Thursday, May 24, 2012
Some new spring birds
This spring started off a little slower than I intially expected but I was still able to band a few raptors on their journey north. I was very lucky to catch a couple more Rough-legged Hawks, these are the most stunning Buteos we have in my opinion. 
AHY male Rough-legged Hawk 
Female second year Rough-legged Hawk Kestrels have been coming through the Peace Region in large numbers and i've been very lucky this spring with just over 30 banded so far. My biggest surprise was trapping 2 Northern Harriers while having Kestrels caught on my traps. Here is a nice Adult Male Harrier. 
This year with the help of the local nature society we put together a nest box program for Northern Saw-whet Owls and Boreal Owls. We placed 15 boxes up and I placed another 15 of my own boxes up around Peace Region within the Boreal forest. Here is a shot from one of the boxes. 
Saw-whet Owl And finally, it is that time again to bring out the Ravens. I found a whopping 12 nests this spring and it looks like only 2 of the 12 failed this spring, here is a picture from the first batch. These birds were nesting right in town just down the street from my house. I have had my eyes on this nest since the middle of March, 4 young all over 900 grms. 
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Spring Migrants Arrive
April.15th 2012
After our big dump of snow from Friday the roads were cleared and I was able to get out to do some road trapping around Peace River. I installed a few Kestrel boxes and found a good concentration of Rough-legged Hawks. First hawk I found ontop of Judah Hill was this Red-tailed, it came in as soon as I pulled away. Nice AHY male and was caught by 2 nooses. Its the first Redtail that has landed on the trap this spring.
AHY Male Red-tailed Hawk
Heading south to Harmon Valley Road found a few more hawks hunting in the snow covered fields but none would react. I headed east along HVR and found a group of Kestrels which I've never observed before. Usually families in August will hang out together before the young ones disperse, there were 5 adults hanging out together on a powerline, 3 females and 2 males, I was able to catch 2 of the females but the rest took off south.
Came across another field with a few Rough-legged Hawks hunting, there were 3 of them on the same branch so I dropped the trap and right away this beauty of a male came in and was caught. I don't know if the males are showing off their hunting skills for the females but anyway its always nice to hold such a beautiful bird and have a look at them up close and personal.
AHY Male Rough-legged Hawk
I went home for a bite to eat then headed back out for a bit. There was this male Kestrel hunting from a tree beside the road so I dropped the trap for him and he came in and was caught. Before I could turn the car back on a male Harrier came out of nowhere and attacked the Kestrel! I couldn't believe it, and out of nowhere yet again another male Harrier was attacking the first Harrier that was now caught! Another Kestrel decided to join the other Kestrel and 2 Harriers and I was just dumb founded!!! Is this even possible? And to top it all off a Sharp-shinned came in to see what all the commotion was about. I have never witnessed 5 raptors all going crazy over each other the way I just did, it was a pretty intense moment! After all the feathers had settled, I was able to catch the first two birds on the trap at the same time.
AHY Male American Kestrel
AHY Male Northern Harrier
First time I've ever caught a Northern harrier on a trap. There are more birds out here in Northern Alberta than I ever thought, Michelle was extremely happy with being able to hold her first Northern Harrier, one of her favourite birds...
After our big dump of snow from Friday the roads were cleared and I was able to get out to do some road trapping around Peace River. I installed a few Kestrel boxes and found a good concentration of Rough-legged Hawks. First hawk I found ontop of Judah Hill was this Red-tailed, it came in as soon as I pulled away. Nice AHY male and was caught by 2 nooses. Its the first Redtail that has landed on the trap this spring.
AHY Male Red-tailed Hawk
Heading south to Harmon Valley Road found a few more hawks hunting in the snow covered fields but none would react. I headed east along HVR and found a group of Kestrels which I've never observed before. Usually families in August will hang out together before the young ones disperse, there were 5 adults hanging out together on a powerline, 3 females and 2 males, I was able to catch 2 of the females but the rest took off south.
