Spoiled

We were spoiled during the first month of saw whet banding. From 9/21 through 10/21 we captured 373 Northern Saw Whet Owls. In the two weeks since we have captured 32. 21 of those came on just three nights. Leaving us with 11 birds over the remaining 11 days.

Needless to say this pace makes for extremely slow 12 hour evenings. Lots of reading time. One of the most exciting nights was when a deer destroyed one of our nets. While we did not witness the event the results were plain to see.

We always knew there would be an end to the fall migration. Just didn’t expect it to be so sudden. Just a few more nights left until we close. Hope and anticipation start each night. Unfortunately reality kicks in pretty quickly as the spoiled kids settle into a pattern of disappointing empty net checks.