Nancy Furber is determined to add Saw-whet Owl banding to our station’s repertoire. To this end she has been out on a couple of nights, complete with lure tape, to try to net a few. I went out tonight to give her a hand – from 8:00 until midnight. It was a beautiful night with light winds and partial cloud – and the taped call of the owl to provide ambience. Let me state first thing that we did NOT catch a Saw-whet Owl. But I still have to correct today’s (and September’s) totals. At about 10:00 I came across a very fat Gray Catbird in one of the nets – it had a fat score of 5 out of a possible 7. I couldn’t figure out what it was doing flying around down low when it should have been high overhead winging its way south – especially with that fat load! Maybe it was too fat to fly and had decided to walk there……So the September total is now 1,662.

But that’s not all. We also netted a Little Brown Bat. These are cute little things, even when they’re scolding/chattering at you. I got a leather glove to hold him with while I worked the net off his wings and feet – they can give a nasty bite. Extended bat wings are neat – they feel like stretched bubble gum.

Nancy is going to try again tomorrow night with Christine Madliger and Chris Harris – both visiting from Windsor for the weekend.