The Central Ohio Owl Project’s fall banding effort ended with some exciting results. A total of 16 Northern Saw-whet Owls were caught during fall migration, and two of those already had bands. One had been banded by fellow Ohio owl bander Tom Bartlett on Kelleys Island about three weeks before it showed up in Union County. The second had originally been banded in Tadoussac, Quebec, earlier in the fall, and had traveled at least 850 miles before being re-caught!
The last bit of excitement came from a Barred Owl that was caught early in December. This species is much larger than the saw-whets, and handling it was a very different experience in comparison to the smaller owls.
The search for wintering owls has begun, and while the first few attempts have not had much success, there are still a lot of places left to check. The owl banding station had a lot visitors over the course of the fall, and many of them were Columbus Audubon members. I want to once again thank Columbus Audubon for its support of the Central Ohio Owl Project, and I hope to have a lot of new findings to report for next time.
Columbus Audubon proudly supports the Central Ohio Owl Project.
