Anyone checking Paul Hurtado's NEXRAD summary for the night before last had to be in awe of all the intense movement throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Many of those returns were from migrating Saw-whet owls that had been bottled up by the south winds we were experiencing.
The frontal passage and shift of winds to the NNW brought some nasty weather but calmed by dusk on Friday allowing us to open nets. In the early evening we thought it would be another slow night but by 2100 we had seven saw-whets. By the time we finished examining, banding and releasing them we had 6 more! That went on for the rest of our net checks until we quit at 0300! We ended the night with 27 new saw-whets banded and one repeat! That's the best we have ever done in one night. Our season total is now well beyond last year's and the migration season is young. Whenever we were extracting owls from the nets we could hear others vocalizing all around us. Little whistles, grunts and wheeps, not the usual call. It was a purely amazing and awesome experience. Given our success and similar reports from other stations in NY, PA, VA and MD, we can't begin to imagine the number of owls that had been fattening up and then burst southward Friday night. Over such a broad and deep front in just our section of the northeast there must have been thousands! Strong south winds are back with us so we are all hoping for another surge when they abate. John and Sue -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Road Burdett,NY 14818-9626 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ "Conserve and Create Habitat" -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
