In denial owl nets come down

Definitely time to take down frozen nets  this frozen section of net  was held up to the sun for effect these pieces are dime size I do not want people thinking  we had an ice storm

The history of owl banding  at the marsh has been  full of surprises  and every year folks ask me for predictions  and I am always looking for any clue to divine what is going to happen in the upcoming season. I feel the pressure to predict most keenly from volunteer banders who are making travel decision based on when we can attempt to band owls  and when owls will be done . This year despite  when we have been able to band in years past it was apparent early that the season was coming to an end early. We kept looking at long term forecasts and the  opportunities for windows of good weather and friendly winds and moon phase always seemed to conspire against us. Yet the banders kept talking me into keeping the nets on poles  despite having lots of help to take them all down. This week all of the banders terms came to an end and yet the nets were still "up"  Up means they were still on poles and furled meaning that we cannot catch owls but we still had to go out and take them all down. Chased away by the storm that hit today (Saturday Nov 18th) Ethan Quinton and I headed out on the 17th under sunny skies at -8 Celsius to take down all of the nets. The ropes and knots were so frozen that some of them I had to gnaw at with my teeth to loosen up to untie. It seems every year I am taking these nets  down in terrible cold and  the only reason I can think of is denial. I am in denial every year that the owl banding season is actually over and I always try and convince myself that there will be a push of boreal owls . The very last owl we had in a net was on November 7th it was  a boreal owl we had banded on October 20th so we knew it was time to quit.

Ethan Quinton  never shy of the camera or helping out 

     Many banders have two banding season within a season. The normal protocol banding season then something referred to as non standard banding because it is outside of the protocol. The protocol is an attempt to band on the same  day with the same calls  for the same period of time every year so we can compare year to year.  One year we were able to attempt (non standard) to band owls right into December  and in fact banded 2 long eared owls in early December  so if conditions warrant we can push the season.  Owl banding almost defies a protocol because every year is very unique and the biggest factor really comes down to weather  This year however at this time ,the weather has told us no!

    In my defense I used to have a quote above my desk at university written in capital letter "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to relive it". It is hard when you have keen people who are there to hopefully band owls  to tell them that the season is over  and it is time to take  down  the nets. Clearly they were the ones  denial!  At least that is what I told myself as Ethan and I  dealt with snow depth and cold temperatures as we packed the nets into the back of his truck.

Sadly the weather said no to trying for more owls  Ethan rests before we take a long walk back to the truck.

     The final word on the season is that we banded 275 northern sawwhets  50 boreal owls and 31 long eared owls . Thanks to all who helped  wish you could have been here to help Ethan and I today. I will be sure to get the nets down earlier next year.......yah right!!!

One of the saddest sights for me is a net lane without a net!!!