MIGRATION SUMMARY – OCTOBER 10^th – 16^th, 2007

Pelee Island Bird Observatory (PIBO)

North winds and cooler temperatures during the week made for an active time at the Point towards the end of the summary period. There were lots of Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers in the area along with moderate numbers of kinglets and White-throated Sparrows. Fall ‘firsts’ from the 10^th-16^th include Common Loon, Fox Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Rusty Blackbird and Pine Siskin. A Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow was observed by staff near the PIBO cottage on October 12^th.      

October 10^th     

Strong northwest winds but not many birds in the area apart from small numbers of nuthatches, thrushes, kinglets and sparrows. Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows were somewhat active. Still very quiet on the lake – just two waterfowl species were tallied all week – and generally very little diurnal migration in the mornings (i.e. robins, pipits, blackbirds, etc.).    

October 11^th   

Lots of rain this-morning and just the 90-minute census completed. Similar activity to the preceding day but with a few more sparrows recorded in the area (six species). A variety of birds were reported outside the official count area once the rain stopped in the afternoon including Baird’s Sandpiper, a late Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and three Pine Warblers.     

October 12^th       

It was a busy morning with lots of migrants recorded both on the census and in the netting area. Good numbers of Blue Jays, Tree Swallows, kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows along with a nice variety of other species.

October 13^th       

Another active day for Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers with 28 and 32 birds banded of each species, respectively, along with smaller numbers of kinglets and sparrows. A few lingering warblers remain in the area – eight species were tallied this week – including Black-throated Blue, Nashville and Common Yellowthroat.   

October 14^th      

The dawn temperature at the Point was below 10° C this-morning for only the third time this autumn, which made for another busy bird day. Hermits Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers continued to dominate in the netting area. A nice variety of other species were captured in small numbers including four Blue-headed Vireos, a few Winter Wrens, an Orange-crowned Warbler, and the season’s first Fox Sparrow.  In keeping with the overall trend in Southern Ontario, both Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches have been very active at the field station this Fall as well, with a station-high ten White-breasted Nuthatches recorded today during the official count period.  

October 15^th   

Activity dropped off dramatically this-morning and there was not much bird news to report with the exception of a Bald Eagle recorded on census and ones-and-twos of creepers, kinglets and thrushes in the netting area.  

October 16^th     

The temperature was up again (17° C at dawn) and the wind was from the southeast, which made for a fairly quiet morning apart from a few creepers, wrens and kinglets. Thrushes, warblers and sparrows were also few-and-far between, with only 2 Hermit Thrushes, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 7 White-throated Sparrows counted on the day.     

Seventy-eight species were recorded at the Point this week compared to seventy-four last week and five Fall ‘firsts’ were tallied, which brings the season species count to 159. In all, 258 birds were banded and six recaptured during 301 net-hours for a catch-rate of .86 birds/net-hour.

Winter Wren photo – Claire Sanders

Next week’s summary will be posted on October 25^th.  

Birds Documented at Fish Point  October 10^th – 16^th, 2007