Saw-whet Owl Banding

Saw-whet Owl banding season have been underway since the middle of October at Rushton Woods Preserve in Chester County. After a banner inaugural season in 2010 with 91 birds, to date 2011 has been slow, with only 5 birds including the owl above, caught before Saturday’s premature snow storm! This is not unexpected as major irruptions from the north tend to be cyclical, in this case about every 4 years.

Of interest is that 4 Eastern Screech Owls, no doubt a resident family, have been caught and banded so far including this lovely red morph. There was only 1 banded in 2010. My photo shows it next to a thermal vision camera, which detects thermal radiation and produces an image of the bird showing temperature differences – pretty neat!