Owl trapping

No wind today, but lots of fog and probably fewer birds than yesterday. We'll be trying to catch some owls tonight, which usually results in no owls being caught, but it's calm out, so we must!

Mice

If you've read anything about this island recently it was probably about mice. There are a lot here, they eat what they can and get themselves eaten as well, mostly by the burrowing owls, the raven, and gulls, but also by there fellow mouse.

Today we had a sharp-shinned hawk running loose, killing any songbird in sight along with this mouse


Gulped down momentarily


Lots of mouse bones found in these owl's pellets

Larbear

The winds have been stellar, the birds have been flying, but the luck isn't there. We've seen around 80 redtails in the last two days and have only managed to pull in one for good. At one point today we had two perched around the blind, and two others circling overhead. Despite repeated stoops and a very near miss (due to a malfunctioning bownet) we have had little success.

RT


Adult male shin with a little bit of eye discoloration in the left corner


SURPRISE!


Feeding the swet

PILI

Looking particularly evil


Below an owl in a net I found a dead mouse with seeds in its mouth which the owl must have been carrying when it got caught. This owl then latched on to the mouse after banding.


Pileated woodpecker. Dino-like, with a piercing cry and scrawny neck.


After seeing no birds for four hours we finally got this male goshawk.

Good days

The last two days we hit 30 and 32 birds, today we had 7... It was a good rush while it lasted and showed the potential of what it may be like if we get this good weather in 2 or 3 weeks.

Red backed vole


Adult shin




Our first broad winged hawk of the year


Terrible red eye on our first saw whet owl


Kestrel