WHAT THE NIGHT BRINGS

We are up to 18 owls with our last 2 captures occurring on November 7, 2013.  Last night the J. Shaw team captured a lone, but previously banded Western Screech Owl, making our total WESO captures at 7. It seems there are almost as many screech owls as saw-whets this year.  On the 7th, my crew had a male tooting in competition with our boom box for a solid hour before he finally had to go check out the stud in the woods (our boombox), and we captured him. He looks pretty tough- doesn't he?

Male NSWO weighting in at a whopping 74 grams.

When the owls are few and far between during our 30  minute net runs, we have plenty of time to contemplate other things like the nocturnal habits of deer, P. chorus frogs and bats, gazing at shooting stars and constellations, listening for owls, migrating geese and bugs. Bug finding can be entertaining. These Jerusalem Crickets sometimes cross our path.

Jerusalem Cricket

They are about 2 inches long, and have a very shiny, nicely striped and squishy abdomen. Apparently they are quite the percussionists too.  Check out this link to hear them drum with their abdomens.  One never knows what the night will bring!

FOREIGN RECOVERY NSWO #2!

Last night, during our Owl Night Out donation for the Fight Against Alzheimer's -we had an amazing surprise, a Foreign Recovery of a NSWO.

 

Fighting to end Alzheimer's -
Our very fun and birding savvy group!

Bander/volunteer Michelle Ocken just before releasing Miss
Iowa!  Michelle's smile shows our group's excitement.

This means we recaptured an owl originally banded elsewhere, only the second time for us since 2005 and over 500 owl banding/captures. Our excitement was high when after looking through our data, we soon discovered she was not one of "our birds."  Her band number did not match any of the band strings. By examining her molt pattern we identified her as a Second Year (SY) female, meaning she was hatched last year in 2012. When I got home I input her band information into the Bird Banding Laboratory - Report a Bird - page and here is what I found this morning in my inbox: 

Banding Location: Hitchcock Nature Center, NR Honey Creek, Pottawatomie County, IOWA!  She was banded Nov. 2012 as a Hatch Year/Female. 

Project Owlnet Map of all NSWO banding stations across 

North America. I  circled our banding station at BCCER in blue 

and the banding station where Miss Iowa was first banded.

What a trip - Literally! While we don't know what her journey looks like, but here is a likely scenario. We know she was banded in Iowa, fall 2012. She likely flew north in the spring and bred somewhere in Canada (?) in 2013. This fall she flew to us.  The mystery lies in the in between route from station to station-and one that will always remain a mystery. 

NSWO are AMAZING!  

Google Earth image showing two banding locations and
terrain in between sites

Happy OWLOWEEN 2013 - BOO!

One of my most fun owl events is the ever popular and scary OWLOWEEN. This time it was a surprise for our guests - Sacramento Audubon Society (SAS). And this is what it looked like:  Awesome banding crew, 11 participants and 2 NSWO, bringing us up to for the season as of October 26. A very slow year,good thing we know how to have some fun!

Our Owloween group with curious NSWO

We also heard N. Pygmy Owl, Western Screech Owl and Great  Horned owl AND some strange sounds we could not identify. Pair the  wildlife with lots of spooky tricks and treats - a successful night!  

Trick or Treat Table

Delicious ghoulish cupcakes! 

Creepy Grave on the way to the nets

Thank you SAS for your generous donation to help support our owl monitoring project!

Hatch year  Female, NSWO, Photo by Linda Pittman (SAS)

OWL Donations Bring Success!

Incoming!  Our fall population of NSWO was in perfect arrival timing with our first charitable contribution. Julie and Mark, winners of our "Owl Night Out" contribution to raise funding for student research (Candles in the Canyon-BCCER), were joyful about meeting our first two NSWO since opening on October 4. Banders Julie Shaw and Raina and Steve King introduced our project to the group and had a great evening (thanks!), we always enjoy showing people the darling owl that may live right in their backyard- sight unseen.

Candles in the Canyon 2013 Donation Winners - Owl What a Night!
All photos by Steve King.

"Pleased to meet you," owl guest and NSWO

Bling! Julie's glittery nail polish coordinated
with NSWO plumage. Nice Julie! 

We have been wondering when the owls would arrive.  The mild temps may be keeping them up in the mountains where there could still be warm days, snow-less grounds for hunting, and abundant prey or maybe they were just waiting for a charity event!  This brings our owl total up to 4 NSWO and 4 WESO (see earlier post). We have another event tonight - keep your fingers crossed XXXX

NSWO - Halting to a SCREECH

Our owl of October 2013 is undoubtedly the Western Screech Owl, having so far, captured four of them and only two saw-whets.  Screech Owls are resident birds, breeding on the Reserve and living here year round.
  

Guest with 5-year old Western Screech Owl

They are likely curious about whooooo has come to their forest and are often incidentally caught in our nets when we are playing the saw-whet calls. We captured our first one last week, and then another 3 in one night! One female was a recapture who was originally banded in October, 2008.  Recaptures relay great stories, such as a birds' age, she being at least 5 years old.  Their memory also must be quite good, taking her a full five years to revisit her experience in the nets! Our grand total so far: 2 NSWO and 4 WESO. Where are the saw-whets?!

SEASON NINE NSWO MONITORING KICK-OFF AT BCCER, A SWEET SURPRISE!

Juvenile/hatch year saw-whet. Note dark brown plumage
and buff belly, with few bars and spots.
Photos by Steve King.

Hello young saw-whet! Last night during the kick-off to our 9th season of owl monitoring, we had a nice surprise in our nets; a first year female with about 2/3 of her body covered in juvenal plumage. These are the wispy more unstructured feathers found everywhere but on the tail and wings (flight feathers). The flight feathers were typical of a first year bird (hatch year, HY), all uniform in pattern and age because they grow in at the same time.

Note wispy feathers typical of juvenal plumage
and darker, more uniform coloration.

In comparison and below, this bird has molted into adult type plumage,and right is a webphoto of a newly fledged saw-whet. Our first capture above had a combination of both plumages. Go to this link for a really cute video of nestlings.

Plumage of a typical "adult-type" saw-whet,
lighter with more patterning: spots and bars

Why is this so exciting?  A banding resource (Pyle 1997) describes juvenal plumage from May through September, meaning that most birds in October would have their first basic (adult-type) plumage.  I know that to be true because it is only the second bird in this plumage that I have captured of over 600 owls. And I think it could indicate that we have local and late breeding-perhaps even a second clutch for a local nesting pair. How local? That's hard to say. In our few summer surveys, we have not detected breeders at the BCCER. But attempts have been few and these owls are variable in their nesting locations. Always more questions! Anyway here's the team- we are off to a good start with two owls this first banding night.Thanks team!

The 2013 NSWO banding team with our first owl of the year, from front left to right:
Sheila, Julie, Shannon, me, JoAnna, Nancy, Raina and Tyler.
And of course Steve is behind the camera- thanks Steve!

A Student of the Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School Adopts an Owl!

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE

 

 Sophie P, a student from the Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School (HSCS) has adopted an owl! After successfully completing exams about owls, and in particular our research with Saw-whets,  Sophie was awarded with a Saw-whet Owl Adoption.  

Sophie P. using her quill pen to
complete a homework assignment

Sophie recently received her adoption certificate and became a guardian of this after hatch year female owl originally banded in 2006.    Thank you for your support Sophie and good luck with your studies!