Owl Banding

Well, we never got the late-season push of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) this spring. We think it was one of the slowest ends to the spring season we've experienced; we'll see once we enter the data. Adding insult to injury, the mosquitoes the last few nights were the worst we have ever experienced in [...]

We've been able to band the last 17 nights, and things have really slowed down over that period. In the past week, we banded 18 Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), eight of those were on May 20, and we got skunked last night for the first time since April 20. The Long-eared Owls just turned [...]

Last week we mentioned entering the tail-end of the Long-eared Owl (LEOW) migration this spring — when the adult numbers drop off and many of the previous year's young come through. Although young LEOW outnumbered adults 19:6 this past week, their overall numbers are low this spring. We've also only banded three LEOW in [...]

As they often do, the owls have kept us guessing this spring. March, typically the most unpredictable part of the season, was relatively productive for Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO). Then NSWO migration peaked a bit earlier than usual during the second week of April when we also had our first push of Long-eared Owls [...]

There seem to be times in every field season when you feel you are just along for the ride. They aren't always the busy times but are actually often some of the slower times. This past week was definitely one of those times when we felt we just needed to control the things we [...]

This week started with a continuation of the nice push of owls we were experiencing when we gave our last update. The weather pattern eventually shifted, slowing things down later in the week. On April 12, we caught 95 owls, which will likely be the busiest night of the season, but you never know. [...]

The last few nights have been very eventful, both in challenging and rewarding ways. Those of you familiar with Whitefish Point at this time of the year will know that there is typically still lots of snow, and long stretches of the net lanes still have feet of snow over them. Our trails through [...]

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 [...]

This past week produced the first little push of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), spectacular northern lights, an unpredicted snowstorm, and the season's first Long-eared Owls (LEOW). On Thursday night, we were treated to some of the best northern lights we have ever seen here. It was impossible to capture in photos, but when they [...]