The first Boreal Owls of the season showed up over the last couple of nights.  Last night brought the 200th Boreal Owl banded and the 1500th owl banded for the station.   The first recapture also showed up: a Saw-whet banded here in August 2017 as a hatch-year bird made a return visit.

Sep 9: 
1 Boreal Owl (hatch-year);
7 Northern Saw-whet Owls (6 hatch-year, one 2nd year)

Sep 8:
2 Boreal Owls (both hatch-year);
5 Northern Saw-whets (all hatch-year except one 2nd year recapture)

Sep 7: 
2 Northern Saw-whets (both hatch-year

The owl banding program here is up and running for the Fall 2018 season.
I’m starting later than usual due to being out of town for a couple of weeks.

Nets were set up on Sep 2, and have been opened on two nights since then.

Sep 4: 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded, all hatch-year birds.

Seep 2: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl was banded (a hatch-year bird).

We saw our first snow over the last couple of days as things warmed up after several days of below-freezing temperatures; 4-5 inches of snow fell on the 23rd/24th.

The season’s 200th owl was caught on the 22nd.

Oct 24: No owls banded.
Oct 23: No owls banded.

Oct 22:

• 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded
• 1 Boreal Owl banded

Oct 21:

• 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded
• 1 Boreal Owl banded

Oct 20: No owls banded

Oct 19:

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

Things have slowed down over the last couple of nights as the temperatures dropped below freezing.  This follows several good banding nights that seem to have come later in the season than usual.

Oct 18: 

• 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (and one returning Saw-whet first banded 4 days ago)
• 2 Boreal Owls

Oct 17:   No owls banded; nets only open for a couple of hours.  Opened late due to other commitments.

Oct 16:   

• 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded

Oct 15: 

• 9 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded
• 3 Boreal Owls banded

The last couple of nights have been ideal for banding- no rain, no strong wind, and dark.  The next few nights look like they’ll be more of the same.  On Oct 14, I banded the largest number of Boreal Owls for a single night at this location since the project started in 2009.

Oct 14:

• 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls plus one return visit from an owl banded in late August (3rd time this individual has been trapped); one of the new Saw-whets was a 2nd year bird, the rest were hatch-year birds.
• 8 Boreal Owls, all hatch-year birds

Oct 13:

• 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl
• 1 Boreal Owl

Not many good nights for banding over the last week; lots of rain and/or wind.  A few owls were banded on the nights that nets were opened:

Oct 11: 7 Northern Saw-whets banded; one was a second-year bird, the rest were hatch-year birds.

Oct 9: 1 Northern Saw-whet banded.  Thanks to Erick and Veronica for the help and company.

Oct 8: 2 Northern Saw-whets banded. Thanks to the Kachemak Bay Birders and trip leader Gary Lyon for visiting.

We finally had a good night for owl banding last night (Oct 6), after nearly a week of very little opportunity.  Rain, wind, and rutting moose kept the nets closed most nights.

Oct 6:

• 8 new Northern Saw-whets were banded; an additional Saw-whet originally banded in 2015 made a return visit.
• 2 Boreal Owls were also banded.

The last few nights have been slower, with a few owls banded each night.

Sep 30:

• 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)
• 1 Boreal Owl (hatch-year)

Sep 29:

• 2 new Northern Saw-whet Owls banded and one recapture of a bird banded last year.

Thanks to Kara, Erick, and 7 other visitors this night.

Sep 28:

• 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded (all hatch-year)
• 1 Boreal Owl (hatch-year)

Banded Boreal Owl after release, Sep 30, 2017

Another productive night of banding:

• 10 new Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, plus one returning owl originally banded 2 weeks ago
• 3 new Boreal Owls banded; one was an after-second-year bird.

Rain started at around 1am and nets were closed despite the activity.  Looks like rain is likely for the next couple of nights.

This season’s Boreal Owl total so far (18 banded birds) makes it the best season for Boreals here since 2011 (56 Boreals banded that year).

Six owls were banded last night:

• 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls
• 3 Boreal Owls

It’s turning into a better year for Boreals- more banded this season than during the last couple of seasons.