The first Northern Saw-whet Owl banded this fall.
Hi everyone! We’re Kate and Eliana, the owl banders this fall. We’d like to introduce ourselves, but first, let’s get to the reason why we’re all here: the owls.
The fall banding season had an auspicious beginning with six Northern Saw-whet Owls caught prior to midnight on the first night of banding (Sept. 14). Unfortunately, the winds picked up shortly after the last owl was caught and have stayed high enough to keep captures low on most nights since. The notable exception was the night of Sept. 18. As both the winds and temperatures dropped, the owls began to move. We ended the night with 26 birds! This included two recaptured owls that had been banded here at the Point as juveniles this summer. It was fun to see that they were doing well and we wished them luck as they began their first migration south.
In the first eight nights of banding (Sept. 14 – 21), we caught a total of 45 owls. Thus far, all of them have been saw-whets.
Our non-owl highlight of the week was a Spotted Salamander that we crossed paths with on the net trails. While the frogs have been keeping us company most nights, this was our first salamander encounter of the season and it was an exciting surprise on an otherwise slow night of banding.
Spotted on the net trail!
Due to the ongoing pandemic, there will be no owl programs this fall and banding will be closed to the public. That said, let us know if you have any questions you’d like us to address over the course of the season.
We’re hoping that the record-breaking summer that Chris Neri and Hannah Toutonghi had banding juveniles will translate into lots of owls migrating through the Point this fall, but who knows? We’re excited to find out. Thanks for following along with us!
– Kate Maley and Eliana Fierro-Calderón
