Saskatchewan man dedicates himself to banding minuscule owls

Article Date: 2009-10-10   Source: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com   Comments: 0

By Joshua Page

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - A handful of small tools and banding equipment, left from the previous night's session, sits on a towel, but the most interesting piece is a string of minuscule leg bands.

The bands, smaller than a fingernail, are used to track tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls, which can weigh less than 100 grams.

"They are just beautiful little babies; they are just so sweet," said Harold Fisher. "I know when I band one and let it go, the next one I catch will be just as cute."

Fisher has banded a number of different types of hawks and owls since 2007, but his dedication to the tiny saw-whet owls is unique.

He sets up four nets in a wooded area at his home about seven kilometres north of the Prince Albert Airport.

The nets are so thin and fine that they can't really be photographed.

Fisher heads out to the wooded patch about 7:30 each evening during banding season and begins unfurling the nets. He pushes play on his stereo that loops a male owl's breeding call.

And then he waits.

"That sound attracts the bird, so we go out and check every 30 minutes for the most part, and for the most part we are shutting down around midnight," said Fisher.

A netted bird sinks down in the soft netting. Of all the birds Fisher has caught and banded, he's never had an injured bird.

Mid-September to mid-October is the normal timeline for intensive banding, according to Fisher.

"This is the best time right now," he said, noting that as many as 30 birds could be caught at peak time. "Last year our season ran ... I think we started catching consistently about Sept. 7 and about Oct. 20 was the cutoff date."

So for the next few weeks almost every night that the moon isn't too bright, it isn't raining or exceptionally windy, Fisher is out in the woods searching for tiny owls.

His tally this fall is approaching 70; last fall alone he banded 256 tiny owls.

Migration seems to be pushed back a couple weeks this year thanks to unusual weather so far, according to Fisher, but he said he expects his nightly numbers to rise within the next week or two. One night recently he caught six birds but only two the following night.

A late, cold spring stunted his spring numbers. Last year he caught 29 owls in the spring but only six this year.

The saw-whet owl is a fairly common bird in the area, but very little is known about its populations in Western Canada, as banding is far less common than in parts of Eastern Canada.

Fisher's banding project has helped uncover information on some growth patterns for the birds, but he continues to search for more information about the bird's migratory patterns, and exact populations.

"Here in the West we are finding a lot of movement that's northeast to southwest, but I have a hunch that might be because that's where our banding stations are set up," he said, noting Saskatchewan has about five banding stations for saw-whet owls.

"If there were stations down in Montana and the Dakotas, I am guessing we could see some returns there."

The tiny birds rely on woodpecker-created holes for nests, as well as other natural cavities.

With housing somewhat hard to come by for the birds, Fisher also set up a number of nest boxes, with about 10 per cent of them being used by the owls.

Knowing exactly where a handful of birds are nesting also helps the banding process. Otherwise, he might never find the birds naturally.

"They sit so still and they don't flush readily, so you pretty much have to bump noses with them to find them," he said.

They are also nocturnal, which makes spotting them even harder.

Of course, catching a previously banded bird and seeing its maturation is extremely important to researching the owls.

"To catch a bird with a band on is really exciting," he said. "If a year has elapsed, then it will have a different molt pattern, so we can see how that shows which feathers it molted and its weight from year to year, eye colour, pattern on tail feathers and so on."

For example, Fisher has caught one male three times: once in September 2007, then again in the spring and fall of 2008.

He said that bird's weight had only varied by a few grams each time, but noted the owl's new feather growth was intriguing.

The Canadian Wildlife Service acts as a central hub for Canadian banded bird information.

* All banded birds that are caught by banders, or even found dead by anyone, can be reported to the Canadian Wildlife Service at www.reportband.gov or by calling 1-800-327-2263.

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