WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

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So Much to be Thankful For

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Friends of Rushton Banding,

Feels like I haven’t brought you up-to-date for a while and that’s a fact, not just a feeling.

Predictions of rain caused us to cancel  morning banding, except for Thursday, 11/18 when we banded 20 birds.   We netted two juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawks, bringing our Sharpie (the bird, not the pen!) total to 4.  This small raptor in the order Falconiformes and the Accipiter family characteristically prefers birds to mammals as its main food.  Our Sharpies were chasing songbirds when they flew into the net.  Good for us and good for the song bird.  It lives another day and we got to band a gorgeous raptor and put some serious bling on his ankle.

 

Lisa, Lou and I put maximum effort into Saw-whet Owl banding when we saw our catch, now at 91, far exceed our expectations.  When you’re in striking distance of 100, you have to go for it and we are giving it our all.  The owl catch has dropped off from several birds per night to one or no birds per night.  The wind from the south and the early rise of the full moon have worked against us.  However, we’re hoping for a couple of good nights to bring us to 100.

We have another recovery of one of our banded owls.  Owl # 1014-34034,  a two year old female banded on 10/28 was recaptured at the Shenandoah River State Park, Bentonville, VA on 11/14.  That’s about 165 miles as the owl flies from Willistown.   Pretty neat.  I’m sending its captor Brett Clawson all our data and he’ll share his with us.
As December approaches the migration slows and our chance of reaching 100 owls diminishes.  So what, owl banding is not a sporting event.  There are no losers.  We all won by attempting to find out what goes on at night without our awareness, beyond our notice.  We know more now, but we’re left asking,  “What else might we not be aware of?”   Some salamanders migrate at night.  Can they be seen at Rushton Preserve?   Male Woodcocks return to breed in March.  They choose open fields as dancing grounds where they can attract choosy, strong females with their elaborate aerial displays and “peenting” calls.  Are Rushton fields attractive to Woodcock?   Lots of  questions, so much to learn, so much to be thankful for

See you in the woods,

Doris McGovern
Media, PA

Our Owls Make the News!

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Our Saw-whet Owls got the attention of Philadelphia Inquirer blogger Sandy Bauers, and she ran the following on her blog this past Thursday.  Hooray for Willistown’s open spaces that attract these beautiful creatures!

Sadly, I’ve never seen a saw whet owl. But I’d love to. Apparently, the folks at the Willistown Conservation Trust are seeing lots of them. Or, at least more than usual.

They just sent a press release about the success of their banding efforts this year, and it’s so cool I’ll simply copy it below.

For more information about the Northern saw whet owl, this Cornell Lab of Ornithology site has information and a recording of the owl.

Here’s the info from Willistown:

On a cold autumn night last week, bird banders at The Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) set a Chester County record by capturing and banding 15 Northern saw-whet owls. These rare but regular winter visitors usually pass unnoticed through the meadows and woodlands of Pennsylvania. However, thanks to WCT’s new banding station in their Rushton Woods Preserve, just 15 miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia, visitors are getting an up-close glimpse of these reclusive birds. In the last few weeks alone, the Rushton Banding Station has captured 89 owls, a record for the Delaware Valley.

The tiny Northern saw-whet owl (no bigger than a can of soda) is exclusive to North America. In certain years when the northern conifer seed crop declines, the population of Microta (mice-like species) also decreases. In turn, owls that feed on microta wander south in search of food, creating an event scientists call an “irruption year.” The winter of 2010 is an irruption year not only for Northern saw-whets, but for other birds like the Black-capped chickadee and Purple finch that arrive at our feeders and in our woods as conditions worsen in the north.

“We’re experiencing something special,” says federally licensed bander Doris McGovern. “An irruption year presents an amazing opportunity for bird research”.

“Once we band these owls and record their vital statistics, we can track their movements and health status as they disperse,” notes Lisa Kiziuk, fellow bird-bander and Assistant Director of Stewardship at WCT.

In the past two weeks, Lisa, Doris and a handful of dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to catch, record, band and release Northern saw-whet owls into the Rushton Woods Preserve – to the wonder and delight of all who have ventured into the cold autumn night hoping to hold one of these tiny visitors.

Banding sessions are typically conducted during periods of migration in the fall and spring. Special “mist” nets, used to gently capture birds, are erected several mornings each week as weather permits. Amongst the record number of Northern saw-whets at the banding station last week, there was a special visitor – a “foreign recovery”- or bird already sporting a band. This owl was first caught at Massachusetts Audubon’s Drumlin Farm, a wildlife sanctuary and organic farm located just west of Boston. That he found his way to another organic farm and preserve – in Willistown, PA, – was a notable phenomenon.

Rushton Woods is in an ideal location for bird research. Its large tracts of protected woodland, open meadows and stream habitat, combined with the sustainably managed crop fields of Rushton Community Farm, attracts a wide variety of birds, including predatory species like owls. Great horned owls eat Long-eared owls, that eat Screech owls, that eat Northern saw-whet owls. In truth, it’s an owl-eat-owl world out there!

