Like much of the region, we have experienced some serious winter weather over the past week. An ice storm and gale are occurring as I write this in the pre-dawn hours. The last time I stepped outside, bunches of pine needles and cones were dropping out of the trees, and I heard a loud crack as a limb gave way in our neighbor’s yard. Often at this time of year, we begin to see pushes of owls moving before these weather patterns. They did not occur this week, but the Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) continued in low numbers, and the first Barred Owl of the season arrived. This past week we banded 24 NSWO and one Barred Owl and recaptured four previously-banded NSWO.

The season’s first Barred Owl. Photo by Chris Neri

We have naturally become friends with those who have been Chris’s owl banding partners in the summer and the fall owl banders. Something that brings us joy every spring is recapturing owls that they originally banded. We always take a photo of them and send them a text. We have sent middle-of-the-night texts to friends in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other states. Last night we added Missouri to the list when we caught an NSWO originally banded by Cory Gregory from last summer and messaged, “Hey, this saw-whet that you banded as an adult on July 11 last summer says hi.” It’s incredibly special to have an individual owl generate a connection back to memories of people that are special to us and, in return, bring back memories of Whitefish Point and the owls to those who have done such great work here in the past. Below is the NSWO that had us reach out to Cory last night.

A Northern Saw-whet Owl originally banded at WPBO in July of 2022. Photo by Chris Neri

Season Totals to Date of Banded Owls
Northern Saw-whet Owls: 100
Long-eared Owls: 2
Barred Owl: 1
Total owls banded: 103

Season Totals to Date of Recaptured Owls
Northern Saw-whet Owls: 9
Total recaptures: 9

~ Chris Neri & Nova Mackentley
2023 Spring Owl Banders

You can read Chris and Nova’s weekly blog posts and follow WPBO’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for owl banding highlights this season.

Owl Banding Presentations — Visitors may observe owls that have been banded on Friday and Saturday evenings from dusk until midnight. Please note that banding is weather dependent and it is at the banders’ discretion to cancel banding accordingly. Observation will be limited to outdoors only and we encourage participants to wear masks and continue to practice social distancing whenever possible. For the safety of the owls, flash photography and recording video is prohibited.