Well, there’s no way around the fact that we had a slow week. Over the past week, we banded 19 owls, with just one night producing more than three owls. On the plus side, we finally had a night when juvenile Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) outnumbered adults, and they outnumbered them nine to five this past week. We also banded five more Long-eared Owls (LEOW), which is not bad, particularly during this time of the summer season. Another plus was that the mosquitoes were light enough that we only had to zip our bug shirts up if we had to stop to do something, and not even always then. At this point, we are keeping our expectations relatively low on any given night, but hopefully, the juveniles will pick up a bit.
One of this week’s Long-eared Owls. Photo by Chris Neri
Season Totals of Banded Owls
Northern Saw-whet Owls: 73 (17 juveniles & 56 adults)
Long-eared Owls: 7
Total owls banded: 80
Season Totals of Recaptured Owls
Northern Saw-whet Owls: 1
~ Chris Neri & Jess Cosentino
2023 Spring Owl Banders
You can read the owl banders’ 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. For the safety of the owls, flash photography and recording video is prohibited.
