No banding was done from Sep 21-23 due to rain, which ended on the evening of the 24th.

On the night of the 24th, two new hatch-year Northern Saw-whets were banded.

The next few nights look like good weather for banding.

Sep 19-20 were a little slower than the previous several nights.  Banding ended early on the 20th due to rain moving into the area.

Sep 20:

5 new Northern Saw-whet Owls banded.  Nets were only open for two hours before rain closed things down.

Sep 19:

• 5 new Northern Saw-whet Owls banded; all were hatch-year birds.
• 2 new Boreal Owls banded.

Saw-whet’s feet

Last night was another good night; fourth night in a row with 10 or more owls banded.

Ten Northern Saw-whets were banded; all were hatch-year birds.

No new Boreal Owls were banded, but one from the previous night paid a return visit.

Thanks again to Andrew Fisher for the help!

Another great night last night; ideal weather conditions and a good number of owls.

Fifteen owls were banded last night:

• 10 Northern Saw-whet Owls
• 5 Boreal Owls

All owls banded last night were hatch-year birds.

This tied the largest number of Boreals banded in a night here.

Nets were open for 5 hours.

Thanks to Andrew Fisher from Anchorage for the help!

Photos to be added soon…

Last night was a great night for banding- no rain (finally), calm, clear, a bit cold, and dark (close to new moon).

Thirteen owls were banded:

• 12 Northern Saw-whet Owls (one second-year bird, the rest hatch-year)
• 1 Boreal Owl

Nets were open from 9pm to 2:30am.

Boreal Owl banded Sep 16

Although rain was forecast for tonight, it’s held off.  Banding was a little busier tonight than it has been so far this season.

Nine Northern Saw-whet Owls and one Boreal Owl were banded; all hatch-year birds.
The Boreal was one of the larger ones I’ve banded, weighing 163g.

The next few nights look like conditions could be good.

No banding took place on Sep 13 due to rain.

On Sep 14, rain came and went; nets were opened/closed twice.  Two hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded before the nets were closed for the night.

Sep 12: No banding tonight due to rain.

Sep 11: Five new Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded, all hatch-year.  Additionally, one Saw-whet was recaptured; it was first banded here in Sep 2014.

Sep 10: Two Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded.  Despite ideal conditions, no owls were caught until the last net check at about 12:30am, when these two arrived.

Two fairly decent nights in a row; a few owls showed up.

Sat, Sep 9: Two hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls  and one hatch-year Boreal Owl were banded.

Fri, Sep 8: Three Northern Saw-whets were caught; two were new and one was a recapture of an owl banded in Sep 2016 as a hatch-year. The recapture was the first for this season. Rain moved in around midnight and ended the effort.

Thanks to Andrew Fisher for making the drive down from Anchorage and helping out these two nights!

A few of Andrew’s photos:

Andrew with Boreal Owl

Andrew with Norther Saw-whet Owl

Sep 7 seemed like a good  night, but no owls were banded.  A Saw-whet could be heard in the distance, and there were a couple of barks from the trees near the nets, but no luck catching them.

Sep 6: Three hatch-year Northern Saw-whets were banded.  Nets were open for three hours.