02-13-15 Owl Field Note

02-13-15 Owl Field Note

February 13, 2015

William Blake's field note details ongoing radio tracking and banding of pygmy owls.

Bird Field Note Northern Pygmy Owl Banding and Tracking William Blake 11 February 2015

We detected 3 Northern Pygmy-owls on our first day of surveys. We captured one owl near the Rock Quarry on February 3rd.

We use recordings of Northern Pygmy-owls to lure owls to a mist net. These calls also attract other birds. During the trapping session we incidentally captured a Mountain Chickadee. Our target pygmy-owl dove after the chickadee and became entangled.

Despite being a fierce predator of songbirds and small rodents, it is one of the smallest owls in North America.

We attached a radio transmitter to the owl’s back, using a backpack harness. The transmitter sends a signal to our handheld receiver every few seconds.