Start of 2015 banding season

It’s almost time to start banding owls again.  I typically start banding during the last week in August.

Today I got the central triangle of nets set up, with the usual hassle of trying to set up nets interleaved on one pole while working alone.  Fortunately I still had three good 9M nets from last year, although I’ll probably have to buy a couple of 12M for the rest of the setup.

The audio lure needed a bit of work as well; the SLA battery should have been put on the charger since last season but it wasn’t, so I had to replace the battery.

I’ve opened the nets up tonight for a trial run.

 

New audio lure for Holiday Beach

Built a new audio lure for the Holiday Beach owl banders a few months ago, after promising them a new one for a couple of years.  It was time to retire the CDs and the portable CD player in favor of something MP3 based.

The new lure consists of cheap parts from eBay and some others salvaged from the junk drawers.  The main components:

  • mp3 player board with remote
  • stereo amplifier board
  • 4x 16650 Lithium batteries
  • Plastic enclosure
  • Deck horn

A few photos of the finished lure:

IMG_1263 IMG_1264 IMG_1265

The sticker on the deckhorn seemed appropriate for this use.

First snow

We had the first snow that stuck a few days ago- there’s still about half an inch covering the net lanes.  Weather (and a dead audio lure battery) limited banding for the last several days.

  • Oct 22: 4 Northern Saw-whets banded.  There were several very vocal owls responding to the lure through the night again; it seems that they are more vocal this year than during previous seasons.
  • Oct 21: No owls banded.  Opened nets for two hours before the lure battery died (this happens when I forget to charge it for a couple of weeks).  The nets were frozen solid during closing.
  • Oct 20: No owls banded.  Opened for a little while but the snow picked up and was sticking to the nets, making them quite visible.
  • Oct 19: Three Northern Saw-whets banded.

Owls still passing through

Still catching a few owls every night that weather permits opening the nets.

Over the last week or so:

Oct 18: 3  Northern Saw-whets and one Boreal Owl.  Visitors included students from Kenai Peninsula College.

Oct 15: 3 Northern Saw-whets and one Boreal Owl.  Visitors included Gary Lyon and students from Kenai Peninsula College.

Oct 14: 2 Northern Saw-whets and one recapture of a Saw-whet banded here in 2012.

Oct 13: 4 Northern  Saw-whets and one returning Saw-whet that was banded here in September of this year.

Oct 11: 2 Northern Saw-whets

Slow with bright full moon

Things have been pretty slow for the last few days.  The bright full moon lights up the net setup too much; if I can see the nets without a flashlight, I’m sure the owls can.  A full lunar eclipse at around 2AM AKDT Wednesday morning (10/8) brought just enough darkness to bring in the last owl for the night.

Oct 7: 4 Northern Saw-whets

Oct 6: No owls banded

Oct 5: One Northern Saw-whet

lunar_eclipse

Lunar Eclipse early Wednesday morning (around 2:30AM AKDT, Oct 8, 2014)

Owls every night for three weeks

It’s unusual that I am able to band this many nights in a row with no bad weather; tonight will be the 21st straight night.  The last few nights’ results:

Oct 4: 5 Northern Saw-whet Owls, one Boreal Owl.

Oct 3: 1 Boreal Owl.  Poppy Benson brought her group of Girl Scouts for their third attempt at seeing an owl; we finally succeeded.

Oct 2: 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls

Oct 1: 5 Northern Saw-whet Owls.

Sep 30: Three Northern Saw-whet Owls and one Boreal.

Steady flow

Last night was the 15th straight night of good banding weather, and the 15th straight night that owls have been banded.  Tonight looks good too.

Results for the last few nights:

Sep 29: 3 Northern Saw-whets banded.  Thanks to Martin Renner and his ornithology class for participating!

Sep 28: 7 Saw-whets and 1 Boreal Owl.  Visitors: Rebekah, Brad, and Michele- thanks for the help!

Sep 27: 5 Saw-whets

Sep 26: 6 Saw-whets and 1 Boreal Owl

Sep 25: 4 Saw-whets and 1 Boreal Owl