Activity has increased a little bit over the past couple of nights.

Sep 20:
6 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year birds.
1 Boreal Owl banded- this was the first Boreal for the season (and this location’s 1700th owl banded overall). This Boreal was an adult (after second-year) bird.

Thanks to Tara Shea for visiting!

Sep 18:
7 Northern Saw-whets banded. All but one were hatch-year birds; the remaining owl was a 2nd year bird (and the first adult Saw-whet banded this season).

Both nights included banding of owls transitioning out of juvenal plumage:

Off to a somewhat slow start. We’re banding owls almost every night, but no big nights yet, usually just 1 – 3 owls per night.

All birds banded so far have been hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls.

We’re up and running for another season of owl banding.

Nets were set up on Aug 31, 2019 and have been opened 7 nights since then; we’re starting to get a few Saw-whets.

So far:

Aug 31: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 1: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 3: No owls
Sep 4: 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)
Sep 5: 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)
Sep 6: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 8: 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)

Where possible, nets will be open every night (weather permitting) between now and Oct 31.

October 31 was the last night of nightly owl banding for the 2018 season.  

After a week of near-continuous bad banding conditions (nightly rain, wind, bright full moon), a week of cold, clear nights brought a couple of owls per night. 

The nets are still up for a couple of weeks, and I’ll probably open them a few more times before disassembling the setup, hoping for a few more Boreal Owls.

Season totals:

Northern Saw-whet Owl: 
164 new owls banded (148 hatch-year birds and 16 adults)
2 returning owls that were banded here in previous years

Boreal Owl:
17 new owls banded (13 hatch-year birds and 4 adults)

Western Screech-Owl: 
1 owl banded

Total: 182 new owls banded and 2 recaptures.

Banding has been slow for the last week due to lots of rain and wind, which prevented opening nets during several nights.  

The highlight this week was a Western Screech-Owl that was found in a chicken coop; it was banded before release.

Oct 13:
The first good banding night after a week of rain.  

• 8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year
  
• 1 Western Screech-owl banded.  Thanks to Aaron Lang, who found this owl in his chicken coop and let me know about it.

Oct 12: No banding; rained out.

Oct 11: 
1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded; nets closed early due to rain.

Oct 10: No banding; rained out.

Oct 9: No banding; wind/rain

Oct 8: 
11 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded

Oct 7: 
1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded

Thanks to the Kachemak Bay Birders for their visit and participation on the night of Oct 5. 

Oct 6:
4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year

Oct 5:
6 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds.
Visitors included eight members of Kachemak Bay Birders and guests.

Oct 4: 
8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded.  One was an after-second-year bird; the rest were hatch-year.
Thanks to Erick, Veronica and Betsy for the help.

Oct 3: Rained out

Oct 2: 
7 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds.

Oct 1:
2 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds.

Sep 30: 
3 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds.

We reached Owl #100 for the season last night (Sep 29), which was our first double-digit night so far this fall.  

Sep 29:

• 12 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded; including three after-second-year and one second-year adults (the rest were hatch-year birds).  We were also visited by one Saw-whet that was originally banded here two weeks ago.
• 2 Boreal Owls banded

Thanks to Betsy Rogers and Osi Kaspi for the help!

Sep 28:
Fog/mist.
1 new Saw-whet was banded, and a return visit was made by a Saw-whet originally banded here in Aug 2017.

Sep 27: 
Rained out.

Sep 26: 

• 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded
• 2 Boreal Owls banded

Banding has been slower than it seems it should be this time of year. Rain and a bright full moon this week haven’t helped.

Sep 25:
5 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded (all hatch-year)
1 Boreal Owl banded (after second-year)

Sep 24:
1 Northern Saw-whet banded

Sep 23:
Rained out

Sep 22: 
6 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded 
1 Boreal Owl banded

Sep 21:
Rained out

Sep 20:
5 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded

Sep 19:
3 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year birds.

Sep 18:
2 Northern Saw-whets banded, both hatch-year birds.  Thanks to Osi Kaspi for the help and company.

Sep 17:
7 Northern Saw-whets banded; one second-year, the rest hatch-year.

After a solid week of great weather, we were rained out last night (Sep 15) after an hour of effort.  Owls have been banded every night over the last week, with larger numbers showing up over the last few days.  On the 12th, three moose decided to bed down in the middle of the banding setup, bringing things to a halt until they decided to move on a few hours later.

Sep 15: 
1 Northern Saw-whet (hatch-year) banded before closing due to rain.

Sep 14:
8 Northern Saw-whets banded: 6 hatch-year, one second-year, and one after-second-year.

Thanks to visitors from Anchorage for their participation: Andrew and Liz Fisher, Eric and Christy Youngblood, and Enric and Myra Fernandez.

Sep 13: 
8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded
1 Boreal Owl banded

Sep 12: 
2 Northern Saw-whets banded
1 Boreal Owl banded

Sep 11: 
1 Northern Saw-whet banded
1 Boreal Owl banded

Sep 10:
1 Northen Saw-whet Owl banded