April has started with a bit of a bang. In the last week, we have captured 248 owls. This brings the season's banding totals to 332 Northern Saw-whet Owls, 80 Long-eared Owls, and seven Boreal Owls. We have also recaptured 25 previously banded saw-whets. The first Boreal Owl (BOOW) of the season arrived on [...]
After experiencing a nice stretch of productive weather conditions prior to our last post, the recent weather patterns have regularly slowed down migration, if not shut us down altogether. That said, we did have a few windows when Northern Saw-whet Owls were on the move between periods of high winds and snow. Most notably, [...]
When you're working with migratory birds at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory in mid-March, your efforts are naturally going to produce results that vary significantly from year to year. We experienced a relatively mild winter this year, and our early season efforts are paying off. Northern Saw-whet Owls have continued to come through in steady [...]
As always, Nova Mackentley and I are excited for the start of the owl banding season. It's hard to believe, but this is my 20th spring owl banding season at WPBO, and Nova is only a few seasons behind me. We don't have much to report yet, but after a couple of nights of [...]
Well, the grind has continued, but thankfully, so have the owls. We've been able to band on 32 of 33 nights so far this summer and have banded 483 owls; 461 Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) and 22 Long-eared Owls. We mentioned in our previous posts that we were not expecting it to be a peak [...]
We've been able to band 22 of 23 nights so far, and the strong start to the season has continued. To date, we have banded 316 Northern Saw-whet Owls and 13 Long-eared Owls. Of the saw-whets, 28 have been adults and 288 have been juveniles. The 288 juveniles is our best total for a non-peak [...]
Although this year should not be the peak in the reproductive cycle of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), we are off to the best start ever for juvenile NSWO this summer. To date, we have banded 180 owls; 172 saw-whets and eight Long-eared Owls. Of the 172 NSWO we've banded, 148 have been juveniles. This strong [...]
It's hard to believe that this is the fifteenth year of summer owl banding. A lot of sweat has gone into working in the woods at night through July and August over the years. Thanks to the mosquitoes, even more of our blood has gone into this project. I have been fortunate to have great [...]
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’re hijacking the owl blog this week in the hopes of raising some funds for the WPBO Birdathon. Every spring since 2007, the field staff have dedicated a day in late May to try to document as many species as possible to raise money for the research we all believe in. It is stressful; I [...]
