October has arrived
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. We were thrilled to get a little species diversity and to admire and measure the eerily beautiful Long-eareds.
First Long-eared Owl of the season
We had a steady trickle of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) until Tuesday night when the southern winds picked up and our banding came to a halt. We spent long hours at the station with no owls to show for it. Luckily for us Thursday brought an uptick and we put out ten more NSWO bands. Each owl was appreciated a little extra that night, it’s crazy how fast you start to wonder if they’re even out there at all after a slowdown. The first couple of net checks on Friday made it seem like it could be our most promising night yet, but our hopes were dashed by a torrential rain that caused us to close for a few hours. We were able to open the nets back up by midnight but the birds’ movement had clearly been affected- only two more came through the station. One of them did happen to be our third Long-eared, so we were quite excited about that. High winds and warm temperatures left us with much to be desired Saturday night.
A very photogenic Northern Saw-whet Owl
With a change in winds and a cold front on the horizon, we are keeping our fingers crossed for more consistent numbers in the coming weeks. As it stands we are tantalizingly close to triple digits with a total of 98 birds banded. It has been so nice to really get into our banding groove and to share our enthusiasm for the birds on visitor nights. Keep your fingers crossed for cooler temps and northwest winds!
- Liv Ridley, Fall Lead Owl Bander
Season Totals:
Northern Saw-whet Owls - 95
Long-eared Owls - 3Other News:
Chris Neri & Nova Mackentley are co-authors on a new collaborative journal article that will be available in the next issue of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, titled “Demographic trends for the Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus, using standardized migration monitoring data in eastern North America”. This article provides population trends for the Boreal Owl, an important bioindicator species of the boreal ecosystem, and suggests that the decline of this species could be related to the deterioration of the boreal forest. You can read the full article here.