Slow Start to Spring Owl Banding Season Continues

With the exception of one night, things have remained slow during the nighttime at the Point. Following our last post, we were able to run nets four consecutive long, cold, full nights that produced a grand total of one Northern Saw-whet Owl. Mercifully, the weather then gave us two nights off. Don’t get us wrong, we want to be out banding owls. However, spending 11 hours skiing and snow snowshoeing out to empty nets is naturally not too rewarding.

Conditions improved on the night of the March 27 and we finally had the first little push of the season. We banded 11 Saw-whets, caught two more that were previously banded and captured the season’s first Barred Owl! Since then it’s been a mix of bad weather and more slow nights. Our total to date is 20 Saw-whets, three Boreals, and one Barred Owl. We should mention that we have not banded a Boreal since the night of March 19. Again, this slow start is not necessarily an indication that it is going to be a down year. Our best season for Saw-whets was spring of 2008, and we banded just 12 Saw-whets that March. Conversely, we have had slow starts that in the end did prove to have been an early indication of a down season. Given how poor the weather conditions have been for migration so far this season, it is too early to tell what this slow start says about what is yet to come.

As a short side note, the last Barred I had seen prior to the one we just banded was down in town. After our last day of working with Snowy Owls, I went to the Pizza Factory in Paradise. While waiting for the pizza I noticed a hunting Barred perched in a pine tree off to the side of the building. There was just enough light hitting from an outdoor light to get decent looks at it, and a very grainy photo. It stayed long enough for the folks from the pizza place and gas station to watch it for a while. It was pretty cool to share the excitement with local residents.