Tonight I added Snowshoe Hare to the list of non-owls that I’ve had to extract from the mistnets.

Banding continues to be slow, with 49 Saw-whets and 2 Boreals banded during this season to date. The setup also caught a Great Horned Owl a few nights ago, but it extracted itself before I could get to it.

Weather continues to look bad for banding in the immediate future, likely continuing the trend of daily rain (or snow, in today’s case).

Banding continues to be a slow-going process here, with many unproductive nights.
Rain, wind, and moose have prevented opening nets for owl banding on many nights this month.

Many rainy nights, and when there isn’t rain, there’s wind. And when there isn’t wind, the local moose are hanging out in the middle of the trapping setup.

So far, 26 Northern Saw-whet Owls and 1 Boreal Owl have been banded during the Fall 2022 season. Additionally, we’ve had one returning owl that was originally banded here two years ago.

The last week of September is typically the most active for banding here. Here’s hoping things pick up a bit soon.

We’re off to a slow start; poor weather conditions have limited the number of banding nights so far.

As of Sep 12, a total of 8 Northern Saw-whets and one Boreal Owl have been banded. Additionally, one previously-banded Saw-whet made a return visit.

Hopefully we’ll see an increase in activity (and better weather) over the next couple of weeks.

The banding station is up and running for the Fall 2022 season.

The official start date is Sep 1, but an early test netted one Northern Saw-whet on the night of August 28. This was a hatch-year bird.

Starting Sep 1, I’ll be opening the nets every night that weather permits.

Thanks to Betsy for the help with station setup, and to Jess for visiting the setup on Sunday night!

Still catching owls most every night that weather allows. Nets have not been opened on several nights this month due to rain/wind/snow/ice.

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.

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:

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.

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.

The 12th season of fall owl banding was concluded on Oct 31 for the season. Only a few owls were banded during the final week.

A total of 304 owls were banded, making this season the 2nd best here so far.

292 Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded, the largest number in a season yet. The age breakdown was as follows:

Additionally, three Saw-whets banded in previous years here were recaptured.

12 Boreal Owls were also banded. All Boreals banded were hatch-year birds.

Over the 12 years of banding here, Saw-whet numbers have ranged from as low as 20 to as high as 292 banded in a season. Boreal numbers have ranged from as low as 3 to as high as 56 banded in a season.