About the Rushton Woods Preserve Bird Banding Station: The Rushton Woods Bird Banding Station is the only one of its kind in the 5-County Philadelphia region. The Trust established this station at Rushton Woods Preserve in the spring of 2010, and in that short time over 60 species of bird have been tagged. The station’s goals are to contribute to global bird conservation, demonstrate the benefits of preserving undeveloped land, and provide a open classroom for the entire region.

About the Willistown Conservation Trust: The Willistown Conservation Trust has been preserving the open land, scenic, historic and ecologically significant resources of the Willistown area for over 30 years. To date, some 6,000 acres have been protected through conservation easements and land purchases. The Trust operates 3 publicly accessible preserves and the Rushton Community Farm – a model for sustainable agriculture that celebrates open space and natural resource protection. Through its research and habitat restoration programs the Trust seeks to demonstrate the ecological benefits of careful land management and provide opportunities for hands-on learning. For more information, please visit www.wctrust.org.

See the original Inquirer post.

Rushton Saw-whet Owl recaptured by Scott Weidensaul

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Friends of Rushton Banding,

You read in Lisa’s  message that on 11/11 we captured a Saw-whet Owl banded in 2009 about 20 miles west of Boston.   We were thrilled.

Better yet, today I got word from the Bird Banding Lab that our Saw-whet Owl  # 0494-81914 banded on 11/9 had been recaptured, but they didn’t tell me the Who? What? When? Where? How?

This afternoon I checked the owl banders’ Listserve and saw a message requesting data on owl # 0494-81914.  That’s our  Rushton’s owl!!!   The Who? was Scott Weidensaul, owl bander extraordinaire.  The Where? was  Small Valley, one of Scott’s three banding stations near Schuylkill Haven, PA, 60 miles northwest of Rushton.  The When? was 11/14/10.

Scott encouraged the creation of our owl banding station when Lisa volunteered at Hidden Valley in the 2009 season.

Owl # 0494-81914 was released from a Rushton bander’s grip at 9:45 pm on 11/9.  By 11/14  it had traveled 60 miles northwest, rather than south, to be captured at Small Valley.   We know that Saw-whets wander as they migrate, but why was our first recovered owl not traveling in the usual southward direction as winter approaches?   These are the observations and questions that make banding so interesting.  Effort and careful data collection are required to record and understand the movements of these little owls.  Spurred on by your interest Rushton will  continue to collect and share data with the national Saw-whet study network, Project Owlnet, for a fuller understanding of their movement during migration.

Lisa, Lou, Bonnie and I will see Scott on Thursday night at the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club’s annual banquet where we’ll raise a glass together in a toast to owl  # 0494 81914.  We have banded 89 owls, a record for the Delaware Valley.  We will attempt to reach 100.  Raise a glass and wish us and our owls well.

See you in the woods,

Doris McGovernMedia, PA

Rushton’s First Foreign Recovery

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This past wednesday there was cause for great excitement because we captured our first Saw-whet Owl that was already banded – by another station.  This is what bird banders live for!  It’s termed a foreign recovery, or FR in banders’ lingo.

Doris sent out the appropriate enquiries and promptly received a reply giving details about the owl:

Hi Doris,

Fantastic! That bird was banded at Mass
Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in
Lincoln, MA. By the band number it looks like a
2009 bird. I can get you data when I’m back at the station.

Kathy Seymour
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary
Lincoln, Ma
(~20 miles west of Boston)

More Saw-whet Owls Delight Visitors to Rushton Woods Preserve

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I confess that I thought the words owl and cute never belonged in the same sentence, even though I’d heard the Northern Saw-whet Owl described this way so many times in the office.

Saw-whet in hand
This little Saw-whet Owl was unimaginably docile in-hand.

Well, I’m here to tell you – they are ADORABLE.  But you have to see them in person, feel their incredibly soft feathers, their tiny little bodies, their furry feet, and their huge intelligent eyes.

A few of us shrugged off school-night constraints and were lucky enough to witness several of these little owls being banded at the station last night.

The first owl captured this night was a little male. Lisa prepares to install the tiny band around his ankle.

How lucky we are to have these little creatures gracing us with their presence.

It’s hard to believe, but there are hundreds of them in Willistown right now, and continuing for the next few weeks as they migrate.  They are stopping here to feed before most of them move on.

Blake, our newest intern at the Trust, prepares a young female for release back into the woods.

And the reason they are here is because of all of our undeveloped land.  What a wonderful bonus for this beautiful place.

– Jodi

OUR NATURE PRESERVES

Our nature preserves are open to the public 365 days per year from sunrise to sunset, providing natural places that offer peace and respite for all. Willistown Conservation Trust owns and manages Hartman Meadow, Ashbridge, Kirkwood, Kestrel Hill and Rushton Woods Preserves. We maintain these lands to preserve and enhance … Learn more about our nature preserves.