By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Saturday night was a hoot of a time at Lowe-Volk Park for the Crawford Park District’s fifth annual saw-whet owl banding program.
The program was presented by Bob Scott Placier. Placier traveled to the Nature Center from the School of Natural Resources at Hocking College. Prior to the program starting a saw-whet owl call along with a net was set up with hopes to catch an owl to document, tag, and then release.
For the first part of the presentation Placier gave the visitors to the program some background information on the saw-whet owl, such as its migratory habits, population cycles, and how to tell the age of the owl.
According to Placier the northern saw-whet owl has no fixed migration routes.
Placier explained to the crowd that the saw-whet owl’s population hinges on the rodent population.
“Every four to five years there is a population cycle or boom,” Placier said. “This is tied to the rodents’ population boom. As a result of the increase in rodent population more young ones survive.”
“All owls have a porphyrin pigment, which is metabolized in the liver,” Placier explained. “The pigment then travels to the feathers. New feathers glow a bright pink under a black light. Older feathers lose their pigments. After the owl reaches two years of age this method becomes complicated when trying to tell the age of it.”
After wrapping up the first portion of the presentation, Placier, along with Crawford Park District Naturalist Josh Dyer, led the crowd into the woods of Lowe-Volk Park which revealed that the owl call and netting had captured a saw-whet owl to band.
After weighing in the owl at 70 grams, and checking the pigments on the owl’s wing, Placier determined the owl to be a full-grown hatch year male.
Tim Griffin, who attended his first Crawford Park District owl banding, enjoyed the program.
“It was very exciting being that we didn’t know if it was going to catch anyone,” Griffin said. “And then actually seeing an owl, I have never seen an owl in person, so that was really cool and very exciting. Wildlife is a career I want to go into so having that experience was very cool.”
After gathering and recording the information on the collected owl, Dyer set it in a dark room in order to adjust the owl’s eyes back to the dark in order for release.
The data collected on the banded owl will be submitted to the Project Owl Net Web site. For more information on Project Owl Net visit their website at http://www.projectowlnet.org/.