MIGRATION SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER 17th - 23rd, 2008

 

Pelee Island Bird Observatory (PIBO)

 

Cool temperatures and brisk north winds made for an active time at the Point this week and PIBO staff and volunteers kept busy throughout most of the summary period. While overall species diversity continued to decline compared to the first half of October, there were lots of Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows recorded at the station along with a nice variety of other late-Fall migrants.

 

Both kinglet species were active, with 70 Ruby-crowns noted on October 18th and 80 Golden-crowns tallied on the 19th (233 kinglets were banded this week). Winter Wrens were numerous as well, with 31 birds recorded on the 18th, along with smaller numbers of Eastern Phoebes (5 on the 17th), Blue-headed Vireos (5/17th) and Tree Swallows (22/18th), among others. A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher banded on October 19th was a PIBO record-late date for this species.   

 

Waterfowl activity on the lake remained light despite the cool temperatures, with only small numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers recorded on the census along with the first Buffleheads of the Fall, and raptors were few-and-far between, with ones-and-twos of five species counted from the 17th-23rd. Other 'firsts' for the Fall this week included Chipping Sparrow, Purple Finch and Pine Siskin.

 

A total of 64 species was recorded at the Point during the official count period compared to 74 last week, and there were four 'firsts', which brings the Fall species total to 158. In all, 452 birds were banded along with five recaptures in 354 net-hours, for an average catch-rate of 1.29 birds/net-hour. Eight Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded this week.    

 

Eastern Phoebe photo - Claire Sanders

 

PIBO's next summary will be posted on November 1st.           

 

Birds documented at Fish Point by PIBO staff from October 17th - 23rd, 2008

 

Date

October

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Species

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double-crested Cormorant

300

1.1K

3

4

52

 

 

Great Blue Heron

 

1

1

 

 

 

3

Turkey Vulture

2

2

1

 

1

 

2

Canada Goose

50

58

53

50

 

70

50

Mallard

 

 

2

 

2

 

2

4

Bufflehead

 

 

 

 

 

 

3

 

Red-breasted Merganser

 

2

 

 

12

1

 

Bald Eagle

 

 

 

 

1

 

1

 

Sharp-shinned Hawk

 

3

1

 

 

 

 

Red-tailed Hawk

 

1

 

 

 

 

1

American Kestrel

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Ring-necked Pheasant

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Wild Turkey

 

2

2

2

4

10

2

 

Killdeer

 

 

3

1

 

 

 

 

American Woodcock

1

 

 

 

 

1

 

Bonaparte's Gull

9

 

22

 

 

8

68

Ring-billed Gull

90

13

4

17

2

6

8

Herring Gull

 

17

7

2

4

4

2

11

Great Black-backed Gull

 

15

4

15

5

12

25

Mourning Dove

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Great Horned Owl

 

 

1

 

1

1

 

Red-headed Woodpecker

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

 

3

3

1

 

2

1

Downy Woodpecker

1

2

2

3

 

3

 

Northern Flicker

6

4

2

2

1

4

1

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

Eastern Phoebe

5

 

1

1

 

2

 

Blue-headed Vireo

5

 

2

1

 

1

 

Blue Jay

 

19

10

6

3

2

15

1

American Crow

18

66

2

 

51

8

18

Tree Swallow

3

22

1

 

 

 

 

Black-capped Chickadee

3

4

5

13

2

8

5

Red-breasted Nuthatch

5

2

3

 

 

1

 

Brown Creeper

3

6

9

6

1

7

 

Carolina Wren

1

2

2

4

 

1

 

House Wren

 

 

1

 

1

 

 

 

Winter Wren

 

21

31

21

9

11

8

2

Golden-crowned Kinglet

60

54

80

45

22

43

50

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

34

70

35

13

3

17

8

American Robin

8

4

7

3

2

5

 

Swainson's Thrush

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

Hermit Thrush

9

20

13

10

3

13

6

European Starling

70

72

2.2K

22

 

4

80

American Pipit

6

9

4

 

 

8

 

Cedar Waxwing

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Yellow-rumped Warbler

61

56

28

3

5

20

1

Palm Warbler

2

1

 

 

 

1

 

Northern Cardinal

2

2

3

2

1

4

1

Eastern Towhee

1

2

 

 

 

2

 

Chipping Sparrow

 

1

 

1

 

1

 

White-throated Sparrow

16

14

22

9

6

4

 

White-crowned Sparrow

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Fox Sparrow

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

Song Sparrow

7

8

3

3

1

1

 

Swamp Sparrow

5

6

4

1

3

2

 

Dark-eyed Junco

17

30

17

8

13

12

9

Brown-headed Cowbird

 

 

2

1

 

48

 

Red-winged Blackbird

155

95

155

40

100

127

35

Rusty Blackbird

2

 

 

 

 

1

 

Common Grackle

55

36

70

40

21

113

20

Purple Finch

 

3

6

1

 

 

3

 

Pine Siskin

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Goldfinch

14

30

2

7

3

54

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day

 

41

45

45

36

27

47

26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2008

 

156

157

157

157

157

158

158

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This period

64

 

Previous period

 

74

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October

 

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weather- 1 hr. after sunrise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind direction/strength1

NE3

NE3

SE1

WSW4

NW5

NW1

ESE6

Visibility (km)

25

30

30

30

25

30

30

Cloud cover (0-10)

8

5

1

2

10

5

1

Temperature (° C)

11

11

9

11

8

4

7

Precipitation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Beaufort scale