This past week, eight Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) were banded. As would be expected for the final week of the season, this week was relatively slow. However, it was the first week of the entire season that a full night of netting was not prevented by weather!
The season ended up with 117 owls total: 113 NSWO (8 of these were recaptures), two Barred Owls (BDOW) and two Long-eared Owls.
Despite less banding effort in 2022 due to inclement weather, the owl captures in 2022 surpassed the total from 2021: last year 113 NSWO (the same total as this year!) and only one BDOW were captured. The two BDOW and two LEOW captured this year made the difference for the total in 2022 to edge past the total for 2021. Interestingly, NSWO captures in 2021 included many more young owls than 2022, perhaps due to differing nest success in the breeding season preceding each year.
It has been a good season! A big thank you to the staff at Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park for the hospitality, to MSRW for giving me the opportunity, and to everyone who supports MSRW!
-Evan Buck, spring 2022 owl bander
Breakdown of each night’s captures for the final week:
| Date | Newly Banded NSWO |
| 5/4 | 1 |
| 5/5 | 3 |
| 5/6 | 1 |
| 5/7 | 1 |
| 5/8 | 2 |
| 5/9 | 0 |
Note: recaptures originally banded spring 2022 at Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park are not included.
