Monthly Archives: August 2013

Aug. 26-27

One Saw-whet on the 26th, and two on the 27th.
All owls banded so far this season have been hatch-year birds.

Total so far for Fall 2013:
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 10
Boreal Owl: 1

August 23-25

No owls banded on Aug. 23; it was a very clear night with a bright moon.

We banded the season’s first Boreal Owl on Aug. 24. Visitors/assistants included Betsy Rogers, Lori and Erick Paulsrud, and Christina Whiting with her visiting family memebers (Amy Laidlaw from Washington State and daughters Violet (12), Molly (8) and Lily (6) and Grandparents Bea and Mike from Anchorage). Again, it was a clear night with a bright moon.

One Saw-whet Owl was banded on August 25.

Fall 2013 season totals so far:
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 7
Boreal Owl: 1

Aug 19: no owls. Aug 20: 3 saw-whets.

No owls banded on the night of Aug 19. Very heavy fog rolled in around 11:00pm, half an hour after opening the nets.

Three Northern Saw-whets were banded on the night of Aug 20; two females and one unknown, all hatch-year birds.
It was cloudy and dark; the rain held off until about 1:30am.

2013 total so far: 5 NSWO, zero BOOW.

Start of 2013 Owl Banding Season

Start of 2013 Owl Banding Season:

Nets are set up (at least 3 of them are so far).
Two Northern Saw-whets banded in two nights of operation so far.

The first saw-whet of the season was a very aggressive hatch-year male.

I currently have three 9-meter 60mm mesh nets set up in a semi-triangle around the audio lure.  I should have the 12-meter nets set up within the next few days.

Blog resurrection

I am going to attempt to resurrect this blog; I’ll be posting owl banding results every couple of days through the banding season.

The last two years have been interesting: lots of owls banded in 2011, and very few in 2012, with similar coverage and effort both years.

Banded in 2011:
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 256
Boreal Owl: 54
Recaptures: 2 (both Northern Saw-whets banded here in 2010)

Banded in 2012:
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 20
Boreal Owl: 5
Recaptures: 1 (Northern Saw-whet banded here in 2011)

Total owls banded, 2009-2012:

Year NSWO BOOW GHOW NHOW TOTAL
2009 166 32 198
2010 94 23 117
2011 256 54 1 311
2012 20 5 1 1 27
Totals 536 114 1 2 653