Greetings once again fellow raptor enthusiasts and welcome to another spring owl banding update!
Connor and I have been much busier the last few nights as the spring migration of the northern saw-whet owl has finally kicked off here in Cheboygan State Park. In our first update we had caught and banded only 1 owl in our first 10 nights of banding operations. However, things quickly picked up. The night of March 24th we banded 1 more owl and the next night ( March 25th) we banded 5. The following night our banding operations were cut short due to rain moving into the area, so we closed at 3 a.m. but not before catching and banding 2 more saw-whets. The night of the 27th saw us catch 7 more saw-whets bringing our total for the season up to 16. However, last night (March 28th) we more than doubled our total for the season in a single night by catching 20 owls!!! Our current season total is 36 northern saw-whet owls.
Aside from the rainy night of the 26th the weather has been great. Most nights we’ve had clear skies with little to no wind which makes for some excellent star gazing I might add.
We’re hoping for more of the same success going forward, so be sure to check back for more updates on the spring owl banding operations as well as the hawk migration counts and waterbird counts!
Totals-
Saw-whet: 36