Came across another field with a few Rough-legged Hawks hunting, there were 3 of them on the same branch so I dropped the trap and right away this beauty of a male came in and was caught. I don't know if the males are showing off their hunting skills for the females but anyway its always nice to hold such a beautiful bird and have a look at them up close and personal.
AHY Male Rough-legged Hawk
I went home for a bite to eat then headed back out for a bit. There was this male Kestrel hunting from a tree beside the road so I dropped the trap for him and he came in and was caught. Before I could turn the car back on a male Harrier came out of nowhere and attacked the Kestrel! I couldn't believe it, and out of nowhere yet again another male Harrier was attacking the first Harrier that was now caught! Another Kestrel decided to join the other Kestrel and 2 Harriers and I was just dumb founded!!! Is this even possible? And to top it all off a Sharp-shinned came in to see what all the commotion was about. I have never witnessed 5 raptors all going crazy over each other the way I just did, it was a pretty intense moment! After all the feathers had settled, I was able to catch the first two birds on the trap at the same time.
AHY Male American Kestrel
AHY Male Northern Harrier
First time I've ever caught a Northern harrier on a trap. There are more birds out here in Northern Alberta than I ever thought, Michelle was extremely happy with being able to hold her first Northern Harrier, one of her favourite birds...
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Late Winter Owls
It has been relatively quiet around Peace country the last little while. I haven't been out looking for Snowy Owls for almost 2 weeks, last time I was out I found 2 new owls in areas I haven't searched before and I was lucky to find these two young males. The first male was light, 1310 grms
where the second male was in great shape at 1700 grms.
Most of all the hawkowls have moved on, I still have 2 hawkowls that are sitting exactly where i caught them around christmas time but I found 2 new ones, the first one pictured here came in without even using a live mouse, I had a frozen vole in my car and as soon as it hit the ground this bird came in right away, the other hawkowl I caught that day was far out in a field hunting, so I played the call and it came in with a flock of redpolls in pursuit, as i held the hawkowl the redpolls would flutter beside my hand, i've never witnessed that before!
Last night I was thinking why not try for Boreal Owls just to see if anything was floating around, the night was perfect at -10 C and no wind with clear skies. I setup one mist net under a stand of White Spruce trees that were 60+ feet tall to block out the moonlight right beside Leddy Lake which is 15 mins north of Peace River. First net check produced this SY BOOW.
I left the BOOW call on for another hour with no more birds caught so I decided to switch the call to Saw-whets and the next net check produced 2 Saw-whets, both SY birds which I thought was very strange. Either these birds have stayed up here all winter or else they are coming through now which to me would seem early. The molt of all three of these birds were even right across the wing so i'm thinking young from last summer.
where the second male was in great shape at 1700 grms.
Most of all the hawkowls have moved on, I still have 2 hawkowls that are sitting exactly where i caught them around christmas time but I found 2 new ones, the first one pictured here came in without even using a live mouse, I had a frozen vole in my car and as soon as it hit the ground this bird came in right away, the other hawkowl I caught that day was far out in a field hunting, so I played the call and it came in with a flock of redpolls in pursuit, as i held the hawkowl the redpolls would flutter beside my hand, i've never witnessed that before!
Last night I was thinking why not try for Boreal Owls just to see if anything was floating around, the night was perfect at -10 C and no wind with clear skies. I setup one mist net under a stand of White Spruce trees that were 60+ feet tall to block out the moonlight right beside Leddy Lake which is 15 mins north of Peace River. First net check produced this SY BOOW.
I left the BOOW call on for another hour with no more birds caught so I decided to switch the call to Saw-whets and the next net check produced 2 Saw-whets, both SY birds which I thought was very strange. Either these birds have stayed up here all winter or else they are coming through now which to me would seem early. The molt of all three of these birds were even right across the wing so i'm thinking young from last summer.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Few More Owls
Jan.22/12
Went out today to see if there were any new Owls around, did a tour through my northern route to search for Great Grays and Hawkowls, I couldn't find any Great Grays, they seem to be extremely scarce this winter. I did find this juvy Northern Shrike.
