We were very relieved to catch the first juvenile Saw-whet of the season last night (photos above). This is just over 2 weeks later than our first one last summer. We obviously hope the juveniles are going to pick up now. This spring's Saw-whet migration was 2 weeks behind last year's. Maybe that's the difference, maybe not, only time will tell. We've banded 50 adult Saw-whet so far, which is very similar to last years results at this date. Weather permitting, we will be giving another of our Thursday night programs tomorrow, 7/17. You can view details on a previous post below.
This time of year we begin to see active molt in some of the adults we catch. The above bird has dropped its tail, that's all the white undertail coverts sticking out. The below bird has begun growing in new tail feathers.
Many of the adults are molting the feathers on their feet and legs. As beautiful as these little guys are, they are not so cute under their feathers(photo below).
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