New Banding Station!!
Since our last update we have experienced ice storms, more snow and single digit temperatures, but we have also had some exciting arrivals. Although we did get some significant ice in the recent storm, we were spared the extreme ice accumulation that areas to our south experienced. To those of our followers who live in that area that were hardest hit, we have been thinking of you and hope you are recovering. Although we lost a lot of recent nights due to the weather, it has been improving, and some owls have been moving. The saw-whet migration has honestly been slower than expected in recent nights, but they have continued in low numbers. The last few nights have brought the excitement of the arrival of a couple new owls for the season. After last fall’s Boreal Owl irruption, we have been anxiously awaiting their arrival this spring, and the first one arrived April 8. Given last fall’s irruption we were hopeful that the first boreal would have arrived earlier, but now that they have arrived we’re hoping that it will be a good season for them. The next night, April 9, the first Long-eared Owl of the season arrived. This long-eared happened to be a special owl for us.
Our friend Steve arrived with the new trailer that will serve as Friends of Whitefish Point’s banding station on April 9. This trailer was made possible by an anonymous personal donation and a grant from Paradise Area Community Foundation. It was a busy day of us setting up at our new banding location, but thankfully Steve had already spent a few days customizing the trailer to function as an owl banding station. Steve really spent a ton of time working on this project and we are so thankful! Also, a huge shout-out to Paul Quinn who provided an in-kind donation of snowblowing the area to get the trailer into the spot, since we still have about 2.5 feet of snow in most areas. Thank you Paul!
The Long-eared Owl pictured below showed up on the first net check at our new location and was therefore the first owl to be banded in our new banding station. It’s been incredibly exciting to work on setting up the new station, and after just two nights we are already in love with it. We are also feeling extremely grateful for the generosity of our supporters who made this possible. Thank you so very much.
