Owl Update 5/27/2020

After being very cooperative in giving us regular nights off during the first two months of the season, the weather has decided it is time for us to put in some overtime. Tonight is the 16th night in a row that we have been able to open the nets. Thankfully, the nights have been productive. We have banded 279 owls during this 16 night stretch; 211 northern saw-whets, 67 long-eareds and one barred. In addition to the owls, we also banded the season’s first Eastern Whip-poor-will and American Woodcock. We’ve also been appreciating the fact that the longest run of consecutive nights this spring has occurred during that all too brief period between the snow and the mosquitoes, although our luck ran out in regard to the mosquitoes tonight. Ugh.

Eastern Whip-poor-will.

A close-up of the whip-poor-will’s rictal bristles, which helps it feel the insects it is hunting as they get close to its mouth.

I think we post this view of an American Woodcock every spring. American Woodcock’s eyes are placed so that they also have binocular vision behind them.

In addition to the birds, there have been lots of amphibians on the trails. It is actually a pain, because they don’t move, causing us to walk slowly while staring at the ground to avoid stepping on them. You’d think they’d move as they hear and feel our approaching footsteps, but no. They just sit there, seemingly thinking, “Well, there’s nothing to be done now, but to just sit here and leave my survival to chance.” The little Wood Frogs are the worst, just hop you stupid things, at least then we will be able to see you easier!

Gray Treefrog

Green Frog

American Toad.

Last, but certainly not least, we also caught the first bat of the season recently. We used to see Silver-haired Bats much more frequently than we have in recent years, so it was nice to see this one a few nights ago.