A Few More Birds

We are not banding tonight due to windy and rainy weather. Two nights ago on the 27th we banded 5 Northern Saw-whets and had a NSWO foreign encounter. If you remember from earlier blogs an encounter is a bird that is already banded. A foreign encounter is a bird banded from a different location. The four other encounters we have had this season were not foreign, all banded here at Whitefish Point. We don't know where the foreign encounter was banded. It will be interesting to find out where it was originally banded.

Only a couple more nights of banding. The weather forecast isn't looking good. Maybe Saturday night if it isn't too windy.

Totals: 3 BDOW, 2 BOOW, 1 LEOW, 123 NSWO

Quiet Times

Not much to report on. I just felt like I should update the blog. We have not banded a new bird since the 17th. This can be mainly attributed to crummy weather. We have been having more rain and wind. Oh well ,what can you do?

A visitor to the point today saw a Long-eared Owl roosting. We were hoping it would stick around and get caught in our nets. Unfortunately, we had to close the nets due to intermittent rain and strong winds.

I was looking through my pictures and found this one of a Northern Saw-whet about to take off from Tim's arm. Just look at that little owl, how could you not love them?!

Our last night of banding is on Halloween. I hope we get to see a few more owls before the 31st. We'll see.

Totals: 2 BOOW, 3BDOW, 1 LEOW, 118 NSWO

Cold Weather Brings Cool Birds

Strong winds kept us from opening last night but we are back at it tonight. It's been hit and miss of late. Cooler temperatures caused some movement over the last five days. On the 15th we caught 6 (all before 11pm so it seemed like a slow night), 16th we only caught two (both before 9pm so it seemed like a horribly slow night), 17th was our best night with 12 NSWOs and our second BOOW of the season! Tonight is shaping up to be a long one. It's 11pm and we have nothing to show for our efforts. I guess south winds and warmer weather don't make these little guys want to fly across a big lake. I sure hope we get a few...closing time is a long way off.--Tim

Past the 100 mark

Tonight we banded the 100th owl of the season! We just finished banding our third Barred Owl of the season. This owl was much feistier than the two others we banded. Right after banding the Barred we had the second Northern Saw-whet of the night. Sometimes I forget how small the Saw-whets really are.

The picture above was the second Barred Owl that we banded. It was nice enough to perch so I could get a photo of it with the lovely fall colors in the background. Speaking of the fall foliage- it is really pretty up here now, supposedly at "peak" color.

Tonight is the first night that the thermometer gave a reading below zero (centigrade). Burrr. I'm sure the owls like it since they are molting in new body feather to keep them toasty in the upcoming months. That is all for now.

Total owls banded: 97 NSWO, 3 BDOW, 1LEOW, 1BOOW

Barred Owls and bad weather

Lucas with the first Barred Owl of the season.


Second Barred Owl of the season.


Britta's parents with us at Tahquamenon Falls

The last two weeks have been pretty spotty for us due to the weather. We've had many nights when the nets weren't open at all and a few more that we had to close early or open late (or both). Yet between the gusty nights and showers we've still been catching a few birds, including our first two Barred Owls. The count coming into tonight stands at 84 owls banded; 80 NSWO, 1 LEOW, 1 BOOW, 2 BDOW. Four species, not to shabby. We were hoping to catch a short-eared or a hawk owl early tonight because both were seen on the point today, but those long shots are not looking like they'll pay out. Although we were lucky enough to see the N. Hawk Owl (1st for both of us! I'm sure Chris and Tom have posted some excellent pictures). Tonight has been fairly slow although we've had two out of season recaps. Both NSWOs banded here, one in spring 08 the other this past spring.

Even though the timing wasn't the best due to the weather, we've had some nice visits from friends and family. Britta's parents made it up for four nights. We were only able to open one of those nights and then only after mid-night, but we did catch a few and they were able to see one Saw-whet. Our close friend Lucas also came to visit. We worked with him in Ontario this past summer. He was with us for our first Barred Owl capture and a fair number of Saw-whets. He was also lucky enough to see all the great birds that showed up on the point today. He also shamed me in cribbage between net runs (four games to one with a skunk to boot) We were very happy they all chose to make the long trip to see us.

Looks like we may have a early snow storm coming in this weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Look what we banded tonight!

A Boreal owl! This is the first Boreal banded this fall. Eight lucky visitors were present to share the excitement with us. This was the first Boreal for Tim and I as well as the majority of the visitors. After the recent rainy weather we were excited to actually be banding tonight and then we were happily surprised with a new species.


Total birds banded 72 NSWO, 1 LEOW, 1 BOOW.