The owl banding continues! Our team was thrilled when they had the opportunity to band this lovely Long-eared Owl.

Interesting facts about owls:

- Owl eyes are fixed into their sockets, meaning that they cannot move their pupils. That’s why you’ll often see owls swivelling their heads over 200 degrees around

- Owl ears are not symmetrical. Owls have one ear at the top of their head facing forwards, and the other is at the bottom facing backwards. This gives owls the ability to detect prey with immense accuracy

-An owls body is specifically adapted for silent flight and precision hunting. Their flight feathers are fringed to assist with the passage of air as they sneak up upon their prey

📷: @pauljwildlife ...

Tiny but fierce! Our team has been busy banding many Saw-whet Owls recently. Thank you to @pauljwildlife for capturing this lovely photo of Jessica enjoying her work 🦉 ...

Fallout at PEPtBO! Thank you to our banding team for this update:

“On the night of October 4th, the winds were blowing from the north and birds moved into the point in huge numbers. Throughout the morning of the 5th, flocks of birds continued to fall from the sky into our netting area. This was the first sign of our October fall out. The winds and weather continued to be favorable for large movements of birds over the next few days resulting in 4 days of banding with over 400 birds.

On October 6th the day started strong and continued so much so that over 800 birds were captured that day 400 of which in one net round resulting in us shutting our nets early and releasing over 300 birds un-banded to accommodate for bird safety. The following 2 days remained steady with 500 birds on the 7th and 450 birds on the 8th.

In these 4 days 1879 birds were banded which is half the number of birds we banded in the entire spring season this year as a comparison. It is an un-precedented number of birds that we haven’t encountered since at least 2005.

The main species banded during this period were Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers, Ruby-crowned kinglets, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Brown Creepers. It is also important to note the movement of Tennesse warblers, Nashville Warblers and Blackpoll warblers. Although all 3 still considered late migrating warblers it was interesting to see a final push of them during the fall out at the point.

Top 10 Species banded:

Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers (589)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (445)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (277)
Brown Creeper (105)
Slate-Coloured Junco (58)
Blue Headed Vireo (54)
Blue Jay (50)
Tennessee Warbler (39)
Nashville Warbler (37)
Blackpoll warbler (34)

We would just like to express our greatest thanks to all our volunteers who made these 4 days possible. The total for the fall as of October 11th is 7033 birds beating our last 5 falls by over 2000 birds with still 20 days to go!”

📷: Brown Creeper ...

It’s World Migratory Bird Day! 🍁

Today is dedicated to raising global awareness on migratory bird conservation. Birds are found all around the world and play important roles within the ecosystem, however they are declining at an increasing rate.

During migration, birds face a great deal of threats including window/building strikes and light pollution. Approximately 40% of bird species are migratory and with most of their threats being anthropogenic, it’s important to educate ourselves and create change to see these species thrive. Some examples include:

1. Place decals on windows- birds fly towards windows primarily because they reflect the sky and foliage. By placing decals on your windows, this helps distort reflection. *note: decals must cover the entire window and be placed closely together to be effective

2. Use tempera paint or soap- similar to the idea of decals, this method helps take away the reflection of windows. This method is quite cheap and just as effective

3. Turn off lights during evening hours- house lights can greatly disorient birds when flying at night. Research is still being conducted, however it’s believed that birds are drawn towards light in response to phototaxis. Phototaxis is the ability for an organism to move directionally in response to light. Keeping porch and garden lights off at night helps to limit disorientation

4. Keep blinds drawn shut after dusk- similar to turning off outside lights, keeping blinds shut limits disorientation which may come from lights inside the home

📷: Sharp-shinned Hawk ...