This will be our last owl update for the year. Not much happened after our last post over a week ago - only a few more Saw-whets were caught. Unfortunately, neither the Hawk Owl nor the Great Gray was seen again after the 29th. Our last night was scheduled for October 31st but we were not able to open the nets due to strong winds and rain. Our final total came to 341 with 269 Saw-whets, 60 Barred Owls and 12 Long-eared Owls banded. Each season has its charms, but this was one of our best falls ever at WPBO and certainly an exciting one. We feel lucky to have been a part of it.

'Till next time,

~Wendy and Keith

Barred Owl Release

Just at dusk last night (Oct 29), before we set out to open the nets, Wendy spotted a Northern Hawk Owl perched at the very top of the lighthouse! It was observed for about 15 minutes before it flew out of sight to the southwest. Efforts throughout the night to relocate it were not successful, but on one of our saunters, we found a Great Gray Owl perched on a drift log out on the beach. It too was not viewed for long, but we did see it give chase to a Barred Owl in an apparent territorial gesture before disappearing inland. With only two nights of banding left this season, these sightings will surely keep our hopes up till the very end.

Hawk Owl Silhouette on Whitefish Light (click to enlarge)

Happy Owling ~
Keith & Wendy

Suddenly Saw-whet migration has slowed to a crawl. Under seemingly excellent conditions on the 24th, only 3 were banded. The 25th started a bit windy, but calmed down after midnight and 1 Saw-whet was netted. 2 Barred Owls were banded each night after 2:00 am.

Many owl banders believe that fewer Saw-whets are captured under a bright full moon - after the last couple nights, its hard not to believe that there's some truth in that. Speculations are many, but the primary theories are 1) its easier for the owls to see the nets and 2) Saw-whets prefer not to migrate under bright skies because they become more susceptible to predation, especially from larger owls. After the season is over, we hope to combine past data to see if we can find any correlation between Saw-whet captures and moon phase at WPBO.

~Keith & Wendy

We would have posted earlier, but the late October nights are getting longer and our nets have been full of owls. We've been kept busy over the past five nights with 107 owls of 3 species captured! October 17th and 20th were especially busy with over 30 owls each night.

To break it down:
We banded 34 Saw-whets on the 17th and recaptured a Barred Owl that was banded four nights prior. October 20th brought 32 Saw-whets and 4 Long-eared Owls. Two more Long-eareds showed up on the 21st, bringing our fall total for this species to 11. We are also still regularly catching Barred Owls and have banded an almost unbelievable 56.

On a side note, sparrows seem to have become a theme of late. On the 19th we were lucky enough to witness a Saw-whet Owl repeatedly chase down and eventually catch a sparrow in the parking lot - a rare treat to see one "in action". A couple nights later, we were surprised to catch a Saw-whet still clutching its headless/wingless sparrow prey in the net. And to top it off, a disoriented American Tree Sparrow flew into the banding lab in the pre-dawn hours.

We're hoping that the cold front this week will bring with it a northern species or two. We just received the first fall reports of a Great Gray Owl seen in the Keweenaw and a Northern Hawk Owl in Minnesota. Hopefully others will hurry their way to the point – we've only got ten nights left.

An impressive wave of owls passed through the point last weekend. On Saturday the 13th, we captured 38 Northern Saw-whet Owls- the highest number ever banded in a single October night at WPBO! We were able to spot them on numerous occasions perched or flying through the woods and even heard a few vocalizing. In addition, 2 Long-eared Owls and 3 Barred Owls were caught; making for a very busy and exciting night.

Weather conditions remained favorable through the 14th and a steady migration continued. 17 Saw-whets and 1 Long-eared Owl were banded along with our 52nd Barred Owl of the season.

Last nights strong SE wind and tonight's rain has slowed things down a bit. The last owls captured were 6 Saw-whets that arrived at the point early Tuesday morning.

Happy Owling!

~Wendy & Keith

Windy conditions on the 10th and 12th kept us from opening the nets. Moderate winds on the 11th however, brought 9 new Saw-whet Owls and surprisingly no Barreds. Our first long stretch of cold nights has finally decended from the north so we are beginning to hope for the arrival of a Boreal Owl. Just 2 Long-eareds have been banded so far but still no sign of a Great Gray.


~Keith & Wendy

Over the past week, Saw-whet Owl migration seems to have slowed. Only 5 have been banded within the last four nights, but the nets weren't opened on the 5th because we were rained out. With 96 Saw-whets banded so far, we are about 20% below the average on this date. On the other hand, Barred Owl captures continue to be many times higher than normal. Since our last post, 16 more Barreds have been banded! Chris has also confirmed them roosting at the point during the day - he flushed 2 or 3 while birding the woods today.

