Owl Banding

The owl migration slowed a bit this past week but remained steady. After the record night of 71 Long-eared Owls (LEOW) on April 9, we have not banded more than 18 LEOW on a given night. We're seeing a few more of last year's young mixing in with the adults, but that transition has [...]

Although the weather slowed things down a bit, it was another productive week. While our numbers were down from last week, the owl diversity that Whitefish Point is famous for picked up a bit in recent nights. We banded five Boreal Owls (BOOW) this week, including four on April 15. This would not have [...]

After getting skunked on April 3, the owl migration finally kicked in this past week, including a night when we banded 110 owls — 39 Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) and 71 Long-eared Owls (LEOW). This total represents the second-biggest night of owl banding ever at WPBO. The LEOW total is a new nightly total [...]

Although the weather conditions were not great again this past week, they did improve, and thankfully, the owl migration did, too. Given the weather, it was a relatively productive week, including a few highlights. We banded 51 owls and recaptured seven previously-banded owls. Species diversity has not kicked in yet, and 49 of the [...]

Coming into this past week, we knew the weather would be a challenge, but we did not expect this. Since our last update, actually since March 15, we have only banded two owls. The season's first Long-eared Owl (LEOW) was banded on the first net check on March 21. Conditions were not too bad [...]

We're happy to be back for Nova's 20th spring season of owl banding at WPBO! As many of you may know, we have had a mild winter, and the conditions in late February and early March felt more like mid-spring. Unfortunately, the past few nights have brought along the winter weather we are more [...]

One of the last Northern Saw-whet Owls of the season. Photo by Liv Ridley The 2023 fall banding season has come to a close! We've had a handful of owls trickle in over the past week, but for the most part, migration has started to slow down after the late surge we [...]

This past week, we had our biggest flight of the fall season so far. On Oct. 18 and 19, we were closed due to weather. When we reopened on Oct. 20, we banded two Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) and one Barred Owl (BDOW). One of the NSWO weighed in at 108 grams, which is [...]

The first Boreal Owl of the 2023 fall season. Photo by Liv Ridley It's been a very busy week here at Whitefish Point! Migration is in full effect. We've been getting lots of birds, mostly Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) but also Barred, Long-eared, and Boreal Owls. On October 11, we banded 16 [...]

Howdy! We've had nets closed most of this week due to rain and strong winds. However, last Thursday, there was a great flight before the storms blew through this weekend. It was our fifth double-digit night! We also got our second encounter of the season, a Northern Saw-whet Owl. We're still trying to determine [...]