The Summer’s first Long-eared Owl
This week we banded the 100th owl of the summer, including the season’s first Long-eared Owl. It was actually on this date, July 21, 2006 that I found a roosting long-eared that led to start of the summer owl research at Whitefish Point. Long-eareds are uncommon in Michigan during the summer season and I was certainly not expecting to find one that day. That sighting led me to spend the rest of the day searching for owls, and much to my surprise I found two more long-eareds and a juvenile Northern Saw-whet Owl. This led to me and Nova conducting an exploratory season of owl banding at the Point that was more successful than we could have ever imagined. It’s hard for me to believe that this is now my 20th year of summer owl banding at Whitefish Point.
The juvenile saw-whet from July 21, 2006, one of the owls that led to the summer owl research at Whitefish Point.
Along with the arrival of the first long-eared earlier in the week, we banded the 100th saw-whet of the season last night. As is typical at this date, the adult saw-whet numbers have dropped off sharply and the juveniles have become more steady. Over the last six nights we banded 24 juveniles and 2 adults. As we stated in a previous post, it is clearly not going to be a peak saw-whet season, but it’s starting to shape up to be a decent one for the juveniles and hopefully some more long-eareds will start showing up soon.
The season’s first Long-eared Owl
Holly measuring the long-eared’s wing.
Nature Notes: While it is admittedly moth week every week on the summer owl blog, it is actually National Moth Week starting today. You may be surprised to find out that over 600 moth species have been documented at the Point. It is likely that twice as many species of moths have been documented here as birds. Here are a few of my favorites from the Point.
Black Witch (top right), Luna Moth (top left), Harris’ three-spot (bottom right) and Briseis Underwing (bottom left).
Don’t forget about visiting the owl banding station this summer! Tickets are available on our website, and kids 15 and under are free. This is a great summer nighttime activity up at Whitefish Point: https://www.friendsofwp.org/visitowlbanding