HHOWLS (Hammond Hill Owl Site) had our best night of the year last
night on 29 Oct. We have banded on almost all nights that weren't
raining or had very strong winds from the south for this fall. Migration
this year has far fewer birds than last year when we got banding records
for 102 birds (including foreign recaptures).
This year we have gotten 38 different birds, including one foreign
recapture from Sullivan County that migrated northwest. This year has
very few Hatch Year birds, less than 20%, which is similar for other
banding stations for eastern North America. Generally, we have had very
few Second Year birds as an echo from last years abundance of HY birds.
Except last night, we (Bob McGuire, Maddie Ulinski, Abigail Gepner,
Karen and I ) caught 12 birds, of which 6 were SY birds, as many as we
have had previously all year. Last year the ratio of HY birds to older
birds was about 6 to 1 and this year it is less than 1 to 6. Great fun
banding, but a strong indication of very low reproductive success this
past breeding season.Listen for those little owls passing us by during the night. Cheers, John Confer -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
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