Owls By The Hundreds!

Week 4 of NSWO banding began with the Pedder Bay station continuing at the same pace from the previous week banding 16 owls compared to 9 owls at Rocky Point and for the 3rd consecutive night of showing that “Pedder is Better”! Typically, Rocky Point bands more owls on a nightly basis than Pedder Bay but that was not the case over the last several days. 

Photo by Sultana Majid

Although Rocky Point tried to get back on track on the second night, both stations were banding the same number of owls right up to net closing at 01:10am when each station banded their 26th owl of the night for a total of 52 owls banded.

Pedder Bay banded the 800th NSWO of the season at 8:10pm and 3 hours later that same owl was recaptured at 11:10pm at Rocky Point traveling the 3.8 kilometres as the owl flies (see what I did there??!!!). Nightly cross-station recaptures happen a few times a week but having the #800 owl visit both stations was a highlight for the banding teams.

2026 NSWO #800 at Pedder Bay
Photo by Jannaca Chick

2026 NSWO #800 Recaptured at Rocky Point
Photo by Mark Byrne

Visitors to the Rocky Point station continued with 9 DND staff and family members who had never been to the banding station before. While they were being escorted to the banding station by a RPBO liaison, the first NSWO was already waiting for them and several more were banded during their visit. The visitors all left the station with a greater understanding and appreciation of the research that RPBO is undertaking at CFAD Rocky Point.

DND Visitors observing Mark banding at Rocky Point
Photo by Taemar Verbaarschot 

Thanks to Owl Project Coordinator Mike Motek and the RPBO visitor liaisons for coordinating the visits for the DND staff and families to the Rocky Point banding station. It is an honour for the banding teams to welcome those who are serving with Canadian Armed Forces.

A simple fact ….. owls (and a lot of other birds) do not like to fly in the wind. The afternoon of the third night produced significant windy conditions leading up to the owl banding teams reporting for their shifts. With a full slate of VIP visitors at Pedder Bay and DND staff and their families at Rocky Point on the schedule the banding teams decided at the very least it was a wonderful opportunity to conduct an educational session.

To everyone’s surprise, even with the wind, a couple of owls were banded at Rocky Point and the DND visitors once again went home happy. Over at Pedder Bay, luck was not on their side, but I was prepared to entertain the 14 visitors by showing them a RPBO Owl Project slideshow on my iPad. I have found this visual aid has been valuable in the past, especially on nights when there have not been any owls being banded. Although the banding team and visitors were hoping that at least 1 owl might venture into our nets, it just did not happen.

However, spending just under a couple of hours with the visitors was the perfect way to introduce them to the research that RPBO does and not just talk about the owls but also talk about birds in general. On this night, it may have been my most engaging night of sharing bird knowledge with any group that I have had visit the stations and they never even saw an owl being banded! 

The winds did start to diminish near midnight, and Rocky Point ended up banding 6 owls and Pedder Bay finally banded an owl at 12:10am to keep Pedder Bay from recording a zero night of owls.

Diminishing winds on night 4 resulted in another 18 owls banded at Rocky Point and 10 at Pedder Bay indicating both stations were getting back on track with the consistent movement of owls coming through the area. It was the final night of the week for DND visitors to Rocky Point and all experienced the joy of seeing owls being banded at the station.

 

Jannaca banding at Pedder Bay
Photo by Heather Tocher

The next night had perfect conditions of cold, clear weather and no moonlight and the owls did not disappoint the banding teams. Pedder Bay had 33 visitors who saw NSWO’s being banded as well as the first BAOW of the season for the station.

Jannaca and Hitomi banding a Barred Owl at Pedder Bay

 

Weighing the Barred Owl
Photo by Amalis Riera

Preparing to band the Barred Owl
Photo By Amalis Riera

Pedder Bay finished the night with 16 NSWO’s and 1 BAOW while Rocky Point banded 37 NSWO owls including owl #900 of the season!

2026 NSWO #900 at Rocky Point
Photo by Mark Byrne

Both teams were delighted to hear that a NSWO banded at Pedder Bay on October 6th by Ann was recaptured by Jamie Acker and Daniel Lipinski on Bainbridge Island WA, 3 nights later. It’s always exciting to hear about RPBO owls being recaptured and with the number of owls banded at this point in the season we have been waiting for news of where the RPBO owls are travelling. 

The following night yet another NSWO was recaptured by Jamie and Daniel on Bainbridge Island! This owl, banded by myself on October 8th at Rocky Point, was recaptured on October 11th also taking only 3 nights to reach the Bainbridge Island location.

Rocky Point NSWO recaptured at Banibridge Island WA on October 11th
Photo by Jamie Acker

Rocky Point banded 23 owls and had a season high of 5 recaptures, 2 of which were banded in 2024 at Rocky Point as SY making them 4 years old.

Dorsal (top of wing) of a known 4th year NSWO

Ventral (bottom of wing) of the 4th year NSWO under blacklight

Pedder Bay kept up to Rocky Point once again banding 22 owls. At the end of the night the season total reached 978 NSWO’s banded for the season with only 22 more needed to reach the milestone of 1000.

On the last night of the week the banding teams were optimistic that the 1000th NSWO of the season would be banded. The question was, which station would capture that honour?

With only 22 owls needed to reach 1000, both stations experienced a slower night compared to the previous nights. As each hour went by it did not look promising but just before midnight the countdown of the last 5 owls needed began and each new owl banded had its photo taken just in case.

At 23:40 Pedder Bay claimed #999 and then at 23:55 they also claimed #1000 with a couple of visitors from earlier in the night still on hand to experience the milestone.

2026 NSWO #1000 at Pedder Bay
Photo by Mark Byrne

Rocky Point finished the night with 14 NSWO and 133 for week while Pedder Bay ended the night with 11 NSWO and 102 for the week.

With just over 2 weeks to go in the 2026 season the season total is 1003 NSWO’s banded and 8 BAOW’s banded.

The question now is ….. what will the next 19 nights produce?? Check back soon to find out!