Migration Stations Closed for the Season!

Well the Fall Migration has come to an end here in Central Ontario! We furled up the nets for the final time on Saturday after a couple of nights that were near "Perfect Conditions" with nothing caught at the Owl Nets and several none productive "Days " at the Hawk Station.
The Saw-whet Banding started rather slow, but ended up being about average with 131 New Owls, and 4 Foreign Retraps. We also had 1 retrap of one of our own Owls 3 seasons after the original Encounter! Although" our data" has been submitted by us, 2 of the Owls do not have any data from the Original Bander as of yet!
3 Long-eared Owls were also caught and Banded, and we will try aggressively for them again in the Spring!
During our final week of Owl Banding we had a Barred Owl come into the site, but we were unable to catch and Band it. This is our first encounter with this Species at our Station during 5 years of Operation.

Up on the Hill we ended the season with about 30 Hawks caught. The final Count will be determined over the next few days and Totals added to this post.

The next Season is almost upon us, and we are setting our sites toward the Winter Survey sites! Pre scouting has not picked up much as of yet, but when the weather changes so to will the Bird Counts at these locations.

There's a Surprise!

While the weather has been anything but Stellar for Hawk Banding , it has allowed us to get a few nights in for Owl Banding . We are now over 100 new Saw-whets for the season and it is slowing down to 1 or 2 a night with nights of none aswell.

When I went Banding on Thursday night I found our Goshawk Trap had been setoff. After setting up the nets and Audiolure, I checked the Trap . As I approached I couldn't see anything sitting(using my Headlamp) in it and was about to think that it was triggered by the wind. Just as I got up beside it something moved and jumped around.......................what.............a Northern Shrike??????????????????

Shrikes may be small, but are aggressive! They are a "Songbird" and have a very pretty song. They look similar to a Northern Mockingbird in colour and size. They are also nicknamed the "Butcher Bird" due to the habit of impaling its Prey on the Thorns of Hawthorn Bushes and Barbed wire Fences. Yes you read correctly "its Prey" ! They are Carnivores that hunt for Mice, and Small Birds in the winter, and will add large Insects(Dragonflies,Grasshoppers) , small Frogs and Snakes in the Summer.

Well this was totally unexpected as the Trap is designed to be triggered by something about "Crow Sized " not "Blue Jay Size". Well it was a Bird species that I had not banded before, so that is what I did!

Now I had prior warnings about how "Nasty" they could be, so I took no chances and wore Leather Gloves. It didn't seem to aggressive at first, but eventually it was trying to bite and you could feel it through the Glove. After banding I put it in a Box to keep for the Night as it was Dark . The next morning it was released, but not before drawing some "Blood" first!

I did also catch a couple Saw-whets also!

Saw-whet Returns!

Well ,the main reason that we Band Hawks and Owls is for the purpose of trying to figure out where they might go and how long they live for in the wild! They have found that some birds travel Great distances each Spring and Fall. They are even using Geolocating Devices and GPS Units on some Species to track them more closely.

They have found that the Larger Birds can live for a long time(ie Red-tailed Hawk 28 yrs) in the wild.

For me , this year has really been a good year for getting Info from Birds that I have either Captured and Banded previously, or Birds I have Banded and then retrapped years later.

On the 24th I was again the recepient of some worthy Info. I retrapped a Northern Saw-whet Owl that I had previously Banded. I caught this Owl on Oct 26 2006 about 500 meters from where it was originally Banded! When I initially caught and Banded this Owl it was a Hatch Year(born in the Current Year) and sexed as a Female. Well I now know that this Owl has survived 3 years out in the Wilds, but we do not exactly where it has been!

It is our first Owl that we have recaptured at our site in 5 years of Banding there, and are thrilled about this!

We have now caught 95 New Saw-whets(4 Foreign/ 1 Control), 28 New Hawks(1 Foreign/3 Control) and 3 New Long-eared Owls and 2 (Control) Eastern Screech Owls.

Fall Banding in Full Swing!........finally!

Well we are finally experiencing an influx of Banding this past week! Saw-whet Owls arrived in earnest on the 13th with 22 New Owls banded and 1 Foreign Retrap. This previously Banded Owl was caught and banded in Pennsylvania Nov 11/07. The 22 new Owls set the new station 1 day (night) record high.

We have now banded 88 Saw-whets for the season and caught 4 previously Banded Owls.

On the Hawk side of the Banding we are over the 20 Bird mark! We achived this quicker than last year, although we haven't had great weather or terrific Flight Days.

Of the Hawks caught was 1 ASY Red-tailed Hawk that was previously Banded at another Station in Ontario in 2007. We are waiting for more specific information on this Hawk. It was my first Foreign Retrap of a Hawk and the second for our Station.

We also had a Red-tailed Hawk caught and relocated from the Cleveland Airport. I banded it as a HY in September 2007. This is my first Retrap of one of my Hawks at another location.

