We had a great night last night: 8 Northern Saw-whet Owls banded! Nancy has done a wonderful job establishing this program…and making it a nice place to be. Her sidekick, Irene, has added enormously to this positive atmosphere. On owl nights the banding lab is just a nice place to be….whether we catch owls or not. We had ideal conditions: light northerly winds, cold temps, partially cloudy skies….and lots of owls on the move. The next owling night will be Friday (and maybe Saturday).

Young (new) feathers fluoresce pink; older feathers do not. The mix of old and new feathers indicate that this is an older bird. -B. Fotheringham
This morning it was clear and cool – a beautiful day no matter how you look at it. But what I noticed the most was the lack of flying birds: very few grackles, robins, and blackbirds and NO Cedar Waxwings. The bulk of the migration has passed us by. Now it’s time for the “winter residents” (those birds that breed in the boreal forest but spend their winters here) to re-establish themselves. Juncos have been moving into the area for the past 10 days or so and today we got the first American Tree Sparrow of the season – a sign that things are winding down. We still have a few good catching days ahead of us (our last day is November 7th) but the big days, or possible big days, are gone.
We had enough birds today to keep it interesting but at a rate that it made it possible to begin to teach some folks from the University of Waterloo about the joys of banding.
Banded 58:
1 Mourning Dove
8 Northern Saw-whet Owls (from last night)
5 Black-capped Chickadees
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Hermit Thrush
2 American Robins
2 Northern Cardinals
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Fox Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
2 White-throated Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 Purple Finches
3 House Finches
22 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 32 spp.
Rick