3 Snows and a Prairie

Feb.18th 2011

Over the past couple months Snowy Owls have been extremely hard to find in the Saskatoon area. The last one I've banded was back in December. I decided to head out west and search around for whatever I could find, the weather was ideal with bright sunny skies and a light breeze, the temperature was sitting at -30C.

I found 4 Snowies in total, caught 3 of them and a Prairie Falcon. This is the best luck i've ever had in a single day. I've caught 2 SNOWs in a day a few times but never 3. All owls were adult females. Since joining the SNOWY OWL Working Group my views have changed and data has been brought forward to disprove facts that bilogists once thought were true.

One of these theories was that ornithologists and birders could look at a Snowy Owl and tell what age the bird was. This is not at all true when it comes to dark individuals. We thought that darker birds were indeed young birds from the summer's breeding season. We have proven this to not be true. We have caught birds that were black in color and they have been adult females.The vast majority of Snowy Owls turn lighter in color but they can also turn darker in color both male and female. It is something we keep track of as we band more and more birds, we photograph and record molt patterns to see how much they change throughout their lifetime.

ASY Female SNOW

ASY Female SNOW

ASY Female SNOW

SY PRFA

Mystery Gyrfalcon

Feb.15th 2011

Went out this afternoon after getting a pigeon from my sister's place. Was heading back from Blaine Lake using back roads to Rosthern then to Hague when I came across this Gyr. It took off from a power pole before I could get setup and swooped down and grabbed a small bird. I was guessing maybe a Horned Lark but I didn't get close enough to see what she was eating. She landed on a fencepost and continued eating while I fumbled around trying to get the pigeon into the trap. She took off again as I laid the trap down so I picked it up and cursed in disgust as she flew away.

I decided to head in the direction she was headed and after almost an hour found her again sitting on a dairy farm silo. I jumped out again to drop the trap but she took off east again toward the river. I was extremely dissapointed thinking she had gotten away so I headed for home. I was following a power line towards the river and saw a large bird sitting at the very top of a dead poplar like a Northern Hawk Owl would. On further investigation with my binos it was indeed the Gyr yet again!

I tossed the trap down and within a few seconds she came in hard and low. Nailed the trap and landed beside it. Walked up and was caught by 6 nooses. The best part of this capture isn't that its the 3rd Gyrfalcon I've caught this year, it's the fact she was wearing a band. I sent in the information to the banding office and wait to hear where she was originally banded.