By Chris Neri and Nova Mackentley
Northern Saw-whet Owl, Photo Chris Neri
We had hoped by waiting out the winter storm we might have some good news to report. Unfortunately, no such luck as of yet. Obviously, the storm had us shut down for a few nights, and we frequently had less than ideal conditions prior to the storm. However, we have also had some periods of good conditions and the owls have simply continued to trickle through at best. Since we had that first little push back on March 27, we have only banded 15 Northern Saw-whets and recaptured another one that was banded here last fall. This is a stark contrast to last spring when we had banded 561 owls, including 121 Long-eared Owls, by this date.
Although the first two good weather nights since the storm failed to produce, the forecast continues to look promising for the coming nights and the daytime temperatures are set to climb into the upper 40’s for the first time this year. At least there are no mosquitoes.
Instant Update: I’ve been writing this blog up at the Point between empty net checks tonight. We just had a little late night push and ended up banding seven Saw-whets tonight. Please, please, please let this be a sign that things are about to pick up. Please………
Dave Brinker from Project Snowstorm and Project Owlnet visits the Owl Banding Lab at WPBO, Photo Chris Neri
A recent visit from Project Snowstorm and Project Owlnet cofounder Dave Brinker helped lift our spirits a bit during this slow time. It’s the third time in recent years that Dave has come up and stayed with us. The first time was back in the winter of 2015-16 to help train us on placing transmitters on Snowy Owls for Project Snowstorm. Last summer he returned to install a Motus tower and also brought nine Project Owlnet nanotags to put on Saw-whets. This year his visit in April very likely reminded him of his visit in the winter, but he at least got to see a Saw-whet and made a couple of updates to the Motus tower. We’ve really enjoyed being collaborators on these projects and have gained experience we would not have without them. Dave then went downstate and gave a presentation on the Motus network for Michigan Audubon’s annual meeting. Ideas and information about owl research fly when we get together, so it’s always exciting to see Dave.
