A Winter Owl's Meal

Ken and team have continued monitoring owls through the winter and have found that three individuals have remained on site since fall. Three others were newly banded this winter and recaptured. It appears the wintering population of saw-whets on the Reserve is pretty good-which indicates that the prey base it sound. And proof is in the owl mass- all have increased since their first banding. Below is an example of this female's weight history, captured and weighed three times.

one wintering NSWO captured and weighed 3 times

01Jan2017 =  90.5 gr

02Feb2017 =  95.6 gr

11Feb2017 = 101.7 gr

NSWO are primarily rodent predators, but are also opportunistic, taking advantage of what's available (birds, insects, etc).From previous pellet analysis conducted by Julie Shaw (see earlier posts in 2010-2013) and visual observations we know Reserve owls eat field mice, deer mice and California voles. One owl even ate rain beetles! Saw-whets will often make two meals out of one prey item and roost with it or cache it for the next meal.

A great web photo of a NSWO with deer mouse prey