Although the winter days are dark and dreary (at least up here), spring banding is right around the corner! The spring season begins on the night of March 14th, as the little Saw-whet Owls start streaming through- sometimes in large numbers even over feet of snow.

The first Annual Report for the Friends of Whitefish Point is here! It is long, but we hope to provide a full accounting of how this year went for our new organization, and what our plans are for the future.

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. Please consider a gift to the Friends of Whitefish Point!

www.friendsofwp.org/donate or www.friendsofwp.org/endow

We were thrilled to continue our collaboration with the Northern Saw-whet Owl Migratory Connectivity study this summer. As part of University of Delaware graduate student Aaron Coolman’s project, we deployed 15 Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) with tiny radio transmitters, called nanotags, this summer.

Just like that, fall banding has come to a close. It seems every field season I’ve worked has gone by faster than the last. Perhaps that’s just how it feels getting old, but I think it also speaks to the way time in the field is so precious and to how valuable every moment spent with the birds is.

Few occasions bring an owl bander sheer joy like a Boreal Owl in the hand. They're gorgeous birds; big yellow eyes, dark facial fringe, a dense smattering of spots atop the head, and thickly feathered legs make them instantly endearing. It is their elusiveness, though, their quiet way of escaping eyes and ears in nearly all instances that truly makes them magical to behold when you have the rare opportunity.

It was an exciting week for us here at the station. While the weekly numbers were not the highest of the season, we did have great species diversity and even a very exciting visitor!

With the Harvest/Super Moon looming overhead our nets have been empty more often than not. Of course, all is not lost; we did still have a trickle of Northern Saw-whet Owls coming through, giving us hope and joy when we really needed it. Though it was our slowest week, it was also our best week so far in terms of diversity.

The third week of fall owl banding consisted of a healthy mix of excitement and boredom. Towards the tail end of the month we were wondering if the Point’s streak for always having at least one Long-eared owl banded in September would be broken, but on Monday night lo and behold there were two that came through the station.