 184 CATE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 2 2 0.5 3 0.7 4 2 CAVI 3.9 13 1 0.4 2 28.6 70 2 15.8 46 39.4 87 3 CCSP 0.6 3 2 0.0 0 0.8 4 0.1 1 1.4 5 2 CEDW 41.1 142 78 1.9 6 1 622.4 1410 854 407.8 842 723 934.4 1920 1377 CHSP 3.9 18 1 0.0 0 10.1 34 13 2.9 15 1 16.7 51 14 CITE 0.3 2 0.0 0 6.1 35 4.0 29 3 9.1 48 3 CLNU 0.0 0 0.0 0 14.8 45 8 22.9 80 33.7 99 8 CLSW 0.0 0 0.0 0 13.3 46 2.2 10 14.9 46 COGO 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.4 16 0.1 1 1.5 16 COHA 0.6 1 1 0.0 0 6.2 14 10 8.6 23 9 14.3 32 19 COLO 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.9 15 1 5.7 31 6.8 33 1 COME 0.0 0 0.0 0 15.9 34 3 13.6 78 2 28.6 106 5 CONI 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.6 14 9.8 50 11.2 66 COPO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.6 2 0.6 2 CORA 0.0 0 0.0 0 34.6 67 36 58.9 95 66 77.6 133 78 COTE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 1.7 24 1.8 24 COYE 150.4 262 211 79.4 180 52 474.3 646 448 216.8 371 205 756.1 1016 703 CSWA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 DCCO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 2 0.6 5 1.0 7 DOWO 2.8 7 2 1.8 4 6 21.1 34 28 34.4 58 47 51.6 76 62 DUFL 7.5 21 0.7 5 2.4 7 1 3.1 26 13.0 54 1 DUNL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 EAKI 2.4 9 5 0.3 1 167.7 260 207 75.9 103 124 206.1 308 278 ECDO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 4 1 0.4 2 3 0.9 5 4 EUST 0.4 4 0.0 0 351.7 1443 68 6595.8 49829 45 7443.3 58504 112 EUWI 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.1 2 EVGR 0.1 1 0.1 1 25.7 106 2 32.6 101 22 51.3 170 24 FLIN 0.4 2 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.2 2 1 0.7 4 2 FOSP 0.7 2 4 0.1 1 2 0.8 3 2 0.4 2 2.0 5 8 FOTE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 FRGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 GADW 0.0 0 0.0 0 64.6 171 229 117.6 453 446 166.7 564 545 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets
Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-15 Max 2016 GBHE 0.0 0 0.0 0 71.7 129 61 71.6 100 62 111.0 159 94 GCKI 0.9 7 0.0 0 1.7 18 0.3 4 2.8 18 GCSP 0.2 1 0.1 2 0.2 3 0.1 2 0.5 6 GHOW 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 1 28.2 73 40 28.4 73 40 GOEA 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.0 3 3.5 9 2 4.4 10 2 GRAJ 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 3 0.0 0 0.2 3 GRCA 176.0 261 136 64.3 114 42 374.6 504 452 208.5 341 180 663.4 898 638 GREG 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 3 0.9 13 1.1 16 GRFL 0.6 4 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.6 5 GRHE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 GRPA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.0 0 0.1 2 GRSC 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.6 6 1.2 16 1.7 16 GRYE 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.9 14 4.1 9 3 6.3 22 3 GWCS 33.8 122 25 4.1 36 3 65.5 150 22 42.6 193 28 131.3 459 67 GWFG 0.0 0 0.0 0 4.6 72 4.8 72 4.9 72 GWGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.9 9 6.3 24 6 8.5 28 6 HAFL 1.4 5 1 0.0 0 0.4 1 0.4 3 2.1 6 1 HASP 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 HAWO 0.4 3 1 0.0 0 3.1 14 5 6.3 15 5 8.3 23 9 HERG 0.0 0 0.0 0 35.4 146 14 56.3 292 26 83.1 362 36 HETH 0.9 4 0.1 1 0.4 2 0.6 3 1.9 5 HOFI 0.3 1 1 0.0 0 121.5 329 11 74.0 214 3 175.0 418 15 HOGR 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 HOLA 0.0 0 0.0 0 4.6 44 10.4 102 14.8 104 HOME 0.0 0 0.0 0 10.1 49 31 6.9 23 35 16.4 72 52 HOSP 0.1 1 0.0 0 