Big Owl Night!

Last night I had my biggest Owl Night ever! It was pretty much a constant from 8pm t 2 am. I finished the night with 20 Northern Saw-whets, with as many as 5 in a Netcheck. I did not have time for many Photos as I like to process them a quickly as possible in order to put as little Stress on them as possible. It also keeps my net checks somewhat regular at 1/2 hr intervals(give or take)

There is something that I have noted during my past couple of Owling nights and that is when there is cloud cover I don't catch many if any Owls. As soon as stars come back out,the Owls seem to find the Nets. It is nothing Scientific yet,but I will continue to monitor this in the Future to see if there is any Basis to it.

The one photo is from last night (all I had time for)when I had 5 NSWO's to process. They are in Bags which are used to carry the Owls from the Nets to the Station for processing. The bags are 100% Cotton and very Breathable.They not only make it easy to carry them,but they remain in the Bags for weighing aswell!The Owls are then fitted with a Leg Band of a size specified by the Bird Banding Office(4 short). They then have their Wing measured from the Wrist to the Tips of the Primary Feathers.This is know as Wing Cord! From the Weight and Wing Cord we can determine their Sex to a degree(nothing is Fool Proof). By examining their Feather Molts we can determine Age. I will try to get Photos under UV Lights to show this part of it. They are then taken outside and Released! For the most part it takes about 7 minutes to process 1 Owl.