Greetings from the WPBO banding station! We’ve just wrapped up our first week of the 2023 fall owl banding season, and our first night (September 14/15) yielded nine Northern Saw-whet Owls, the season high so far. Our next three nights were a bit slower — we banded three Northern Saw-whet Owls on Friday night, three again on Saturday, and only one on Sunday. Monday night brought seven more Northern Saw-whet Owls to our nets and also delivered a spectacular night sky; we watched the aurora borealis dance overhead, a truly magical show. We captured seven Northern Saw-whet Owls on Tuesday night and our first Barred Owl of the season.

It’s worth mentioning that the owls aren’t the only critters to have found our nets this week. So far, we’ve had to extract two flying squirrels. Both were adorable but also destructive, chewing through several trammel lines and giving us some extra practice in net repairs. We also had an American Woodcock fly into a net.

Overall, it’s been an exciting first week at Whitefish Point. We’re looking forward to many more throughout the season.

Season Totals of Banded Owls
Northern Saw-whet Owls: 30
Barred Owls: 1
Total Owls: 31

~ Liv Ridley
2023 Fall Lead Owl Bander

Featured image: Northern Saw-whet Owl by Liv Ridley

Northern lights over Lake Superior. Photo by Sarah Montalvo

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.

The fall owl banding season runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 31.

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.