The fall season has now come to an end. Our last week was about as typical as you might expect. We had been holding out hope for a late push of birds given how mild the fall has been, but it never really happened. Several days of unseasonably warm weather, rain, and wind did not help our cause. But even a couple nights with north and northwest winds didn’t produce much.
However, we still enjoyed our last few nights at the point and took the time to appreciate each bird, not knowing which would be the last of the fall. The highlight of the week would have to be our second Barred Owl of the season.
The star of the show will always be the saw-whets though, and we’d really have it no other way. We are truly fortunate to be able to collect data on hundreds of these birds during migration every year, and to get a glimpse into their cryptic lives.
They really are a delightful species. One of the last birds of the season was a hatch-year female that weighed 110 grams! She had high fat reserves and was clearly well-prepared for a long flight ahead.
A few notes of reflection—Our season total comes to rest at 268 Northern Saw-whet Owls, which is rather average if not slightly below so. This could be due to any number of reasons and is not cause for concern in and of itself. Perhaps it was a particularly hard year for breeding; maybe the warm weather affected their phenology; maybe food availability pushed them other places. We don’t really know. It only starts to become a concern when this happens year after year. But because MSRW has been doing this for so many years, we know that fluctuations in numbers are completely normal, and we aren’t due for a “good” year for another couple of years. Something to look forward to. Our end of season report will provide a more thorough review of the data and the past season, so be on the lookout for that!
It was a successful season and we are grateful to have been a part of this important study. Thank you for taking the time to read our posts over the last few months.
Species totals: NSWO 268, BAOW 2, SSHA 1, AMWO 2, AMRO 2, WTSP 1, HETH 1