We are continueing to plug along, but once again the weather is keeping us indoors!

Wild Rains and Winds are Holding us Back!

Well we have not managed alot of Banding Hours lately, especially for Owls due to Weather. Rain almost every night and Winds gusting up to 60 Km an hour.

We have only caught 3 NSWO's thus far , which is about 15-20 less than previous Seasons. 2 EASO's have been retrapped. 1 was originally banded in the Spring 09, and the other Nov 08 at our Innisfree Location.

We are at about 15 Hawks Banded this year, but the weather again is not helping. Cold Fronts continue to move through, but they are not bringing much but low Ceilings and Rain.

Of note on the Hawks we have recaught 3 Hawks previously Banded.

1) ASY COHA banded originally Sept. 26 2009 , was recaught Oct 01 2009 - 5 miles from the original Banding Site.

2) HY RTHA banded originally Sept 03 2009 , was recaught at the same location on Oct 5 2009.

3) ATY RTHA banded originally Dec 2005, was recaught Oct 6 2009 about 1/2 a mile from its orignal Banding Location.

Will possible try for Owls tonight if the wind dies down !

2009 Season............so far!

Well aren't I just the lamest Blogger!

Here we are almost through 2009(3months) and I haven't come up with a post since early 2009.
We have had a soso season this Fall compared to last Fall. But using last Fall as a comparison may not be the best tool as it was miserable to say the least , especially the Diurnal Species(Hawks).

We have done better than last years Hawk Banding numbers to date, but weather is hampering our efforts. South easterly winds make it far to muggy and push the Birds away from our site. A large Cold front is continueing to move through today and tomorrow which should bring significant change for the better.
Our ratio of Hatch Year birds caught, compared to this time last year is also better, which shows that even though our summer wasn't the warmest or driest, it is better than last season.
We are pleased to announce that Bruce Wilson will be learning the craft of Raptor Banding this season. He is a very skilled Birder and no doubt will bring something to the Group(aside from Timbits;)).Also we have had experienced Raptor Bander Mike Blom leave our midst, but not totally leave the Group. He has set up an experimental Banding Station in his home province of Saskatchewan. He voes to come back, but with all the Raptors Species that he has potential to band there, we do not see him running back for atleast a Season. We wish Mike the Best with this venture and will see him in the future at some point!

Here at our Innisfree Raptor Station we have started for Saw-whet Owls ,but no success as of yet. It will hopefully be a good season, but time will tell. Last fall proved to be better than expected as their cycle should have been lowered. Perhaps our Geological location will not show to many flunctuations in the normal 4 year Cycle(2007 was the last spike). Time will tell also and it will require many years of Data to prove this either way.

Spring Banding was a complete surprise here at Innisfree. Trying for Saw-whet Owls in March only brought us 6! In complete surprise was the 28 Long-eared Owls that we caught. It was so not expected as we had only caught 2 in the previous 2 fall seasons.So you know what we will be trying for in the Spring again, just to ensure that it wasn't some kind of fluke event!

This spring also saw my oldest Son Todd band his very first Northern Saw-whet Owl. He was very happy to have the chance to do so and is looking forward to becoming a Licenced Bander.

None the less I will try to get some photos together and hopefully a few good stories as they unfold.

Cheer's Garth

Road Trapping/My first Snowy Experience!

I finally had a channce to get out and do some Road Trapping! Nigel and a I set out for the Holland Marsh Agricultural Fields on Tuesday the 3rd.
We were there only a few minutes when we saw our first Snowy of theday. It was a very heavily Barred SY female.We set up and waited a few minutes as she checked the Bait and head bobbed.Finally she took flight, but stopped short of the Net. After afew more minutes she flew back to her Perch and seemed disinterested. We took down the setup and drove along afew more minutes and found a Pure White ASY male. We again set up and almost imediately he came off his Perch , but something put him off and he landed off to the side. After a few minutes he took flight and went well out into the Onion Fields . It was then we noticed another Female further down the same road. She could have been the reason he gave up. We decided to change our setup a little and right away she came in and hit the Trap but did not get caught.She made a second pass, but decided something was up and proceeded to go back to her Perch.
Three Owls in 30 minutes,but unforunately nothing caught.
We drove west of the Hwy 400 and immediately found another female on the ground. We set up again, and came in straight away, but turned back when a Kestrel flew in and Hovered over the Trap. The Kestrel was already Banded an amazing 3 years earlier inthe same location, and had been caught a week earlier by Nigel.He was not about to get caught again!
A fifth Owl was spotted over on the next concession and we drove around and again did our modified setup. She looked and bobbed her head for several minutes, then finally came off her Perch and wasted no time coming in and getting caught. Nigel allowed me to go and retrieve her and take her out of the Trap. I then proceeded to Band her,and we weighed and measured her, before taking a couple of pics with the Cell Phone Camera. I released her and after a high five on my first Snowy we packed up and looked for more. We saw our first Owl again, but did not try again and called it a day.