And I’m glad I was! While our night crew didn’t get any Northern Saw-whet Owls on Thursday evening, they did get one very large, very impressive visitor:
Great Horned Owl.
This awesome bird was caught in one of our field nets. Although we aren’t officially able to call the sex, we believe it was a male based on the relatively small size – only 1300 grams with a wing of 344mm, compared to the one Dave Mathiason banded last spring which weighed around 1800 grams and had a wing of 380mm. This bird was quite dark overall, and the clear molt limits in his wing allowed us to age him as an After-Second-Year bird.
Molt limit in the wing. Notice the replaced secondaries, which appear darker overall. You can also see contrasts in the secondary coverts.
