The banding season is just about over for 2019; the planned end date is Oct 31 (tonight).
I’ll probably extend the effort by a week or so due to all of the rained-out nights over the last several days.

Banding has remained slow throughout this season. As of tonight, 100 owls have been banded. Owl #100 arrived during the last net check of the last scheduled night of banding. In addition to the new bireds banded, two owls previously banded here made return visits; one of these recaptured birds was a Northern Saw-whet Owl that was originally banded here 5 years ago in 2014.

Of the new birds banded, six were Boreal Owls, making this among the slowest Boreal seasons we’ve had here.

Banding continues to be slow, as it has all season so far. Typical nights have resulted in just a couple of owls banded. Boreal Owl numbers are way down compared to previous seasons; only two have been banded so far.

The owl recaptured on Oct 7 was originally banded here in September 2014 as a hatch-year bird, making this a 5th year bird. This owl had some apparently abnormal feather growth next to one eye:

Banding is still slower than expected for this time of year- the last couple of weeks in September are usually the most active for the season. We’re catching owls, but just a few (1-6) per night.

All birds banded this week were hatch-year birds.

Activity has increased a little bit over the past couple of nights.

Sep 20:
6 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year birds.
1 Boreal Owl banded- this was the first Boreal for the season (and this location’s 1700th owl banded overall). This Boreal was an adult (after second-year) bird.

Thanks to Tara Shea for visiting!

Sep 18:
7 Northern Saw-whets banded. All but one were hatch-year birds; the remaining owl was a 2nd year bird (and the first adult Saw-whet banded this season).

Both nights included banding of owls transitioning out of juvenal plumage:

Off to a somewhat slow start. We’re banding owls almost every night, but no big nights yet, usually just 1 – 3 owls per night.

All birds banded so far have been hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls.

We’re up and running for another season of owl banding.

Nets were set up on Aug 31, 2019 and have been opened 7 nights since then; we’re starting to get a few Saw-whets.

So far:

Aug 31: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 1: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 3: No owls
Sep 4: 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)
Sep 5: 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)
Sep 6: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year)
Sep 8: 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year)

Where possible, nets will be open every night (weather permitting) between now and Oct 31.

October 31 was the last night of nightly owl banding for the 2018 season.  

After a week of near-continuous bad banding conditions (nightly rain, wind, bright full moon), a week of cold, clear nights brought a couple of owls per night. 

The nets are still up for a couple of weeks, and I’ll probably open them a few more times before disassembling the setup, hoping for a few more Boreal Owls.

Season totals:

Northern Saw-whet Owl: 
164 new owls banded (148 hatch-year birds and 16 adults)
2 returning owls that were banded here in previous years

Boreal Owl:
17 new owls banded (13 hatch-year birds and 4 adults)

Western Screech-Owl: 
1 owl banded

Total: 182 new owls banded and 2 recaptures.

Banding has been slow for the last week due to lots of rain and wind, which prevented opening nets during several nights.  

The highlight this week was a Western Screech-Owl that was found in a chicken coop; it was banded before release.

Oct 13:
The first good banding night after a week of rain.  

• 8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year
  
• 1 Western Screech-owl banded.  Thanks to Aaron Lang, who found this owl in his chicken coop and let me know about it.

Oct 12: No banding; rained out.

Oct 11: 
1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded; nets closed early due to rain.

Oct 10: No banding; rained out.

Oct 9: No banding; wind/rain

Oct 8: 
11 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded

Oct 7: 
1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded

Thanks to the Kachemak Bay Birders for their visit and participation on the night of Oct 5. 

Oct 6:
4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year

Oct 5:
6 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds.
Visitors included eight members of Kachemak Bay Birders and guests.

Oct 4: 
8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded.  One was an after-second-year bird; the rest were hatch-year.
Thanks to Erick, Veronica and Betsy for the help.

Oct 3: Rained out

Oct 2: 
7 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds.

Oct 1:
2 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds.

Sep 30: 
3 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds.

We reached Owl #100 for the season last night (Sep 29), which was our first double-digit night so far this fall.  

Sep 29:

• 12 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded; including three after-second-year and one second-year adults (the rest were hatch-year birds).  We were also visited by one Saw-whet that was originally banded here two weeks ago.
• 2 Boreal Owls banded

Thanks to Betsy Rogers and Osi Kaspi for the help!

Sep 28:
Fog/mist.
1 new Saw-whet was banded, and a return visit was made by a Saw-whet originally banded here in Aug 2017.

Sep 27: 
Rained out.

Sep 26: 

• 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded
• 2 Boreal Owls banded