Subject: ROCKY POINT BIRD OBSERVATORY-- 2002 season-end report
Date: Nov 1 10:36:24 2002
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at shaw.ca


Tweeters,

I am forwarding the 2002 season-end report from Rocky Point Bird
Observatory, which was sent out yesterday by David Allinson. RPBO is
located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, just west of
Victoria, B.C. It is one of about 5 active banding stations in B.C.,
and has been in operation since 1994. The list of species banded this
fall included two species that are accidental in B.C.-- BLUE-GRAY
GNATCATCHER and NORTHERN PARULA.

If anyone has any questions about RPBO or about the banding
statistics, please contact David Allinson at goshawk at telus.net, or
check out the RPBO website at http://www.islandnet.com/~rpbo .

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: David Allinson <goshawk at telus.net>
To: bcbirdingvanisland <bcbirdingvanisland at yahoogroups.com>;
bcprovbirding <bcprovbirding at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 9:46 PM
Subject: [bcbirdingvanisland] Final RPBO numbers (long e-mail)


Hello all,

Well, October 21st was the final day of our 2002 season at the Rocky
Point Bird Observatory (RPBO), and what a season it was!

Note that we "lost" four days from October 8th to October 11th due to
a combination of events -- DND demolition training and the departure
of bander-in-charge, David Woodward. However, we resumed normal
activities on the 12th with Jukka Jantunen finishing the season as our
BIC.

A total of 3161 birds were banded this fall (our biggest fall yet),
even though at the end of August it looked like we were well behind
our usual pace! Clear weather and high pressure systems in July and
August kept banding numbers down as nocturnal migrants had little
reason to stop over. Needless to say, steady numbers from
mid-September into October got us back on track. Only three complete
days were lost to rain!

As some of you know, this was the first year that all 13 nets were
open daily since we began the phase-in of the "back three" in 1999.
(However, I suspect we would still have had a solid season even
without these new nets open daily). Note that twelve species recorded
new season high captures for us: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Willow
Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Chestnut-backed Chickadee,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing,
MacGillivray's Warbler, Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow, White-crowned
Sparrow, and American Goldfinch. A remarkable 466 Ruby-crowned
Kinglets took first place honours and Pacific-slope Flycatcher also
came out a "winner" with 273 banded this fall.

A total of five species were added to RPBO checklist, bringing our
total to 278 species. Aside from our banding numbers and captures of
phenomenal regional rarities in the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Northern
Parula, one the other main highlights this year was Paul Levesque's
new Northern Saw-whet Owl project. A staggering total of 182 ! of
these little gnomes were captured over only 15 nights of banding
(conducted mostly on Friday and Saturday nights from mid-September
until late-October). Now, the task is to ensure that we continue this
project in the future in order to gain more insight with recaptures
and discover peak periods for this migratory owl.

As is usual for any migration monitoring/bird-banding operation,
off-season activities will involve final data entry, proofing and
interpretation, final reports and invoicing, access permit
applications for next season, site maintenance, and then never-ending
search for FUNDING, FUNDING, FUNDING and more FUNDING!

Here are our banding totals from July 20 to October 21:

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10 (new season high)
Northern Pygmy-Owl - 1 (only our second banded)
Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1 banded during "regular" net program; another
182 banded during new project in evenings!
Downy Woodpecker - 1 (only our seventh banded since '94)
"Red-shafted" Northern Flicker - 2 (only our seventh and eighth
banded)
Willow/"Traill's" Flycatcher - 47 (new season high -- almost twice
average!)
Hammond's Flycatcher - 23
Dusky Flycatcher - 1 (our eighth record and third banded)
(#2) Pacific-slope Flycatcher - 273 (new season high)
Hutton's Vireo - 4
Warbling Vireo - 11
Steller's Jay - 7
Violet-green Swallow - 4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - 93 (new season high)
Bushtit - 45
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4
Brown Creeper - 9
Bewick's Wren - 37 (low)
House Wren - 11
(#4) Winter Wren - 180 (but still "low" compared to last two seasons!)
Marsh Wren - 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 117 (new season high)
(#1) Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 466 (new season high)
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER - 1 (adult male -- 6th BC record; second for
Victoria checklist!)
Swainson's Thrush - 62 (second highest since 1997)
Hermit Thrush - 53 (second highest since 1997)
American Robin - 15
Cedar Waxwing - 7 (new season high)
Orange-crowned Warbler - 146
NORTHERN PARULA - 1 (adult female -- only third BC record; first for
Victoria checklist!)
Yellow Warbler - 114 (second highest since 2000)
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 31 (second highest since 1997)
Black-throated Gray Warbler - 4
Townsend's Warbler - 2 (low)
MacGillivray's Warbler - 48 (new season high)
Common Yellowthroat - 74
(#3) Wilson's Warbler - 231 (second highest since 1999)
Black-headed Grosbeak - 1 (our 10th banded since '94)
Spotted Towhee - 88 (second highest since 2000)
Chipping Sparrow - 14 (high)
Savannah Sparrow - 74
Fox Sparrow - 94 (new season high)
(#5) Song Sparrow - 170 (new season high)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 148
Swamp Sparrow - 1 (fifth banded)
White-throated Sparrow - 1
White-crowned Sparrow - 96 (new season high)
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 67 (second highest since 1997)
"Oregon" Dark-eyed Junco - 63
Red-winged Blackbird - 8
Brown-headed Cowbird - 7 (low)
Purple Finch - 6 (low)
House Finch - 6 (high)
Pine Siskin - 7
American Goldfinch - 159 (new season high)

Total - 56 species, 3161 individuals (avg. ~36/day).

Non-banding rarities/uncommon birds recorded during 'fall' season:
Yellow-billed Loon - second record for RPBO
Sooty Shearwater (offshore via 'MV Coho')
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel (offshore via 'MV Coho')
Cattle Egret - 1st record for RPBO
Broad-winged Hawk - only five in total (low based on last few years)
Rough-legged Hawk - two birds this fall (October 12 and 14)
Golden Eagle - three to four different birds
Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit - 1st record for RPBO
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Franklin's Gull - our second and third records
Little Gull - our fifth record
Black-legged Kittiwake - two records (our ninth and tenth)
Tufted Puffin
Barn Owl - fourth and fifth records (one found predated)
Black Swift
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Lewis's Woodpecker - first RPBO record in 30-40? years! (historically
bred in area).
Bank Swallow - sixth record
Nashville Warbler - seventh record
Northern Waterthrush
"Western" Palm Warbler - two records this fall (7th and 8th)
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird - new RPBO species

Site year-list tally at 187 species (goal=200).
Note until our annual permit expires on December 31st, we will
endeavour to conduct fall-winter surveys on weekends.


Only 260 days left until start of our 10th season on July 20, 2003!!

David Allinson
President, Rocky Point Bird Observatory
572 Atkins Avenue
Victoria, BC
V9B 3A3
Ph. (250)391-1786

Web site: www.islandnet.com/~rpbo
278 species and counting!
Look for a bargraph checklist coming soon.

"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted."
Albert Einstein