Welcome to the Rocky Point Bird Observatory “RPBO After Dark” blog. Over the next 6 weeks the Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) banding team will be endeavouring to post weekly updates on how owl banding is progressing at the Rocky Point and Pedder Bay owl banding stations. This year marks the 25th anniversary of owl banding at CFAD Rocky Point and 16 years for Pedder Bay. WOW!! A whole quarter century of banding Northern Saw-whet Owls at Rocky Point Bird Observatory.
 |
| "Grace" The 2024 Cutest Owl |
From Tuesday September 15th through to October 31st, both the Pedder Bay (Open to Public) and the Rocky Point (Restricted Access) stations will be opening 12m x 3.2m owl mist nets from a half hour after sunset for a period of 6 hours, depending on the weather. Rocky Point uses 8 nets while Pedder Bay uses 7. An audio device (the banding team call it the “Tooter”) is used to play a male NSWO (toot, toot, toot) call, which has been part of the standardized protocol since 2002 to attract the owls to the research area.
How many owls has RPBO banded over the years? As of the end of the 2025 season a staggering total of 16,479 Northern Saw-whet Owls have been banded between both stations. This makes them the most banded species in all the RPBO banding projects combined. Since the beginning of the owl project in 2002 we have also caught and banded 181 Barred Owls, 8 Long Eared Owls, 3 American Barn Owls, 1 Western Screech Owl, and 1 Great Horned Owl (that was processed but not banded).
This year’s banding team will consist of Jannaca Chick as the Bander in Charge returning for her 8th year, and Mark Byrne returning for his 3rd year as an owl bander. This year the relief banders who cover days off, will be Ann Nightingale, Robyn Byrne and Katie McCreesh as needed, and Taemar Verbaarschot who will be continuing her training to obtain her owl banding permit. Mike Motek will once again be leading the team as the Project Coordinator.
 |
| Jannaca Chick describing the banding process of an NSWO to a group of visitors to the Pedder Bay banding station |
Pedder Bay will be hosting four weekly scheduled visitor nights Friday through Monday throughout the season. There will be three one-hour time slots of 8 visitors per hour. The link for visitor registration for Pedder Bay Marina visits can be found on the RPBO website on the Event Calendar. This link will take you directly there:
https://rpbo.org/what-we-do/community-education/calendar/
How it
all began
You might be wondering how the NSWO project came to be at RPBO. While thinking about writing this blog I was also wondering who and when the project started. Fortunately, RPBO has owl reports dating back to the beginning and they contain much valuable information and provide some insight into the history of the Nocturnal Owl Monitoring Project.
It all began at CFAD Rocky Point in 2002 as a pilot project by RPBO Director Paul Levesque after several Northern Saw-whet Owls were caught and banded during the daytime Migration sessions in previous years. Paul was aware of an organization called Project Owlnet and he proposed to the RPBO Board that a test sample (pilot project) be conducted to see if these owls were migrating through the area where the Rocky Point banding station was located. RPBO is still affiliated with Project Owlnet, and Ann Nightingale is a member of their working group.
 |
| RPBO Director Paul Levesque |
The 2002 pilot operated between September 19th and November 2nd over 19 nights using 3 to 6 nets, depending on the weather and having enough volunteers and a bander to participate. Having no idea what the migration of owls might be like, some of the teams pulled “all nighters” on 12 nights from sunset through to sunrise when the weather was favourable. Some of those nights consisted of over 11 hours, with many being very chilly!
 |
| Ann Nightingale pulling an "all nighter" Brrrrrr! |
Today, the owl banding teams are operating for a tolerable standardized 6 net hours. Owl volunteers and banders will tell you that they truly become “night owls” when it comes to putting in time at the stations. Once the owl project begins the teams are jokingly known to be going over to the “Dark Side”, especially after volunteering during the early mornings of the Fall Migration Monitoring project.
 |
| Kelsey Low scribing, Gabe David banding and extractor Margie Shepard looking on |
How successful was the pilot project in 2002? A total of 210 NSWO and 3 Barred Owl's (BAOW) were banded! In 2003 it was then determined that the Nocturnal Owl Monitoring Project would begin using standardized methods – opening the nets a half an hour after sunset and remaining open for a 6-hour period, depending on the weather, etc. This protocol has basically remained the same since 2003, although there have been some upgrades to the banding stations and equipment over the years.
 |
| One of the first weighing tubes |
 |
| The audio lure technology has changed since 2002 |
Many of the volunteers involved way back in 2002 with RPBO are no longer with the organization but there are a few that have been around since day one of the NSWO project. Just to name a few - Ann Nightingale, Marilyn Lambert, Robert Gowan, Cheryl Mackie, Sharon Godkin, and Rod Mitchell are still involved with RPBO in various capacities.
During my research for this blog, I was surprised to find out that the original NSWO nets were in a stand of Gary Oaks east of the Rocky Point banding station, but due to a big windstorm in 2006 the area became unusable and the current net locations were established. A few changes to the net configurations happened over the next couple of years but as of 2009 the net locations haven't changed. Of course, the habitat has changed somewhat with the winter storms taking its toll on trees and vegetation in the owl nets lanes.
 |
| A creative way to raise operating funds and enjoy a night of owls in 2011 |
In the fall of 2011, a NSWO pilot was conducted at Pedder Bay Marina along the fire road which is behind the current banding station and part of the Migration Monitoring census route. An owl barbeque (no owls were on the menu LOL) was hosted at the Pedder Bay RV Resort gazebo to raise money to support the purchase of nets and other equipment for the new Pedder Bay station. From what I have heard it was a great event hosted by the volunteers of RPBO with food and music and the opportunity to possibly see a Northern Saw-whet Owl being banded.
It was an opportunity for the attendees to experience what the NSWO project was doing, and it helped establish the Pedder Bay banding station in 2012. In 2014 the standardized NSWO project began at Pedder Bay. Having this project at a location accessible to the public has enabled RPBO to educate people about this charismatic nocturnal species that is extremely difficult to find in the wild, and to gain an understanding of why owl research is important to the lives of these birds.
 |
| The owl barbeque at the Pedder Bay Marina gazebo |
 |
| Rebecca and Emma Reader-Lee playing their violins at the 2011 owl barbeque |
How will the 2026 NSWO season be in terms of numbers expected to be banded?? It depends on several factors such as how successful was the breeding season, how abundant was the food source of small rodents such as mice and voles during spring and summer, was the environment where they bred or migrate through affected by severe weather or forest fires? The answer is - we don’t know how many NSWO are expected this year, but our owl gurus are estimating that we could expect around 1,050. To put that in perspective here are the totals from the last few years.
Year | NSWO’s |
2025 | 737 |
2024 | 1,251 |
2023 | 1,455 |
2022 | 356 |
Check back soon to see how the 2026 owl season is doing.
Until next time …… Toot, toot, toot!!