~Wendy & Keith

October 1st turned out to be our busiest night yet with 20 owls of 3 species banded. Already a third of the way into our season, we now have 69 Saw-whet Owls and 1 Long-eared Owl, but the big story continues to be an impressive Barred Owl presence at the point. An unprecedented 27 individuals have been captured so far, 7 of which were banded on October 1st. We cannot be sure why so many Barreds have appeared at the point this fall. Because less than half of them are juveniles that fledged this summer, our high numbers probably aren't due to normal dispersal after an exceptional breeding year. A better explanation most likely involves a lack of favored prey from wherever they are originating from.

We are quite jealous of Chris's October 2nd Short-eared Owl sighting (see his photos on the wpbo sightings blog). We hope that the next one passing through comes a few hours earlier and ends up in one of our nets!


~Keith & Wendy

Wendy extracts a Barred Owl from the net

Barred Owls continue to populate the point. Under a bright full moon on the 26th, and with temperatures dipping below freezing for the first time, we banded 7 new Barred Owls and 2 Saw-whets. To our chagrin, we also extracted 6 bats and 2 flying squirrels from the nets.

Last night, 3 more Barreds were detected. We banded 1, recaptured another that was banded the night before, and saw the third escape from a net before we could reach it. No Saw-whets were captured last night until the last couple hours before dawn and we ended up banding 3.

Happy Owling,

~Wendy and Keith

Saw-whets continue to pass through the point in moderate to low numbers. 40 have been banded thus far, which is close to the six-year average of 54.

Much more notable has been an influx of numerous Barred Owls. Over the past three nights we've banded 1, 2, and 3 respectively while even more are being seen or heard vocalizing. Last night we also recaptured a Barred Owl which we had banded the night before. To put this in perspective - not a single Barred Owl was captured last fall until early October and there have been entire seasons with fewer Barreds total than we have had in our first ten nights. The record high for Barred Owls was set in fall of 2003 when 18 individuals were banded.
View fall season totals HERE.

In other news, a moose graced us with its presence last night and trampled one of our nets. We arrived just in time to find the net torn and wrapped around a tree, and to see the frightened animal fleeing the scene. Although an interesting and uncommon wildlife sighting for us, we hope not to see it again... at least not until the nets come down in November.

~Keith and Wendy

Aside from opening night, wet and windy weather conditions seem to be keeping owl captures low. Between zero and 3 owls are being captured per night which has brought us to a total of 25 Northern Saw-whet Owls, 1 Barred Owl and a bat. On September 19th, we caught a Saw-whet that was banded here by Chris and Nova one month ago.

In five seasons, we've never seen more Northern Flying Squirrel activity at the Point. The one shown takes advantage of the bird feeders nightly. Other sightings have been in the woods behind the feeders and strangely enough, atop the waterbird shack. We hope they stay out of our nets!

Weather for the weekend looks promising for owl migration; mostly clear and cooler with light winds.

~Wendy and Keith

Fall owl banding has begun at the point and this year's project is being run by returning banders Wendy King and Keith Bagnall. After setting up the nets in occasional rain showers and persistent wind, opening night on September 15th was clear and calm and we ended up catching 15 Saw-whets. On the last net check just before dawn, we also captured our first Barred Owl of the season.

We are very glad to be back at WPBO and are looking forward to another great season of owling. Check back here for updates as the season unfolds.

~Keith and Wendy

The owl migration has really slowed to a trickle, the recent weather has not helped our efforts. However, we did catch 5 juvenile Saw-whets last night, the 5th being our 600th Saw-whet of the season. We also had a couple random visitors at the bird feeders tonight; 2 Northern Flying Squirrels and a Deer. As the migration has all but stopped over the past week we will likely be shutting down the summer owl banding in the next night or two. Look for our final update on the summer program in the next couple of days. The fall owl banding season starts in just a few weeks, September 15th.

This past week has been rather slow for juvenile Saw-whets, but two nights ago we banded 16, which is a good number since things seem to be winding down. The last one of that night was juvenile Saw-whet number 500! A front is currently pushing through the area, and we are hoping that the weekend will bring some good weather for the owls. The waterbird count just started yesterday, and you can link to Cory's blog on the left for updates.

The 2nd season of our summer owl research has been going extremely well. We began on July 1st, and as of August 4th we have banded 509 owls; 508 Northern Saw-whets and 1 Long-eared. Four hundred and forty nine of the Saw-whets have been juveniles.