Welcome to the first week of spring owl banding 2025! Despite occasional snowy and windy weather it has been a great week. Our very first night of the season we caught a Long-eared owl, a Barred owl, and several Saw-whets! Right now we are sitting at a total of 36 Northern saw-whet owls, 1 Long-eared owl, and 1 Barred owl for a grand total of 38 owls!
One of our first Northern saw-whet owls.
The first Barred Owl of the season.
We have a new crew for this season so let us introduce ourselves:
Hi all, my name is Hannah Landwerlen! Some of ya’ll may recognize me, I was the lead owl bander in the fall of 2023! Now I’m back for a spring season with MSRW!! During 2024 I was away, working with Purple-crowned fairywrens (Malurus coronatus), Zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), and Splendid/Purple-backed fairywrens (Malurus splendens/Malurus assimilis) in Australia. All that time working with passerines had me missing owls, so I’m so excited to be seeing birds with talons again. I hope everyone can visit us this season the field site is stunning and we are hopeful it’ll be a stellar season!
Hello!
My name is Amelia Meares-Parcher, I am the assistant owl bander for this spring owl banding season at Mackinac Strait Raptor Watch. This is my first season working with MSRW, but I have previously worked with Swainson’s Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Veery, White-throated Sparrow, Red-eyed Vireo and Yellow-rumped Warblers on a number of other ongoing projects. This is my first non-passerine banding experience and thus far I am enjoying every minute! I am an enthusiastic birder in my free time, and the chance to see these relatively elusive species in the hand has been a real treat.
Again we hope to see some of you out here this season, and if you can’t make it out check out these blogs for a deep dive into the lives of owls!
