Banding has picked up a little over the last week or so. Although it’s still a comparatively slow season, I’ve been banding at least a few owls every night lately.

Sep 29	4 Northern Saw-whets banded; 2 hatch-year, 2 adults
Sep 28	4 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year
Sep 27	6 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year
Sep 26	9 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year
Sep 25	6 Northern Saw-whets banded, 1 adult, 5 hatch-year. Also first Boreal Owl of the season.
Sep 24	1 Northern Saw-whet banded, hatch-year
Sep 22	2 Northern Saw-whets banded, both adult (second-year)

And tonight, at almost midnight, a bright green meteor lit up the sky while I was out checking the nets. I had never seen one quite so bright/close. A couple of minutes later, a loud, distant explosion was heard from the north. It should be interesting to learn more about this event; I’ve already heard of other sightings around Homer and from communities to the north.

The owl banding setup is up and running again with a brand new set of nets. Nets have only been open a few nights over the last week due to weather; still slow-going but a few owls are starting to show up:

Sep 19	3 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year
Sep 18	5 Northern Saw-whets banded- 3 second-year and 2 hatch-year
Sep 17	7 Northern Saw-whets banded- 3 adults, 3 hatch-year; 1 returning Saw-whet originally banded in 2020

It’s been a slow season start so far, with only 5 new Northern Saw-whet Owls banded and 2 returning owls from last year.

But things came to a halt tonight at the first net check- I found the whole setup demolished as three moose (who apparently don’t like mist nets) went running into the woods.

Three of the four mist nets in the setup were completely destroyed. One net may be salvageable. Time to place another order with Avinet; two of the destroyed nets were new this season and hadn’t even caught an owl.

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Hopefully I have enough old nets, probably full of holes, to set up tomorrow while I wait for new nets to arrive.

The 2021 owl banding season here in Homer, Alaska is off to a very slow start.

Nets have been open (weather permitting) since Aug 20, but before last night, only a single owl had been caught- a returning 2nd year Northern Saw-whet Owl that was originally banded here 366 days earlier.

Last night, three owls showed up- all Northern Saw-whet adults. One was another 2nd year bird with a band (again, banded here exactly 366 days earlier); the other two were after-second-year adults.

So far, NO hatch-year birds have been banded during this season, making this season start the slowest in 12 years of banding here.