Boreal Bruce's Bird Banding Blog : members owl night

Sid a happy bander with a boreal owl

Friday the 21st of October the marsh hosted a members owl banding night and we were delighted to see 30 members come out to ask questions and to see 2 species of owls that we were able to catch. We passed our 500th sawwhet of the season and we were able to recapture a boreal owl that was banded 2 nights ago.
There is a different energy to a members night then when we have a public night. We certainly delight in meeting new people who come out to see owls for the first time and we always to attempt to celebrate the effort that people make to get their kids closer to nature and to feel the excitement of seeing an owl up close for the first time. The difference with members is they have committed to the marsh and their is a good chance we are going to see them again and begin to foster a relationship and introduce them to the marsh community which is growing all the time. I can never thank members enough for their financial support that they give us by buying a membership. It really is the only way we are able to afford to carry on the exciting research that we do at the marsh. Some marsh members have taken their initial interest and support into becoming active volunteers in our research and our committee work which we are hugely thankful for. So once again thank you to all of our marsh members and visitors. If you would like to become a marsh member and support our research please visit our website www.thehilliardtonmarsh.com and fill out the online form. While our public owl banding nights are now over we continue to do research on boreal and long eared owls. It has been our experience that these elusive owls are too difficult to catch have public nights for and their are many nights that we monitor empty nets making it all the more exciting when we do capture owls. I will keep posting our sucess on the blog so you can keep up with the research that will takes us hopefully into November. Often these owls are captured long after publi hours are over which also makes it not practical to invite the publci to see. So thanks to all of you who came out on public nights to see the owls and a very special thank you to all the marsh members for your continued support . You know we need you "owl" the time !!!!!! Did i make you groan??? I think I did .