Northern Saw-whet Owl

Jeff Hammond, the bander, carefully extracting the owl from the net.


Holding the owl after banding and measuring her.


Last night I got a chance to help do research on the Northern Saw-whet Owl in the Yellowwood State Forest. The NSWO is a winter resident in Indiana and is our smallest owl. The weather conditions Monday night were not great for catching owls last night, but we did catch one on our final net check. (Good weather is a cold, dark night with a light northerly breeze.) Not much is known about NSWOs, so we record as much data about them as we can; such as weight, various dimensions, sex, eye color, molting pattern, and age. Also, a metal band is attached to a leg to aid in tracking, if she is ever caught again. It is not well-known where they migrate to and from. Banding will continue through about Thanksgiving and volunteers are needed. I got to hold the owl and release it when we were done. It was so amazing. I may have to try to fit another evening in this year.