If any of you haven't figured it out yet,
I love the great outdoors and everything that
goes along with it.
Except wood ticks, not sure why God put them on earth. Yuck!
And in all the things I am involved with I meet a lot of
interesting people.
I think we first met Amelie at one of our garden club meetings and the
next year I met her partner Shawn at a gardening symposium.
He was giving a talk about birds!
And I guess he would know a thing or two about them since
he is a professor at University Ste. Anne.
He's an ornithologist. (bird specialist to us ordinary folk)
They are always present at our Seedy Saturdays to represent
the students from the University Ste. Anne with
all the plants they have grown in the university
greenhouse.
Last year before Covid hit, I asked Shawn if he would
come and talk to the garden club about birds.
Unfortunately he couldn't make it, but he did offer
for the club to come with him on his Saw-whet owl
research nights.
Well of course! Even if nobody from the garden club
would be interested, I know we would be!
Before we could set a date to go, Covid hit.
He could only take 4 people at a time and they had to be
students. But if ever a student couldn't make it he would
let me know.
Last night I got a text from him asking if Dave and I were interested.
I was so excited I could barely contain myself.
I mean, who wouldn't be excited about going out in the cold,
forest at night! Well I was anyway...but I'm a bit
strange...or so I've been told.
So we all met at the lighthouse on the university grounds.
We marched to the woods behind the university while it was still
a bit light out to set up the nets.
The nets are very lightweight and are specially designed for
this purpose. It's not something you can
go and buy anywhere. Only a few specific companies
make them and you have to prove that
you have a permit from the government to study birds.
They also have a speaker that emits
the call of other Saw-whet owls.
Then we went back to the lighthouse and waited...and waited...
after 30 minutes we set back out to the woods.
By this time it's rather dark out and you have to watch
your footing.
Our first foray out was unproductive. Nothing.
So we went back to the lighthouse for another
30 minutes.
While we waited Shawn explained a bit of what
they would do if we caught one. And also about this tiny owl.
-the female is larger than the male
-they only weigh between 54-151grams
-they're approx 6-8 inches high
-they have a certain pigment under their wings that
is detected under UV light and determines their age
-their main diet in this area are voles and mice
-they are cute as buttons and so, so soft! (ok, I added that)
So we went back to the net. Once again no luck.
But the third time was the charm! We had one!
It took a few minutes to take it out of the netting, but Professor Shawn
was very, very gently taking it out. The less stress that is
put on these animals the better.
We brought it back to the lighthouse to begin taking
data about this cutie patootie
(ya, ya, I know not very scientific language but you'd be calling it that also if you'd been there)
It was weighed, measured and it's age determined and then banded.
 |
| Showing a proper grip on the owl called the "backpack grip" |
 |
| The UV light showing the pink pigment that tells us it's a juvenile |
Getting ready to have a band put on
Teeny tiny bands all numbered.
temperature and moon cycle.
Then after we fawned over it for a few minutes, it was let go.
It was determined that is was a female from this year.
Another hold they use to make sure it doesn't get hurt.
Honestly, how cute it this!!
After everything was done, they went and took the net down.
We just want to thank Professor Shawn for letting us tag along
with his research last night. We would do it again in a heartbeat!
We hope after Covid is done that we will be able to bring the garden club
to experience this.
Have a Blessed evening
Lisa
What a fun outing! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful opportunity! Love bird watching.
ReplyDelete