Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 6

As the trapping season at Lucky Peak winds down for the year we can reflect on some of the trends we have seen. One thing that stands out is that 2011 has been a huge year for owls. IBO has trapped and banded almost 500 Northern Saw-Whet Owls (pictured below), and over 60 Flammulated Owls! For Saw-Whet’s, this marks the highest trap total since the inception of owl trapping in 1999 when over 800 Saw-Whet’s were banded. The number of Flammulated owls banded is also unusually high. Some of the reasons why owl numbers fluctuate so much between seasons is not well understood, but may be related to fluctuations in prey abundance (small mammals and insects).

It has also been a good year for raptor trapping, and as the total number of migrating birds decreases, trappers at IBO get excited about the possibility of trapping some “sexy” birds. Towards the end of the season, birds migrating from farther north tend to show up in small numbers, giving trappers the opportunity to trap and handle rarer birds such as Merlins, Northern Goshawks, and Peregrine Falcons. It has already been a good year for Merlins, and it continued over the weekend as IBO Research Director Dr. Jay Carlisle trapped his first adult male Merlin (pictured below).

Northern Goshawks are another raptor species we biologists get excited about. Goshawks are part of the Accipiter genus of raptors, and are closely related to Sharp-Shinned and Cooper’s Hawks. Goshawks are the largest member of this genus weighing upwards of 1,000-grams, almost twice as much as a Cooper’s Hawk. Goshawks breed in the conifer forests of Alaska, Canada, and the American Rocky Mountains preying on birds and mammals as large as rabbits. IBO traps around 25 individuals per year, and we were lucky enough to trap a juvenile male on Friday, October 21st. After banding the bird, IBO director Dr. Greg Kaltenecker let his daughter Ayla release the bird. I managed to snap this photo of the little 5 year old (almost 6 as she told me) releasing her first Goshawk!

Neil Paprocki