2.5 24 6.5 46 2 7.8 49 2 HOWR 2.1 6 0.2 1 1.5 7 0.6 2 4.2 14 HRLH 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 HYPA 0.1 1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 2 1 INBU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 KILL 0.0 0 0.0 0 17.4 92 3 21.4 94 1 36.2 180 4 LALO 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.1 9 0.4 3 1.6 9 LASP 0.1 1 1 0.0 0 0.6 2 2 0.0 0 0.7 2 3 LAZB 7.3 26 2 0.0 0 5.1 11 10 2.4 8 14.7 36 12 LBDO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.6 3 0.3 3 0.7 3 LCSP 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 LEFL 1.0 5 4 0.1 1 1 0.8 3 1 0.3 2 1.8 7 6 LEOW 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.3 1 0.8 6 1.1 6 LESA 0.0 0 0.0 0 3.1 14 1.3 4 4.3 16 LESC 0.0 0 0.0 0 5.7 84 5.6 47 10.5 120 LEWO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.7 10 1.8 17 2.4 17 LEYE 0.0 0 0.0 0 3.9 31 1.7 5 2 5.3 31 2 LISP 124.2 295 209 19.8 86 42 124.4 238 397 92.0 362 153 310.1 882 633 MALL 0.1 1 0.0 0 449.4 684 692 343.6 542 450 708.4 954 959 MALL 0.4* 2* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4* 2* MAWA 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 1 0.1 1 0.2 2 1 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets
Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 MAWR 32.4 94 53 9.4 26 9 224.3 472 356 111.1 200 153 325.3 650 464 MERL 0.0 0 0.0 0 4.9 9 7 4.6 11 7 9.1 16 11 MGWA 8.7 22 7 0.9 4 1 7.9 21 6 7.5 18 7 23.0 52 16 MOBL 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.8 11 1.7 16 3.5 16 MOCH 0.5 3 0.0 0 1.6 4 7 1.9 16 3.8 17 7 MODO 0.5 2 1 0.0 0 83.6 271 61 181.9 395 102 249.3 605 147 MYWA 16.0 67 27 1.1 11 2 2.3 8 1 1.3 11 19.8 81 30 NAWA 10.8 53 1.8 7 10.5 31 11 10.6 40 2 30.0 90 13 NOHA 0.0 0 0.0 0 22.5 57 6 23.4 54 6 35.5 79 9 NOPI 0.0 0 0.0 0 8.8 46 3 6.4 19 9 14.8 53 12 NOPO 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 NOWA 24.1 39 47 5.7 14 9 13.1 25 31 27.9 51 34 60.9 84 98 NRWS 0.1 1 0.0 0 97.4 203 184 38.8 115 21 130.8 221 201 NSHO 0.0 0 0.0 0 8.9 43 3 5.4 21 10 13.8 54 13 NSHR 0.1 1 0.0 0 1.0 3 1.4 6 2 1.9 8 2 NSWO 20.2 79 56 1.6 6 1 0.1 1 0.2 2 21.3 84 57 OCWA 193.8 474 229 33.6 176 38 126.4 248 107 120.4 237 142 406.8 958 397 ORJU 18.7 51 15 1.9 7 1 14.3 56 8 21.9 77 12 50.1 164 32 OSFL 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.2 2 1 0.2 2 0.4 2 1 OSPR 0.0 0 0.0 0 70.7 120 103 70.9 116 80 95.8 139 116 PAJA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 PALO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 PAWR 1.1 3 0.1 1 0.7 5 4 1.9 6 3 3.5 10 6 PBGR 0.0 0 0.0 0 145.2 220 167 15.4 34 10 157.0 243 174 PEEP 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.5 14 25 0.8 12 2.3 15 25 PEFA 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.0 9 15 2.1 17 34 2.7 22 38 PESA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 5 0.2 1 0.6 5 PISI 10.9 100 3 0.3 2 208.5 1467 13 108.9 570 42 289.1 1902 52 PIWO 0.1 1 0.0 0 6.6 18 14 8.3 23 7 12.4 27 18 PROW 0.1* 1* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.1 2 PSFL 1.0 3 0.0 0 0.4 4 0.0 0 1.4 6 PYNU 0.4 4 0.0 0 12.5 36 9 20.9 64 31.3 89 9 RBGR 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 RBGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 99.1 233 74 191.3 406 108 267.6 505 160 RBME 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 RBNU 1.8 8 0.3 3 8.6 44 3 11.0 46 18.2 73 3 RBSA 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 RCKI 40.1 73 38 4.3 16 6 52.1 100 35 48.1 123 55 121.4 218 109 RECR 0.5 3 0.0 0 44.4 197 58.0 217 89.3 317 REDH 0.0 0 0.0 0 11.1 62 57 9.7 46 1 21.0 63 58 REVI 1.0 4 0.0 0 6.6 30 8 3.3 18 3 8.5 36 8 RIPH 0.1* 1* 0.0 0 1.5 7 2 2.3 12 4 3.3 16 6 RLHA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 RNDU 0.0 0 0.0 0 38.4 454 12 22.1 265 46.6 517 12 RNGR 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.1 6 17 0.6 5 1.8 6 17 RNPH 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.0 16 0.1 1 1.0 16 RNSA 1.4 4 0.1 1 2.5 8 2 2.4 12 5.8 21 2 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 ROPI 0.0 0 0.0 0 26.6 222 29.4 221 51.9 366 ROWR 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 1 0.0 0 0.2 1 RSFL 3.8 8 5 0.3 2 1 209.5 342 254 140.1 218 187 280.6 423 343 RTHA 0.1* 1* 0.0 0 10.4 20 18 22.8 46 26 30.5 60 42 RUBL 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.2 2 RUDU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.8 3 0.7 10 1.4 10 RUGR 0.1* 1* 0.0 0 0.6 3 1.3 8 1.8 8 RUHU 2.9* 17* 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 2.9* 17* RUHU 0.8 4 1 0.0 0 0.6 3 3.2 22 4.6 25 1 RWBL 1.6 10 0.0 0 1323.8 4478 765 3185.5 9310 669 4268.1 10435 1286 SACR 0.0 0 0.0 0 24.4 59 16 168.3 664 22 185.5 689 32 SAPH 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.3 4 0.4 2 1.5 6 SAVS 6.9 19 6 0.0 0 44.7 123 7 12.3 48 4 61.5 166 14 SCJU 0.3 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.4 2 SEPL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 2 0.1 1 0.4 2 SESA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 3 0.4 3 0.5 3 SORA 1.0 3 4 0.4 4 13.9 35 21 10.3 25 24 23.6 47 39 SOSA 0.1 1 0.0 0 3.3 7 1 2.6 7 5.6 12 1 SOSP 162.9 240 191 109.8 215 131 438.4 699 517 273.0 362 334 790.9 1143 886 SOVI 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 SPSA 0.1 1 0.0 0 17.8 32 13 2.1 7 19.4 32 13 SPTO 8.1 19 13 0.6 2 16.6 43 45 12.6 41 3 35.3 80 58 SSHA 2.8 7 1 0.1 1 5.7 10 8 8.8 24 14 15.9 34 22 STJA 0.2 1 0.0 0 18.1 51 24 22.2 57 31 32.4 76 42 SWHA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.2 1 SWSP 1.4 9 0.2 1 2.6 15 2 2.9 15 1 5.9 32 3 SWTH 11.6 31 4 2.3 10 4.2 10 8 9.6 39 6 26.4 56 16 TEWA 0.9 4 0.0 0 0.5 3 0.0 0 1.3 4 THGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 1 0.2 1 TOSO 0.2 2 0.0 0 1.3 7 0.7 2 2.2 7 TOWA 0.4 3 0.0 0 0.3 1 0.1 1 0.7 3 TRES 0.0 0 0.0 0 47.7 250 4 15.9 58 61.1 257 4 TRFL 0.1 2 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 TRUS 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 4 0.3 4 0.3 5 TUSW 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.1 13 0.1 1 1.1 13 TUVU 0.0 0 0.0 0 16.3 69 43 48.8 193 243 58.8 226 286 UDAD 0.0 0 0.0 0 8.8 65 9.8 106 18.5 110 UDEJ 0.8 4 2 0.1 1 0.2 2 0.1 1 1.1 4 2 UDID 0.0 0 0.0 0 3.8 38 4.0 56 7.8 57 UNAC 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 2 0.5 4 2 0.9 6 2 UNBL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 26.1 362 26.2 362 UNBU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 UNCA 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.8 15 0.0 0 1.6 15 UNDO 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.2 10 0.1 1 1.3 11 UNDU 0.0 0 0.0 0 97.8 208 13 65.3 472 163.1 590 13 UNEM 0.0 0 1 0.0 0 2.9 11 3 0.6 3 3.4 14 4 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms Numbers with * indicate netted only New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 UNFA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 3 0.4 3 UNFI 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.0 0 0.1 2 UNGR 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.2 1 UNGU 0.0 0 0.0 0 48.4 103 21 36.4 114 44 83.8 154 65 