We are currently accepting donations to fund the 2025 owl banding project. Please join us in our efforts to continue this important research!
Projects
Owl Banding
The first organized owl banding at Whitefish Point occurred in spring 1966 when banders from the Ontario Bird Banding Association’s Point Pelee Bird Observatory first experimented with owl banding at the Point. Efforts became more concentrated in 1978, and from 1993-2005, the banding was standardized both by net location and by time period.
In 2006, Chris Neri and Nova Mackentley discovered a movement of juvenile plumage Northern Saw-whet Owls during the summer (July-August). This established Whitefish Point as the home to one of the most unique cycles of annual owl migration in North America. In 2007, Chris and Nova changed the standardized protocol and started using audiolures during the spring banding, increasing the average number of owls banded in the spring by more than 500% in the last 18 years. These two changes greatly expanded the owl banding efforts and Whitefish Point is now unique in having three seasons of owl banding (spring, summer and fall).
Whitefish Point is also one of the only places in North America that captures multiple owl species during both migration and summer dispersal. The most common species is Northern Saw-whet Owl, but significant numbers of Boreal Owls have been banded, and Whitefish Point holds the North American record for the highest number of Long-eared Owls in a season (465). Since 1966, over 29,800 owls have been banded at Whitefish Point. In descending order of totals netted, nine owl species have been banded: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl, Boreal Owl, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Great Gray Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Short-eared Owl and Snowy Owl.
Nest Boxes
In collaboration with Project Owlnet, the Friends of Whitefish Point owl banders have established a network of over 150 Northern Saw-whet Owl nest boxes. These nest boxes are monitored yearly to increase our understanding of the breeding ecology of Northern Saw-whet Owls. Nesting adult owls and their chicks are banded to help document natal dispersal and potential nomadism of breeding adults. Nanotags will be placed on a sample of adults and chicks over the next three years to investigate post breeding dispersal movements of the banded owls. This is part of the collaborative Northern Saw-whet Owl migratory connectivity research project supported by Project Owlnet in cooperation with the University of Delaware and Willistown Conservation Trust.
NSWO Migratory Connectivity
Project Owlnet is providing over 250 tiny radio transmitters (nanotags) to a M.S. project that will begin documenting the migratory connectivity of Northern Saw-whet Owls. An important focus of this work is to better understand the post breeding dispersal movement of Northern Saw-whet Owls that occurs at Whitefish Point. This summer movement is a poorly understood part of Northern Saw-whet Owl natural history. This project relies on the nanotags and the Motus system for regional detection of marked owl movements.
We are collaborating with University of Delaware master’s student Aaron Coolman to mark Northern Saw-whet Owls each summer during July and August at Whitefish Point. As part of this work, owls are also marked by collaborators at six other major banding stations.
Project SNOWstorm
The owl banders at Whitefish Point have been collaborators in Project SNOWstorm since the winter of 2014-15. Since joining Project SNOWstorm, the Whitefish Point team has banded 20 Snowy owls in Michigan, and have put transmitters on nine of them.
The owls: Romulus, Munuscong, Wolverine, Gichigami, Pickford, Pennington, Whitefish Point, Prairie Ronde, and Chippewa have helped the Project SNOWstorm team better understand the movement ecology of wintering owls in the Lake Superior and western Great Lakes region. Snowy Owls marked by the Whitefish team in Michigan have traveled north to Hudson Bay, Canada for the summer and as far east as Prince Edward Island, Canada in a subsequent winter. To see the paths of these 9 owls, visit Project SNOWstorm’s website here.