Found a Northern Hawk Owl close to Peace River, turned out to be a SY bird with an unusual old wing injury.
Close up
Most of the Snowy Owls have moved out of Peace Region, my guess is maybe to Grande Prairie area or even further south, totals now are 36 SNOW's banded and 4 retraps of my own birds. Here's a couple of new ones.
An ASY Male SNOW
An SY female
This has been an incredible winter, lets hope it continues!
Went out today to see if there were any new Owls around, did a tour through my northern route to search for Great Grays and Hawkowls, I couldn't find any Great Grays, they seem to be extremely scarce this winter. I did find this juvy Northern Shrike.
Found a Northern Hawk Owl close to Peace River, turned out to be a SY bird with an unusual old wing injury.
Close up
Most of the Snowy Owls have moved out of Peace Region, my guess is maybe to Grande Prairie area or even further south, totals now are 36 SNOW's banded and 4 retraps of my own birds. Here's a couple of new ones.
An ASY Male SNOW
An SY female
This has been an incredible winter, lets hope it continues!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2012 Year of the Snowy Owl
Jan.3rd 2012
Since last post i've been able to capture and band alot more Snowy Owls around Peace Country. Totals to date are 28 newly banded Snowies and 3 retraps from birds I banded a few weeks ago. I caught a HY(hatch year Male) from Dec.18 which is now a SY(second year) bird with the turning of the calendar year, it was retrapped 17 kms further south so these owls are still on the move if they haven't found a decent spot to maintain territory which is typical with young male Snowy Owls. The other was one I caught yesterday which was retrapped 2 kms east of its original banding location and after I investigated its old site I could clearly tell why, there were 2 large females hunting his old territory so they kicked him out which is also typical with females being more aggressive for territory.
HY Male
Here is a large female where he was banded back in December.
The majority of Snowies that have been banded have been HY females, here is one from a couple of weeks ago.
Most of these owls are in decent condition but I have come across 2 that I was concerned about. I have been feeding them voles that I have trapped just to give them some needed energy.
I'm hoping to band as many Snowies as possible before they depart Peace Region in March or April so that next winter i'll hear about one of these owls turning up somewhere else in the country or if I get lucky and retrap one of my own birds to determine whether or not they do come back to this place.
Since last post i've been able to capture and band alot more Snowy Owls around Peace Country. Totals to date are 28 newly banded Snowies and 3 retraps from birds I banded a few weeks ago. I caught a HY(hatch year Male) from Dec.18 which is now a SY(second year) bird with the turning of the calendar year, it was retrapped 17 kms further south so these owls are still on the move if they haven't found a decent spot to maintain territory which is typical with young male Snowy Owls. The other was one I caught yesterday which was retrapped 2 kms east of its original banding location and after I investigated its old site I could clearly tell why, there were 2 large females hunting his old territory so they kicked him out which is also typical with females being more aggressive for territory.
Here is a large female where he was banded back in December.
The majority of Snowies that have been banded have been HY females, here is one from a couple of weeks ago.
Most of these owls are in decent condition but I have come across 2 that I was concerned about. I have been feeding them voles that I have trapped just to give them some needed energy.
I'm hoping to band as many Snowies as possible before they depart Peace Region in March or April so that next winter i'll hear about one of these owls turning up somewhere else in the country or if I get lucky and retrap one of my own birds to determine whether or not they do come back to this place.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Snowy Madness
Dec.4th 2011
With having my weekends off and reports of Snowy Owls around Peace River i've been lucky enough to head out and catch 6 Snowy Owls so far. I received word from the local Fish & Wildlife Dept that there were a couple snowies hanging around the bridge. I was fortunate to catch 2 of them, one being an adult female and she was the most miserable owl thats i've ever handled. The other was a hatch year male that was on the light side but with the amount of voles and mice around the bridge shouldn't have much trouble catching food, my only concern was that one if not both of these owls will become roadkill. Only time will tell.
I went looking around last week and found this massive adult female and she came in within 2 mins, usually I would have to wait anywhere from 20mins to 2 hrs before they come in. This bird was a healthy 2100 grms!
Yesterday evening I was out looking around because as many people know with the amount of Ravens around these Snowies won't sit up high to hunt until it gets almost dark so they aren't harassed, I found two young snowies and caught both, these birds are showing up hungry but not in that bad of shape as everyone is predicting.
I hope my luck continues, this is so far my best Snowy Owl capture season since 2005.
With having my weekends off and reports of Snowy Owls around Peace River i've been lucky enough to head out and catch 6 Snowy Owls so far. I received word from the local Fish & Wildlife Dept that there were a couple snowies hanging around the bridge. I was fortunate to catch 2 of them, one being an adult female and she was the most miserable owl thats i've ever handled. The other was a hatch year male that was on the light side but with the amount of voles and mice around the bridge shouldn't have much trouble catching food, my only concern was that one if not both of these owls will become roadkill. Only time will tell.
I went looking around last week and found this massive adult female and she came in within 2 mins, usually I would have to wait anywhere from 20mins to 2 hrs before they come in. This bird was a healthy 2100 grms!
Yesterday evening I was out looking around because as many people know with the amount of Ravens around these Snowies won't sit up high to hunt until it gets almost dark so they aren't harassed, I found two young snowies and caught both, these birds are showing up hungry but not in that bad of shape as everyone is predicting.
I hope my luck continues, this is so far my best Snowy Owl capture season since 2005.
Monday, November 14, 2011
First Alberta Fall
Nov.14th 2011
Raptors have been plentiful this fall around Peace River. I have officially moved up here from Saskatoon and getting out to band birds is alot more difficult with a full-time job.
Rough-legged Hawks have been coming through in October and some days I counted 10-20 birds hunting in the same field! They were extremely hard to trap this fall i'm speculating because of the amount of mice and voles in the field but whenever I tried to trap one they would ignore my efforts. I was lucky enough to trap a dark RLHA back at the end of October. I'm guessing it came in as fast as it did because it was starving, it was an adult male and it was very thin weighing in at 820 grms!
There were a number of Harlan's Hawks coming through and I was able to catch an adult male. I had a number of juvy Harlan's stuck on my trap but wasn't able to secure them and they flew away.
Here is a picture of a Northern Hawk Owl that I banded a couple of days ago.
I was out looking for Snowy Owls south of Peace River yesterday. I've only come across 2 SNOW's and haven't been able to catch any but I did manage to catch 2 more Rough-legged Hawks. Here's one of them. A nice HY female but a little on the thin side at 928 grms.
Raptors have been plentiful this fall around Peace River. I have officially moved up here from Saskatoon and getting out to band birds is alot more difficult with a full-time job.
Rough-legged Hawks have been coming through in October and some days I counted 10-20 birds hunting in the same field! They were extremely hard to trap this fall i'm speculating because of the amount of mice and voles in the field but whenever I tried to trap one they would ignore my efforts. I was lucky enough to trap a dark RLHA back at the end of October. I'm guessing it came in as fast as it did because it was starving, it was an adult male and it was very thin weighing in at 820 grms!
There were a number of Harlan's Hawks coming through and I was able to catch an adult male. I had a number of juvy Harlan's stuck on my trap but wasn't able to secure them and they flew away.
Here is a picture of a Northern Hawk Owl that I banded a couple of days ago.
I was out looking for Snowy Owls south of Peace River yesterday. I've only come across 2 SNOW's and haven't been able to catch any but I did manage to catch 2 more Rough-legged Hawks. Here's one of them. A nice HY female but a little on the thin side at 928 grms.
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