The Spring 2016 owl banding season has officially come to an end.
I must apologize because I made a mistake while counting, and our total number of owls is even lower than I thought! Despite having low numbers this season, our data is still valuable.
Banding efforts took place for a total of 372.4 hours. Nets were open for all or part of 43 nights.
We captured a total of 82 owls (76 NSWO, 6 LEOW).
Six of the 76 saw-whets were recaptures, originally banded in locations including Whitefish Point, Indiana, and Canada. 7% were male, 88% were female, and 5% were unknown. 46% were second year birds, 17% were third year birds, and 37% were after third year birds.
Barred Owls and Great Horned Owls were detected in the area, but were not captured.
Kim and I both enjoyed working for MSRW this season. Kim will be returning to band owls in the fall and I will be off to grad school! Thank you to all for your support throughout the season.