On October 30, Benita and I went to the Drumlin Farm Massachusetts Audubon facility, where they band migratory northern saw-whet owls during the fall migration. The volunteers there have been doing this for about fifteen years, every night, weather permitting, during October and November.

The northern saw-whet owl is the smallest owl in this part of the country, a little smaller than the eastern screen owl, measuring about 8 inches in length, and weighing 2.5 to 4 ounces, give or take (females generally larger than males). Unlike our other local owls, this one is migratory: most of them spend the summer and nesting season further north: all the way up into the boreal forests of Canada. Numerous banding stations across the country have provided valuable information into the migratory patterns, distances traveled, etc.

Most of the owls captured for banding are females: presumably related to the irresistible calling of a male on tape. After about an hour discussing the owl, and what goes on at Drumlin Farm, other volunteers brought a relatively large female that had been found in the net during the first inspection. 

After freeing the owl from the net, it was brought in for weighing, measuring, sexing, aging, and banding:

Once indoors the owl was alert, but not agitated:

Note the positioning of the talons, which can either be positioned three on one or two and two, depending upon whether the bird is perching or picking up prey.

As a group, we followed the bankers out to release this first owl, followed by a trek into the woods to see the nets, where we found a second owl. This one was somewhat smaller than the first and had already been banded on a previous evening:

You can get a sense of the small size of these owls, vis a vis the bankers hand:

Second owl, up close, just prior to release: