The Saw-whet Owl banding season is now in its fourth week
and owls continue to move through the area in good numbers. In 20 nights of
banding between our two stations, we have banded 86 Northern Saw-whet Owls so far. Our busiest night of banding yet was October 24, when 16 owls
were banded in Montpelier and 10 in Shelburne. As the season begins to wind down, the data we've
already collected are starting to tell the Saw-whet's story.
A remarkably high proportion of this year’s owls are
hatch-year birds; those born over the just-completed breeding season. Roughly
63% of owls captured in Montpelier and 85% of owls captured in Shelburne have been hatch-year. This ratio of hatch-year owls is indicative of high productivity on the breeding grounds and is consistent with observations from other banding stations in the
northeast.
The other big news this season was an owl we had banded last
fall in Shelburne being recaptured by the McGill Bird Observatory in Montreal!
This is the second owl-exchange we've had between Shelburne and Montreal, after
re-capturing an owl on Oct. 24, 2013 that they had banded 16 days earlier.
There have been no other foreign recaptures or recoveries so far this season. This being only our second season of banding after last year's pilot, we still have much to learn.
We have also been delighted to host over 250 visitors to the
banding stations this year. With the banding season ending in early November,
there are still a few more opportunities to visit and observe. Contact Larry
for information about visiting either banding station.
Our owl banding initiative is supported by a grant from the
Oakland Foundation and your support. Help us make sure we can continue this
project for years to come by making a donation or adopting an owl.
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