[cayugabirds-l] Banding saw-whets

[John Confer]

Northern Saw-whet Owls are about to migrate past us on their way south. And 
once again, I will be banding them with the help of volunteers. We have caught 
over 100 owls in each of the last several years. Over 12,000 saw-whets are 
banded annually, which provides important data used in studieson many aspects 
of the saw-whet population. I have used this banding data to write about the 
direction of movement, the pattern of movement for different age of owls, and 
the influence of moonlight.

This year, more than ever, I need the help of people who can come out 
semi-regularly on a given night of the week from early October until 
mid-November. We open the nets with favorable weather conditions on about 1 out 
of 3 nights.

If you are interested, please contact me at 
confergoldw...@aol.com or 607-539-6308.

Thanks much,  John Confer


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[cayugabirds-l] Banding saw-whets

[John Confer]

  
  

  
  
  Ques. Why would a normally sane person spend
two hours
cutting a 2 m wide strip through 40 m of dense shrub and grass
in 80-90 F temperature
(beside bad judgment)? Ans. Because I get such a thrill every
time I walk up to
a net in the middle of the night and find a saw-whet in it. I’ve
banded several
dozen Northern Saw-whet Owls the last two falls and I am trying
to set up a
second set of nets to convert a sort of haphazard effort into a
significant
banding project. I hope to have enough trained volunteers to
operate two sets
of nets in order to test if different recording of owl calls
have a different effectiveness
in luring owls. I would also like to capture enough owls to
derive a chart of
the molt distribution for saw-whets expanding an existing model.
Also, I’d like
to be able to contribute personal data to my study of the
patterns of migratory
movement, part of which is illustrated below. 
   
  
   
  To operate two sets of nets will require the
help of several
individuals who are willing to work a couple times a week from
sunset to late
at night from mid-September to mid-November, weather permitting.
If you would
like further information or are willing to help run a strong
banding effort, I’d
love to talk with you.
   
  Banding birds requires great attention in
order to reduce to
an absolute minimum the possibility of harming the bird, it
requires
considerable attention and concentration to correctly record the
molt condition
of 21 feathers on each wing, and the weight and wing chord for
the banding
records and studies of molt pattern. Crew members would become
moderately adept
at these banding efforts. 
   
  I am delighted to have a FEW, SCHEDULED
visitors on any
evening. For the bird’s welfare and the accuracy of data
recording, I can not have
unscheduled drop-ins. Please, if you are interested in watching
the banding
process, you must call me first and schedule a time to come out.
  
   
  John Confer (Home = 539-6308, or email off
line at
con...@ithaca.edu).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
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[cayugabirds-l] Banding saw-whets

[John Confer]

HI Folks,

There is a list-serve for saw-whet owl banders. According to 
dozens of reports on this list-serve, for much of NY and PA and more, 
the fall migration of saw-whets has been an incredible bust. We are well 
past the peak time with very few birds. For my small banding effort, I 
caught 27 birds last year and only 11 birds this year even though last 
year I used two nets for 4 nights with a good audio speaker compared to 
this year with 4 or 5 nets for generally longer hours each night on 11 
nights. However, some stations located north of us have had average or 
above average number of saw-whets.

  Maybe most of the birds trickled by the banders around here and in 
PA on nights or by some migration pathway that eluded banders, or there 
may be many birds north of us that have stalled out on migration while 
we get weeks of rain and warm winds from the south.

  The weather prediction for Friday night looks OK, only the third 
night that might rate that high in weeks, and I am thinking of trying to 
band until 4 or 5 or 6 AM, if I had help.

 It would be a handicap to me, to the catching and handling of the 
birds, and to the accuracy of data processing if there were new people 
coming in and out throughout the night and if people came for a look-see 
for an hour or so. If, however, someone were willing to come for a 4 or 
5 hr stretch, that would be helpful. Please, do not come for a quick 
tour, which would be disruptive and distracting. Please do not come 
without first contacting me offline as mentioned below.

Putting up nets starts at about 6 and the first shift would work 
from 6 to 11, the second shift would work as long as there were owls 
coming in to the net, maybe closing the nets at 5:00 AM and finishing 
processing at 6:00.

 Please respond OFFLINE to con...@ithaca.edu.  I do need to be able 
to control the number of people, should there be numerous, wacko 
potential helpers.

Cheers,

John Confer

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