Monday, October 3, 2011

Teslin Lake update - September 30th



From Sept 26th through Sept 30th Teslin Lake averaged 29.2 birds/day and 0.492 birds/net-hour for a total of 146 birds banded. No new species for the season were banded. Two biggest banding highlights were two record late birds: a Townsend's Warbler on the 29th and an Alder Flycatcher on the 30th. A Gray-cheeked Thrush on the 26th and a Varied Thrush on the 28th were both the 2nd of their kind banded this season. The top five species banded during the period were Dark-eyed Junco (32), American Tree Sparrow (28), Wilson's Warbler (18), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (17), Black-capped Chickadee (11). The current season top five species banded are Alder Flycatcher (637), Dark-eyed Junco (315), Yellow Warbler (309), Boreal Chickadee (222), and Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler (128).

As the weather cleared up it was the turn for large soaring raptors to take the main stage. The 26th was a clear day with southeast winds, not a day expected to turn into a great raptor day, but early afternoon trickle of Red-tailed Hawks soon turned into a river of them! Well, it wasn't like Veracruz or even Karjalan kannas, but still the biggest raptor day of the observatory's history with a total of 682 raptors! The majority, 389, were identified as Red-tailed Hawks and 155 as Sharp-shinned Hawks. The next day was another untypical raptor day as this time there was fog and very low ceiling but light north wind brought a flight of 560 raptors. The main species were the same ones, 367 Red-tailed Hawks and 86 Sharp-shinned Hawks, but three Northern Goshawks was a notable count and may indicate bigger numbers to come in October. The 30th was yet another good raptor day, this time under clear skies and with strong, almost stormy, west wind 243 raptors were counted. A little surprisingly the most numerous species of the day was Golden Eagle (61) followed by Red-tailed (60) and Rough-legged Hawk (32).

The season raptor totals as of September 30 are as follows:

Osprey - 53
Bald Eagle - 40
Northern Harrier - 570
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 527
Northern Goshawk - 6
Swainson's Hawk - 23
Red-tailed Hawk - 982
Rough-legged Hawk - 68
Golden Eagle - 104
American Kestrel - 194
Merlin - 41
Peregrine Falcon - 20
Unidentifieds - 35
= 2663 raptors

Other good migration counts from the period included 59 Sandhill Cranes, 3500 American Robins, 75 Varied Thrushes, and 58 Rusty Blackbirds on the 26th, 250 Tundra Swans on the 27th, and 360 Pacific Loons on the 29th. It seems that we won't get the nice Sandhill Crane flight this year that we got to enjoy in the last two fall seasons.

Both the Little Gull and the Sabine's Gull first noticed in the last period became regular sightings towards the end of the month as they worked the lake up and down, often together, and on the 30th they draw the attention of a Parasitic Jaeger briefly on them.


Second-year male Sharp-shinned Hawk


Adult female Townsend's Warbler


Juvenile Sabine's Gull


The littlelest gull!


Teslin's "river" of raptors on the gloomy day of the 27th


The star bird of the period - Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk


Pacific Loons

Photos ©Jukka Jantunen


The complete list of bird banded at Teslin Lake Bird Observatory this season as of September 30th (the last 5 days in brackets).

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6 (1)
Merlin - 2
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Solitary Sandpiper - 3
Boreal Owl - 4
Belted Kingfisher - 6
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 7
Northern Flicker - 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1
Western Wood-Pewee - 10
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 7
Alder Flycatcher - 637 (1)
Least Flycatcher - 10
Hammond's Flycatcher - 28
Dusky Flycatcher - 6
Northern Shrike - 1
Warbling Vireo - 17
Black-capped Chickadee - 85 (11)
Mountain Chickadee - 1
Boreal Chickadee - 222 (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 80 (17)
Townsend's Solitaire - 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 2 (1)
Swainson's Thrush - 85
Hermit Thrush - 11 (4)
American Robin - 11
Varied Thrush - 2 (1)
Bohemian Waxwing - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 57 (3)
Yellow Warbler - 309 (4)
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler - 128 (8)
Yellow-rumped "Audubon's" Warbler -1
Townsend's Warbler - 6 (1)
Blackpoll Warbler - 58
American Redstart - 39
Northern Waterthrush - 42
Common Yellowthroat - 71 (2)
Wilson's Warbler - 126 (18)
American Tree Sparrow - 48 (28)
Chipping Sparrow - 28
Brewer's Sparrow - 2
Savannah Sparrow - 23 (1)
Fox Sparrow - 15 (3)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 24 (5)
White-crowned Sparrow - 34
Slate-colored Junco - 315 (32)
Rusty Blackbird - 12 (2)
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Purple Finch - 1
White-winged Crossbill - 1
Common Redpoll - 6 (1)
Pine Siskin - 10
= 2620 (146) birds of 55 species
0.345 (0.492) birds/net-hour
Please note that the Boreal Owls are included in the total but not in the birds/net hr

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