Owl Banding at Belle Isle
This past fall Climate Resiliency Project Manager, Melanie Gárate, has been assisting Sean Riley, DCR Park Supervisor, in the first owl overwintering research assessment at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation in East Boston. Sean is conducting a study to learn what owl species are at Belle Isle, how many there are, and where they might be traveling from and traveling to during fall and winter migration season. To help answer these questions, owls are banded and released immediately after collecting species data, such as band number, owl weight, wing chord, molt sequence to age them, and body fat estimate. This information is returned to federal and state agencies and shared with other licensed banders.
Belle Isle had its first ever recorded Barred owl (Strix varia) this migration season and Sean was lucky enough to be able to band it. Additionally, every winter, Belle Isle is home to Long-Eared (Asio otus) and Snowy (Bubo scandiacus) owls. The plan is to continue weekly or biweekly banding attempts until the owls leave in the Spring. Read below to learn more about banding.
What is banding?
Banding puts a small bracelet on them (not GPS) in order to track their movement. Each band has a specific number and is used to identify the bird. They have been tested to not harm them and are commonly used. They are released right after banding and collecting species data. After this, birds are very rarely handled again.
Why is banding important?
How long do owls live? Where do they live? Do they migrate? Where do they migrate? Banding helps to identify the animal and answer some of these life history questions. Each band has a specific number that correlates with one bird. This information helps biologists fill in the gaps of our knowledge and aids in their conservation. If we didn’t understand where animals go, their lifespan, what they eat, etc, we wouldn’t know how to protect them, their habitats and their food. This information also helps us to determine how owl populations are changing over time, especially with growing concerns from climate change impacts.
How do you get banding privileges?
You can only band if you have a banding license, which takes years and years and then more years to acquire. Check your local bird banding stations to see if you can volunteer with a licensed bird bander if you’re interested. All birds at Belle Isle were banded and released per federal and state permits.
What owls have been banded at Belle Isle?
For the season of 2020-2021, a Barred owl and a Long-Eared owl have been banded at Belle Isle. Stay tuned to learn the total number at the end of the banding season!
Can’t get enough of owls? Here are some more owl fun facts to keep you hooked!
Light as a feather! Owls, like most birds, have hollow or porous bones that make them lighter in order to fly better.
The structure of an owls feather is made to have near silent flight. Being silent is one reason why they are such great predators.
Another amazing feature is that owls have asymmetrical ear openings, ie: one ear opening is higher than the other. This enables owls to differentiate what is coming from above and what is coming from below. This is especially useful when they are searching for prey!
Owls are nocturnal and their eyes are especially adapted for seeing at night. Their eyes are very large compared to the rest of their face. In fact, if people had eyes as large as owls, they would be roughly the size of tennis or soft balls, depending on the species!
When owls catch prey, they typically eat the prey whole, including the fur and bones, in order to avoid any competitor. They eject the compacted fur, bones and other materials via a pellet. Owl pellets give people a clue as to where and what an owl has been eating and are often used in classroom and scientific studies.
Female Barred owl at Belle Isle Marsh.
Female Barred owl at Belle Isle Marsh.
Female Long-Eared owl at Belle Isle Marsh.
Female Long-Eared owl at Belle Isle Marsh.
Female Saw-Whet owl at Bradley Palmer State Park (outside of watershed).
