From year to year there seems to be a clear point in the season when the number of owls being caught is significantly reduced… and we are at that point. Unfortunately because this season has been so out of the ordinary, the slow activity we would expect to start seeing this time of year has haunted us this entire season.
There are many factors that could be causing us to see such low numbers, and that’s one of the reasons why continuing to do this work from year to year is so important. It allows us to see what trends are happening, when they’re happening, and hopefully gain some understanding as to why they’re happening. So unfortunately this blog post won’t be loaded with the number of owls we’ve been catching, because there haven’t been many. And there are not a lot of pictures of owls to follow, for the same reason. We have caught a total of three owls, all Northern Saw-whet Owls, since our last blog post.
To put this into better perspective, here’s a comparison of some numbers from the 2025 season vs. our current 2026 owl banding season. Looking at the average number of Northern Saw-whet Owls caught per night, the banders for the 2025 season averaged 5 NSWO’s per night. We are averaging fewer than two per night. Our total count of NSWO’s six weeks into the season is 74. Last year in 2025, they reached that number by their second week of banding. In 2025 by their sixth week of banding, they had banded over 200 Northern Saw-whet Owls. We obviously haven’t reached even half of that by the same time this year.
Despite the slow season, which has required a lot of effort for little return, we can still appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.
Season Totals:
Banded NSWO: 74
Foreign Recaptures: 9
Long-eared Owls: 3
Barred Owls: 1
Total: 87