RPBO After Dark: Where Hoo Hoo's Travel?

"Helllooo"
Photo by Jannaca Chick

With only a few more weeks to go in the 2026 Owl season the banding teams were wondering if the early surge of owls banded at each station would continue at the pace of the previous 4 weeks or would there be a decrease in the numbers.

The first couple of nights of the week produced lower numbers than expected with both Rocky Point and Pedder Bay only banding 3 owls each on night 1 followed by night 2 only producing 9 at Rocky Point and 8 at Pedder Bay. Even though it was quiet in terms of owls, Jannaca hosted a film crew at Pedder Bay for both days who are working on a documentary that will be called Owl Atlas. This documentary will include NSWO banded during RPBO's Nocturnal Owl Monitoring and also a look into how birds migrate using quantum mechanics - a fascinating subject!

Owl Atlas documentary film crew at Pedder Bay.
Photo by Martha Burd

Things started to get interesting as the rest of the week progressed. Night 3 experienced an increase in the owls banded as well as an increase in the presence of BAOW’s at both stations. Rocky Point caught the first foreign NSWO recapture of the season, a hatch year female, and it was a few days before we were able to find out where the owl was originally banded.

Where did you come from??
Photo by Mark Byrne

Already banded but by who??
Photo by Mark Byrne

Night 4 of the week was a little slow in terms of the number of NSOW being banded however it wasn’t long for the owl banders group chat to go crazy! Over at Rocky Point the first owl of the night wasn’t a NSWO, it was a magnificent hatch year female Long-Eared Owl (LEOW) captured just after net opening. RPBO doesn’t band many of these beautiful owls, in fact this was only the 9th LEOW on record. Here is Jannaca Chick's report (Owl Bander in Charge)

Long-eared Owl
Photo by Josh McCallum

Imagine our surprise on the night of October 16 at 19:30, when we discovered a Long-eared Owl (LEOW) in net 4 at Rocky Point! She was our first owl of the night, a beautiful hatch-year female. These owls always have a look of great surprise on their faces due to their large button-like bright yellow eyes. We always take care to minimize stress and process all our birds quickly and release them safely. The responsibility of the bander is the care and safety of each individual owl we band.

Preparing to weigh the Long-eared Owl
Photo by Deanna Ferguson

Aging the LEOW
Photo by Ann Nightingale

Aging the LEOW with a black light
Photo by Josh McCallum

These mysterious owls are not generally found in our mist nets during our 6 weeks of Nocturnal Owl Monitoring. Little is known about them across the continent, their population, movements and breeding habits, because they are nocturnal and so difficult to even find. Here on Vancouver Island, we do not know if they even breed here, what the population might be, literally next to nothing!

In 2020 we conducted a trial study to capture LEOW’s, link here: RPBO LEOW Project. We made efforts on several occasions to net these owls using LEOW playback and erected mist nets in the meadow adjacent to the Rocky Point banding station. Interestingly, we captured 3 LEOW that season, but all were caught passively during our regular NSWO banding hours, and not during our targeted project!

Preparing to take measurements
Photo by Deanna Ferguson

Since 2020 we have caught one LEOW every year during our standard operating hours except for 2023. These owls have occasionally been sighted by birders during the winter months in the Greater Victoria area. This leads us to suspect that there could be a population of LEOW present on Vancouver Island. More study is needed!

An exciting start to the night over at Rocky Point but it gets even better!!! The next owl caught also wasn’t a NSWO but one of two HY BAOW’s. These two BAOW’s would be part of a groundbreaking project that RPBO began that night. Acting on a hunch, Jannaca requested Ann Nightingale to be on hand that evening to provide training on applying a very special trackable band to the HY BAOW’s and they just happened to be caught while she was there!

Here is Ann Nightingale’s Blūbat report.

All bird banding in Canada requires a federal permit. The owls we band at Rocky Point Bird Observatory also require provincial permits. If the project requires putting on additional gear, taking blood or feather samples, or moving wildlife, specific authorizations must be obtained. This can all be a very time-consuming process.

USGS Band on the right leg, Cellular Tracking Technologies Blūbat tag on the left leg.
Photo by Ann Nightingale

Last year when Blūbat tags on Monarch butterflies were making the headlines, we realized that this new Cellular Tracking Technologies tag (essentially an air tag for wildlife) was exactly what we were looking for to do a Barred Owl study. Instead of relying on dedicated towers like Motus does, the signals of the Blūbat tags are picked up on cellphones, providing a near real-time location for tagged owls.

For many years, RPBO has had the permits required to move young Barred Owls away from our net arrays once they have tried to prey upon the Northern Saw-whet Owls we are banding. Over the years, we have learned the outcomes of many of them when they have been found dead or injured, or occasionally when they are seen alive, such as a banded pair breeding at the Ross Bay Cemetery.

BAOW (Blūbat tag - Rocky 1) ready for deployment.
Photo by Ann Nightingale

Blūbat technology is available in a leg band form for use on birds. These bands could allow us to follow our relocated Barred Owls so we can assess how far they travel, if they survive their first year (most Barred Owls don’t), and maybe even how successfully they find mates. This week, the technology, the permits, and the Barred Owls all converged. RPBO deployed the first Blūbat leg bands in Canada on two individuals (Rocky 1 & Rocky 2) that night before the owls were moved to their release locations. The early results kept the owl banding team up when they should have been asleep!

The owls all immediately left their release points, as was expected once they were set free. The distance they travelled varied, with two staying in nearby neighbourhoods while they got their bearings. Over the next day, they slept, checked out the habitat and presumably hunted and fed. After a couple of nights, they seem to have settled in. Time will tell if they stay in these areas or move on.

Blūbat tag live tracking of Rocky 1, 2 & 3

We have three more tags to deploy, hopefully before the end of our season on October 31.

On night 5 of the week both stations experienced another surge of NSWO’s being banded with 25 at Rocky Point and 21 at Pedder Bay. It was Blūbat training night for me, and Ann once again came out to Rocky Point to provide the necessary training required on my permit to apply this type of band.

BAOW (Blūbat tag - Rocky 3) being applied.
Photo by Anne Cotter

It didn’t take long for my training to be put into action as the first owl of the night was another HY BAOW and it was successfully deployed and called Rocky 3. As Ann mentioned previously, the banding team have been constantly monitoring the progress of each of the Blūbat-tagged BAOW’s to see how the technology is working and where the owls are exploring from their release points. It's an amazing way to research the movement of these large owls.

In all the excitement of the night at both stations, we forgot to keep track of the next milestone of the season and missed taking a photograph of NSWO #1,100!

The last couple of nights of the week saw the numbers starting to drop again with Rocky Point banding 13 owls on night 6 and Pedder Bay with 12 owls. Pedder Bay’s last owl of the evening was #500 for the station this year and yes ….. we got its photo! LOL

500th NSWO banded at Pedder Bay for the season.
Photo by Josh McCallum

On the final night of week 5, Pedder Bay more than doubled the number of owls banded at Rocky Point (7) with 16 with all the visitors seeing many owls. Both stations are also starting to capture more “older” owls with several recaptures of the age of 4 years (banded in 2023 as HY) as well as more known 3 year (TY) and several owls of unknown age commonly called After Second Year or ASY.

Great news from afar though while I was at Rocky Point. After Jannaca spent several days of checking with various BC and WA banding locations, the USGS Bird Banding Lab sent an email confirming that the foreign recaptured NSOW from night 3 (October 15th) was banded on September 13, 2026, at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory (LSLBO) in Alberta! Travelling 991 km as the owl flies or approximately 1,373 km driving or owl wandering in 33 days the owl was recaptured on October 15, 2026!