Last night’s winds put the kibosh on our owl surveys at around 0300 hours. The original forecast stated that winds would decrease as the night went on, but they did the exact opposite and continued to build. Winds reached around 18 mph at our sheltered location, so they were at least that out on open water. At any rate, that was enough to keep the owls from moving and we did not catch any between dusk and 0300 hours. We did, however, hear one NSWO talking away near the audio lure, which made all of us smile. If I had to guess, it was probably a bird we had banded either Tuesday or Wednesday.
It looks like the weather forecast has changed yet again. Tonight’s weather is predicted to be clear with east winds at 10-15 mph as opposed to the 25-30 mph winds they had originally predicted. Keepin’ us on our toes! With that said, the banding station will open at dusk. Tomorrow is looking good, too.
Fingers crossed for a few birds tonight despite the east wind.
