Greetings from the College of William and Mary's Center for Conservation
Biology,
For the ninth consecutive fall the Center has embarked on a Saw-whet Owl
monitoring project on the southern tip of the Eastern Shore with net sites at
Wise Point on the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, the GATR
Tract, and Kiptopeke State Park. Fletcher Smith, is the field technician for
this his second year with the project. Fletcher just completed an owl study
near Boise, Idaho.
The first trap night this year was October 26/27. Thre Saw-whets were
captured. To date (through the night of November 4/5), 34 new Saw-whets have
been banded and released. Three of these birds have been recaptured on
subsequent nights. In addition, a bird captured in 2001 during the project was
captured this fall. Also caught have been 4 unbanded Eastern Screech Owls, and
two others banded in previous years. In the very early morning of Saturday,
November 2, Fletcher captured the project's first Long-eared Owl, as Ned
Brinkley already noted. One must be in the presence of these birds in hand to
appreciate the length of their wings, and how cryptically colored they are,
especially when observed from the dorsal side.
So far deer have crashed the nets only twice!
We will keep everyone posted as the season progresses.
Bill Williams, Center for Conservation Biology
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
