Two New Arrivals
We’ve been stuck in a bit of a state of limbo the last few weeks. It’s simply that time of the year at Whitefish Point when hints of spring reveal themselves one day, only to see winter return the next. Saw-whets have been moving for a few weeks now, but their migration here has remained sporadic and slow. Thankfully, we have had a couple of new arrivals on recent nights. The first Long-eared Owl arrived on the night of April 5. This young female long-eared weighed 391 grams! Of the over 3,000 long-eareds that Nova and I have banded, only a handful have weighed more than this individual. When we have an owl with a weight well outside of the expected range, we assume that a recent meal has temporarily bumped its weight up. It’s still fun to put an owl on the scale and react with a “whoa!” when you see a crazy weight.
The season’s first Long-eared Owl.
The other new arrival was a Boreal Owl last night, April 7. We weren’t sure if we’d get any boreals this spring, so we were particularly excited to see this owl. After the big boreal irruption in the fall of 2024, we had hoped for a particularly good season last spring. Not only did that not happen, but all nine of last spring’s boreals were adults. It is obviously not bad to catch adults, but we have witnessed a significant decrease in the number of boreals occurring at Whitefish Point in recent decades. After the fall 2024 irruption we were hoping to see a good number of young birds returning north adding lots of new recruits into the breeding population. After not seeing a single one last spring, it was a pleasant surprise to band this young boreal last night as she heads north for her first breeding season.
The season’s first, and possibly only, Boreal Owl.
We were also excited to recapture two of last summer’s juvenile saw-whets last night. It has been estimated that more than 50% of certain raptor populations will not survive their first winter, so it is always particularly exciting to see one of our juveniles making its return north during its first spring migration. We banded these two juveniles within a week of each other last summer and then recaptured them within a couple hours of each other this spring. So, although the overall owl migration has remained slow at the Point, we’ve had a few exciting captures as we continue to wait for spring to return to the south shore of Lake Superior.
One of last summer’s juvenile saw-whets making her first spring migration.
Banding Totals:
Saw-whet: 36 banded/6 recaptured
Long-eared: 1
Boreal: 1
Barred: 1
**END OF MATCHING CAMPAIGN
The March matching campaign was a HUGE SUCCESS! Thank you so very much to everyone who participated in this fundraiser and thank you so much to our matching donor. Because of each one of you, we were able to raise $12,041 for the match of $5,000 which more than doubled our goal! $8,000 was raised in just the last 24 hours. Total raised, including the match, was $17,041 towards funding the spring owl banding, which is the longest of the three banding seasons. This is a record fundraising event for the Friends group. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, you all are the best!
The first Visitation to the Owl Banding begins this weekend. If you are interested in attending sometime this spring, you can register here. April is a great month for seeing some of the owl diversity that Whitefish Point has to offer.
Also, Freighters View on the Bay cabins is running an April Birders Special of $50/night plus cleaning fees. If you are looking for a place to stay, this is a great deal!