Boreal Bliss

Monday I got dispatched to a forest fire along the AB/BC border close to Hamburg. This fire was classified as being held at 1000 hectares, it originally started in BC and works its way into Alberta. I spent sometime looking around at the habitat around this fire and it consisted of mostly upland sites with the vast majority of the tree species being mainly Lodgepole Pine and Trembling Aspen. From what I've read and understood Boreal Owls prefer older growth Spruce and Aspen for cover and nest sites.

I setup a net with two of my co-workers and tried calling for Saw-whet Owls for 30 mins. After the first net check and zero owls in the net we switched over to the Boreal call. The next net check yielded 4 Boreal Owls.
After banding the first 4 birds we checked again and low and behold another 2 Boreals were in the net! I caught Boreal Owls before but never in good numbers. The weather began to switch with the winds picking up and rain showers so we closed up for the night.

Late Summer Happenings

It has been a long time since last post so I have a few more pictures to post than normal. I'll start out with the Swainson's Hawk nest. Here are pictures of the 2 young that fledged. A nice healthy male and a fiesty female. This nest I found just outside of Peace River, and what I beleive this nest to be the most northern one in Alberta.

A here is a light adult male Swainson's I caught just outside fo Lloydminster

A couple pictures and a small video my brother-in-law Shayne from ISeeMotion Pictures made for me. This meant alot because this was my 10th and final year of Turkey Vulture tagging in Saskatchewan under Dr C Stuart Houston. This has been an amazing experience and I'm glad that I was able to participate for the full 10 years. My sister and nieces are in this video with me, Thanks Shayne it sure was a fantastic video!!! My last Vulture nest had an adult in the attic and I was able to catch it and tag it! This is a first ever in the 10 years of tagging nestling vultures.

Here is a second rufous morph Red-tailed Hawk I caught a couple of weeks ago.

While up at Haig Lake Fire Base I tried for owls after my day shift. Here is a juvenile Saw-whet Owl just transforming into its adult plumage.

A Boreal Owl caught 3 nights ago at Haig Base.