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Owls in Homer, Alaska A log of small owl banding efforts in Homer, Alaska Menu Skip to content Home Links Report a banded bird Project Owlnet Bird Banding Lab The Owl Pages Project Description Results, 2009-2018 Weather Radar Forecast Contact Audio Lures Login / Register Finishing up the 2019 owl banding season: Oct 9-31 The banding season is just about over for 2019; the planned end date is Oct 31 (tonight). I’ll probably extend the effort by a week or so due to all of the rained-out nights over the last several days. Banding has remained slow throughout this season. As of tonight, 100 owls have been banded. Owl #100 arrived during the last net check of the last scheduled night of banding. In addition to the new bireds banded, two owls previously banded here made return visits; one of these recaptured birds was a Northern Saw-whet Owl that was originally banded here 5 years ago in 2014. Of the new birds banded, six were Boreal Owls, making this among the slowest Boreal seasons we’ve had here. Date Northern Saw-whet Owls banded Boreal Owls banded Oct 31 3 Oct 30 1 Oct 28 Oct 25 2 Oct 24 1 Oct 21 Oct 19 Oct 18 Oct 16 1 Oct 15 1 1 Oct 14 1 2 Oct 13 1 Oct 12 2 Oct 10 4 This entry was posted in Banding Results on November 1, 2019 by jason . Sep 27 – Oct 8 Banding continues to be slow, as it has all season so far. Typical nights have resulted in just a couple of owls banded. Boreal Owl numbers are way down compared to previous seasons; only two have been banded so far. Date Northern Saw-whet Owls Banded Notes Oct 8, 2019 1 Oct 7, 2019 2 + 1 returning banded bird The recaptured owl was originally banded in 2014 Oct 6, 2019 1 Oct 3, 2019 1 Oct 2, 2019 3 Oct 1, 2019 2 Sep 29, 2019 3 Sep 27, 20199 7 The owl recaptured on Oct 7 was originally banded here in September 2014 as a hatch-year bird, making this a 5th year bird. This owl had some apparently abnormal feather growth next to one eye: This entry was posted in Banding Results on October 9, 2019 by jason . Sep 21-26 Banding is still slower than expected for this time of year- the last couple of weeks in September are usually the most active for the season. We’re catching owls, but just a few (1-6) per night. Date New birds banded Recaptures 9/26/2019 2 Saw-whets, 1 Boreal 9/25/2019 3 Saw-whets 9/24/2019 1 Saw-whet 9/23/2019 5 Saw-whets 1 Saw-whet (banded in 2018) 9/22/2019 3 Saw-whets 9/21/2019 6 Saw-whets All birds banded this week were hatch-year birds. This entry was posted in Banding Results on September 28, 2019 by jason . Sep 18-20 Activity has increased a little bit over the past couple of nights. Sep 20: 6 Northern Saw-whets banded, all hatch-year birds. 1 Boreal Owl banded- this was the first Boreal for the season (and this location’s 1700th owl banded overall). This Boreal was an adult (after second-year) bird. Thanks to Tara Shea for visiting! Sep 18: 7 Northern Saw-whets banded. All but one were hatch-year birds; the remaining owl was a 2nd year bird (and the first adult Saw-whet banded this season). Both nights included banding of owls transitioning out of juvenal plumage: Young Saw-whet banded on Sep 18, 2019. Photo by Betsy Rogers This entry was posted in Banding Results on September 21, 2019 by jason . Sep 9-17, 2019 Off to a somewhat slow start. We’re banding owls almost every night, but no big nights yet, usually just 1 – 3 owls per night. All birds banded so far have been hatch-year Northern Saw-whet Owls. Sep 17 No banding (rain) Sep 16 1 banded Sep 15 No banding (rain) Sep 14 2 banded Sep 13 3 banded Sep 12 3 banded Sep 11 No banding (rain) Sep 10 None banded Sep 9 2 banded Sep 8 6 banded This entry was posted in Banding Results on September 19, 2019 by jason . Start of 2019 banding season We’re up and running for another season of owl banding. Nets were set up on Aug 31, 2019 and have been opened 7 nights since then; we’re starting to get a few Saw-whets. So far: Aug 31: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year) Sep 1: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year) Sep 3: No owls Sep 4: 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year) Sep 5: 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year) Sep 6: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl (hatch-year) Sep 8: 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls (all hatch-year) Where possible, nets will be open every night (weather permitting) between now and Oct 31. This entry was posted in Banding Results on September 9, 2019 by jason . End of 2018 season: Oct 14-31 October 31 was the last night of nightly owl banding for the 2018 season. After a week of near-continuous bad banding conditions (nightly rain, wind, bright full moon), a week of cold, clear nights brought a couple of owls per night. The nets are still up for a couple of weeks, and I’ll probably open them a few more times before disassembling the setup, hoping for a few more Boreal Owls. Season totals: Northern Saw-whet Owl: 164 new owls banded (148 hatch-year birds and 16 adults) 2 returning owls that were banded here in previous years Boreal Owl: 17 new owls banded (13 hatch-year birds and 4 adults) Western Screech-Owl: 1 owl banded Total: 182 new owls banded and 2 recaptures. This entry was posted in Banding Results on November 3, 2018 by jason . Oct 7-13, 2018 Banding has been slow for the last week due to lots of rain and wind, which prevented opening nets during several nights. The highlight this week was a Western Screech-Owl that was found in a chicken coop; it was banded before release. Oct 13: The first good banding night after a week of rain. 8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year 1 Western Screech-owl banded. Thanks to Aaron Lang, who found this owl in his chicken coop and let me know about it. Western Screech-Owl Western Screech-Owl Oct 12: No banding; rained out. Oct 11 : 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded; nets closed early due to rain. Oct 10 : No banding; rained out. Oct 9: No banding; wind/rain Oct 8: 11 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded Oct 7: 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl banded This entry was posted in Banding Results on October 14, 2018 by jason . Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2018 Thanks to the Kachemak Bay Birders for their visit and participation on the night of Oct 5. Oct 6: 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year Oct 5: 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds. Visitors included eight members of Kachemak Bay Birders and guests. Banded Northern Saw-whet Owl; photo by Carol Harding Oct 4: 8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded. One was an after-second-year bird; the rest were hatch-year. Thanks to Erick, Veronica and Betsy for the help. Oct 3 : Rained out Oct 2: 7 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, all hatch-year birds. Oct 1: 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds. Sep 30: 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded, both hatch-year birds. This entry was posted in Banding Results on October 8, 2018 by jason . Sep 26-29: 100th owl for the season We reached Owl #100 for the season last night (Sep 29), which was our first double-digit night so far this fall. Sep 29: 12 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded; including three after-second-year and one second-year adults (the rest were hatch-year birds). We were also visited by one Saw-whet that was originally banded here two weeks ago. 2 Boreal Owls banded Thanks to Betsy Rogers and Osi Kaspi for the help! Osi releases a banded Boreal Owl Sep 28: Fog/mist. 1 new Saw-whet was banded, and a return visit was made by a Saw-whet originally banded here in Aug 2017. Sep 27: Rained out. Sep 26: 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded 2 Boreal Owls banded This entry was posted in Banding Results on September 30, 2018 by jason . Post navigation ← Older posts Search for: Fall 2019 Season Totals to date Species New Recapture NSWO 92 2 BOOW 6 WESO Totals 100 2 Subscribe via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Join 4 other subscribers Email Address Subscribe Recent Posts Finishing up the 2019 owl banding season: Oct 9-31 Sep 27 – Oct 8 Sep 21-26 Sep 18-20 Sep 9-17, 2019 Recent Comments Archives November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 Nove...