Things have ramped up a bit, with our week total at 194 and our season total at 414. The average was about 30 birds a night, with some new species additions including Barred (2) and Long-eared (1) Owls. Our highest night for the week and also for the season was 59 birds, all Northern Saw-whet Owls. Net checks have been consistently eventful, and we rarely get extended periods of no birds at this point.
Our bycatch for the week was a Black-capped Chickadee, who showed up during our first net check of the night.
Some non-bird related news: we got to see some amazing aurora borealis displays while owl banding, the colors and dancing lights persisting vividly throughout the night util dawn cast them away. An amazing experience for those of us who have never seen them before. The photographs were endless, and resulted in multitudes of memorabilia.
As mentioned before, we’ve breached 400 birds for the season, and to commemorate the milestone we congratulated our 400th bird with a little celebration. Our lucky little lady. The 200 and 300 milestones flew by so quickly that we couldn’t catch them when they came, but we were sure to keep our eyes on the numbers this go around.
With that, week 4 comes to a close. We look forward to seeing what next week has to offer and will be sure to keep you in the loop.
Until next time,
Peyton & Mary
