In Mackinaw City, the owls have wasted no time finding this seasons nets! Before I begin with the details, let me introduce myself!
My name is Raina Henze, and I am the Lead Owl Bander for the 2024 spring season. I recently graduated in December from Northwest Missouri State University (Go Bearcats!) with a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation and have been a nature nerd my whole life. As of now, I have worked with various Passerines including Wilson’s & Canada Warblers, as well as dabbling and diving ducks in the Mississippi Flyway. When I’m not birding or in the field, you may find me kayaking, baking, playing guitar, or hanging out with my cat, Lester. I’m excited for the season and the experiences it has in store for me!
Here I am holding one of my first Northern Saw Whet Owls (NWSO) ever! She’s not NEARLY as excited as I am…
Enough about me, let’s hear about the owls! This season is off to a later start than usual, but not by too much. The owls have not seemed to mind though, as I have had consistent captures over the first week of banding. Since the first night with nets open (March 23rd), I have had 20 captures, not including birds I banded and recaptured later. Of these 20 birds, 17 were unbanded when captured, and 3 were foreign retraps from other banding operations.
One capture stood out to me in particular, as it had what looked like a green string on its back. After looking closer, I found it was an antenna; this bird had an internally placed transmitter! I had never seen this in owls before, so don’t worry, I took lots of pictures! After recording her data and giving a panicked call to my boss out of excitement, she took off quickly once released.
The green string on her back is connected to a transmitter placed inside her body! The antenna allows for location data to be uploaded when in range of a signal to track where she may be migrating.
Overall, the first week has been very successful! With the weather quickly getting warmer and feeling more like spring, I’m optimistic that numbers will only continue to get better. I look forward to keeping you updated every week, fingers crossed for good numbers and maybe some different owl species! See you next week! -Raina
Left: My very first NWSO! She was an After Third Year (ATY) bird, meaning she’s older than 3. This is found using a black light to see the molting pattern under the wings. Right: Two Second Year (SY) birds with very different coloring. Despite being the same age, the bird on the right has a much darker facial disk compared to the bird on the left.
