This season’s 265th Northern Saw-whet Owl was banded last night. This makes 2020 my best banding season yet for Saw-whets; the previous top season was Fall 2011, with 261 Saw-whets banded.

It remains to be seen whether or not 2011’s overall total of 317 banded owls will be surpassed. 2011 was also a good year for Boreal Owls, with 56 banded. Only 9 Boreals have been banded so far during 2020, but there are still a couple of weeks left in this season (I usually close things up at the end of October).

Continuing rainy weather has made banding slower during the last week. I’ve typically been banding 5-10 owls per night when it wasn’t raining.