Boreal Surprise

Sept.15th 2011

I have been patiently waiting for my Alberta banding permit to arrive and it did this week, so I headed out NW of Manning close to where our tanker base is. I drove along a gravel road, past a sign saying "Your in Grizzly Country" and thought to myself O God please keep me safe. A few of my co-workers wanted to see how I go about trapping owls. We found a great spot in prime Boreal Forest, mostly in White Spruce mixed with some Trembling Aspen.

First net check we found this SY (Second Year) Northern Saw-whet Owl in the net.

After taking all her measurements and a couple quick photos she was released. We could hear a couple owls calling close to the net so after 20 mins we went back to check the net and this HY (Hatch Year) Boreal Owl was in the net.

After the Boreal was released it began to rain so we closed up for the night. What a fantastic first night!

Mike Blom
Peace River, AB

Fall Migration Begins

Sept 1st 2011

Had a few days off for my younger sister's wedding so Michelle and I left Peace River headed for Saskatoon. I checked out Hawk Ridge banding site in Duluth Minnesota and they had an impressive 400+ Sharp-shinned Hawks fly through there site yesterday.

I was hoping for some birds to start coming through Petrofka Raptor Station and was not dissapointed! In 2 days of trapping migrating raptors I caught 5 birds! I know this isn't alot for people along the great lakes where trapping 100 sharpies in a single day isn't unheard of, but here in the prairies its not a bad couple of days. I caught 2 Hatch year American Kestrels and a Hatch year Sharpie.

HY SSHA

Today began nicely when this Merlin came out of nowhere and buried itself in the net.

Not even an hour later and this HY SSHA was caught, didn't even see it come in. Too bad I didn't have a station setup along the Peace River, last week I had an adult Peregrine Falcon fly over!

Hatch year Sharp-shinned Hawk