Timiskaming Birds Forum

Last friday Oct 24th was our last night of owl banding and we finsihed with 304 norethern sawwhets banded 7 boreal owls and 2 long eared owls. There was a very large percentage of adult owls. normally we have about 70% of young versus older owls but this year our % was reversed suggesting that there was a failure of the hatch. many people have been speculating that there has been a crash in the rodent population perhaps as a consequence of the amount of rain we had in the spring and summer. We were delighted however to catch the boreal owls which we seem to capture every four years. Our highest year was 2004 when we caught 11. If anyone wishes anymore infor about our owl banding project please let me know. this was our 9th season and we are already looking forward to season 10 next fall.

Long-eared Owls - wow.  I'd love to see one of those close up. Do you catch some of those in most years, or are they on a cycle as well?

we usually get a least two a year I think our highest has been 5. One night we caught three in one net  but that was crazy. They are quite aggressive compared to the sawwhets. I had a farmer telling me he had short eared owls this past summer said they were nesting on the ground. he promises to phone me if he sees them next year