Greetings once again MSRW followers and supporters. This blog will be the last blog I will be posting as our spring 2019 owl season has come to an end and even though it is over, it was a very successful season. Spring migration banding and surveys took place from March 20 to May 8 2019. 40 nights of banding/surveys resulted in the capture of 181 owls over the 50 day season; this included 156 newly banded Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) of which 15 were foreign recaptures and 2 were local recaptures that were originally banded by MSRW at Cheboygan State park in previous seasons, thus recaptures totaled 17. Other owl captures included 3 Barred Owls (Strix varia) and 5 Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) of which 1 was a foreign recapture. We were also able to band one American Robin (Turdis migratorius) and two Sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus).
This spring season in comparison is the second best spring season since 2015. The last four season’s totals are as follows; in 2015 there were 132 owls captured, while 2016 yielded 82 owls, 2017 yielded 175 owls and 2018 totaled 182. Although this season was very successful and we were open for 40 nights many of those nights were cut short as we had to deal with persistent winds and precipitation that was intermittent throughout the whole season.
It is sad once again to have to leave Northern Michigan but as always it’s been amazing! Hopefully I will make my way back up there again soon. But in the meantime as always stay classy folks and keep your eyes to the sky!
Season Totals: Total Birds: 181
NSWO: 156
LEOW: 5 (1 Foreign Recap)
BDOW: 3
Recaptures: 17 (NSWO)