UNHA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.1 2 UNHU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.9 3 1 1.8 6 2 2.8 9 2 UNLO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 UNOW 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.1 1 0.2 3 UNPA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 4 0.0 0 0.3 4 UNPL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 2 0.0 0 0.1 2 UNRA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 UNSL 0.0 0 0.0 0 135.4 986 23 159.4 1592 124 295.1 1695 147 UNSP 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.8 10 0.3 3 2.1 10 UNTN 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 UNWA 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.3 14 1.2 17 2.8 28 UNYE 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.8 8 0.9 9 1.7 12 USCA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.3 4 0.1 2 0.4 4 USWA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 UTEA 0.0 0 0.0 0 5.5 33 2 4.1 29 8.8 33 2 UYRW 21.8 83 31 1.0 4 2 108.8 291 198 110.8 302 266 209.7 519 409 VASW 0.0 0 0.0 0 9.9 66 20.6 164 29.8 167 VATH 0.2 3 0.0 0 0.4 4 1 0.3 2 1 1.0 4 2 VEER 17.6 36 11 6.6 13 7 19.7 40 37 31.1 73 22 65.5 109 68 VESP 0.3 2 1 0.0 0 2.8 7 1 0.5 3 1 3.6 10 3 VGSW 0.0 0 0.0 0 455.1 1292 23 246.3 1243 629.7 1457 23 VIRA 3.8 14 7 0.8 4 1 78.9 126 124 124.8 219 193 172.1 260 232 WAVI 8.9 20 7 0.6 2 15.9 42 7 8.8 36 31.2 70 14 WCSP 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 WBNU 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.4 2 0.3 2 0.6 3 WEBL 0.0 0 0.0 0 31.9 107 7 36.9 99 7 66.2 152 14 WEFL 0.3 2 0.0 0 0.2 3 0.4 6 0.8 10 WEGR 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 WEKI 0.1 1 0.0 0 1.7 5 2 1.3 6 3.1 12 2 WEME 0.0 0 0.0 0 1.9 5 3.4 16 4 5.0 17 4 WESA 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.5 4 0.1 1 0.6 4 WESO 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 WETA 7.1 27 5 0.0 0 27.8 80 27 43.8 78 27 68.1 157 54 WEWP 10.4 35 13 0.5 4 63.3 87 34 17.4 45 3 79.8 124 48 WIFL 79.9 124 61 16.4 32 13 144.4 234 186 91.3 148 82 268.1 407 274 WIPH 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.2 2 0.0 0 0.2 2 WISN 0.8 3 0.0 0 15.4 27 9 12.9 24 8 28.8 44 17 WIWA 30.0 75 20 1.6 9 1 14.9 53 6 9.1 36 4 51.1 135 29 WODU 0.0 0 1 0.0 0 357.1 834 482 57.8 123 44 399.1 910 512 WPWA 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 0.0 0 0.1 1 WTSP 1.6 4 3 0.0 0 1.1 10 2 0.9 5 1 3.3 16 5 WTSW 0.0 0 0.0 0 19.6 284 14.1 186 25.6 356 Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only
New Bands Recaps Census Observations Ets Aver Aver Aver Aver Aver SPECIES 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 01-16 Max 2017 WWSC 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 1.0 0.0 0 0.1 1 YBCH 2.2 8 4 1.7 8 3 2.1 17.0 1.9 14 7.4 44 7 YEWA 82.4 148 45 14.6 32 7 185.3 255.0 200 108.8 200 93 315.8 436 273 YHBL 0.0 0 0.0 0 36.5 152.0 9 17.4 104 52.5 255 9 YSFL 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 0.1 1 0.1 1
TOTALS 1560.0 2591 1807 440.1 855 445 12062.1 18290 11418 23116.4 63894 8611 34916.4 83447 18948 Species # 58.9 67 60 24.8 30 27 131 139 122 124.8 148 104 153.1 162 139 birds/day 21.1 34.1 23.0 6.2 11.3 5.9 168.3 240.7 146.1 343.1 1034.5 113.1 501.7 1204.5 248.6 species/day 8.5 9.9 8.4 3.7 4.7 3.7 32.1 35.2 29.0 32.1 41.2 28.0 45.1 50.7 39.5 all time 112sp 55 sp 210sp 210sp 235sp
Numbers in red indicate high counts. Numbers in blue indicate low counts. Species names in red indicate new species or forms. Numbers with * indicate netted only