We have now been tracking Isra for over 2 weeks now, with a lot of good data coming from our long nights at King’s Gap and in the Michaux State Forest. With the migration season in full swing for the owls, we are now starting to hear the strange barks and whines of the saw-whets as we are walking through the forest. Sometimes it’s the owl we are tracking, but often it is another saw-whet in the woods.

Isra has a routine going for her that she repeats every night we have been tracking her. Soon after dark, she leaves her roost and becomes very active, flying back and forth along the King’s Gap/Michaux State Forest border. She keeps us on our toes as we run around, trying to figure out where she is off to. Several times she has completely ditched us, only to show up back at near the banding station at King’s Gap. o

After flying around for several hours, presumably hunting, she often settles down for several hours and gives us some time to relax and enjoy the night sounds other than our feet crunching the newly fallen leaves.

Isra often stays relatively still until soon before dawn, when she starts flying again and soon ends up in the pitch pine where she will roost for the day. As the sun comes up, we get to go search for the roost site so we know where to find her the following evening.

Northern Cardinal

Song Sparrow

The newest saw-whet owl with a transmitter is Esmerelda. Here she is with breakfast in her talons. Does anyone know what it is?

This is one of the eastern screech owls we have caught at the saw-whet banding operations. There are usually one or two that get curious enough each year to get caught in the nets.

A couple weeks ago I started at a new job as the field tech for the Northern Saw-whet Owl telemetry project run by the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in central PA.

So far most of the time has been spent training and waiting for the owls to begin migrating thru our area. Due to several factors including weather, saw-whet migration is behind normal schedule but we have radio-tagged one saw-whet owl so far, Xena.

We also radio-tagged a screech owl, Skreech, for training purposes while we were waiting for our first saw-whet. Here is a shot of her, high up in a chestnut oak staring down at us.

View Red-necked Phalarope in a larger map

In comparison to nearby Eastern Meadowlarks, I was able to note several differences which I think made it relatively easy to pick out. The Eastern Meadowlarks had a much darker, almost black, eyeline and facial pattern while the Western Meadowlark’s facial pattern seemed pale and indistinct. I could also pick out the difference in malar area, with the Western Meadowlark having yellow and the Eastern having white.

A third feature that helped me pick out the Western Meadowlark was the amount of black streaking on its side. The Western Meadowlark was much less heavily streaked with a spotted effect compared to the Eastern Meadowlarks.

Unfortunately these pictures don’t show off these distinguishing characteristics except for the yellow malar so you will all just have to go check it out for yourself. You can also check out this comparison page for more illustrations of the differences.

The only warbler that wasn’t on territory were the Yellow-rumped Warblers, which nest in northern PA. Other warblers seen were several Ovenbirds, a Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler and a Prairie Warbler.

Hopefully this weekend brings another big flight of migrants into the area.