The second week of owl banding at Mill Creek was characterized by bad weather, from all types of precipitation to temperatures below the cutoff of 15 degrees F. Consequently, nets were unable to be opened three nights and only for a shortened period the other four nights. Still, when the nets were open, it was relatively productive, with 16 Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) banded, one recapture NSWO, and one Barred Owl (BDOW).
The recapture NSWO was originally banded at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory in fall 2020 as a hatch year (HY), and was recaptured as a third year (TY) bird this week!
The highlight of the week for me was an after second year (ASY) BDOW – the only bird caught for the night of 3/28, but a good one!
-Evan Buck, spring 2022 owl bander
Breakdown of each night’s catch:
| Date | Newly Banded NSWO | Recaptured NSWO | Newly Banded BDOW |
| 3/23 | WEATHER | WEATHER | WEATHER |
| 3/24 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 3/25 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3/26 | WEATHER | WEATHER | WEATHER |
| 3/27 | WEATHER | WEATHER | WEATHER |
| 3/28 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3/29 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
Note: recaptures originally banded spring 2022 at Mill Creek Historic Park are not included.
