Sean,

The 1995 banding operation was a Herculean effort performed by C. 
Smoot Major and J. Steve Huy.  Both worked day jobs and alternated 
nights banding at Turkey Point.  They did this under my master banding 
permit as an experiment to see if a Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) 
banding station at Turkey Point would be productive.  We just happened 
to pick an irruption year to do this and it was phenomenally 
successful!  These two guys banded 324 owls in very tough conditions 
working out of their cars as banding stations.  The credit for all of 
this effort goes solely to their passionate dedication to 
investigating NSWO migration.  BTW, Steve now runs the Lamb's Knoll 
NSWO banding effort each autumn and Smoot works on biodiversity 
conservation in Tennessee.  Steve and Smoot traveled from Washington 
D.C. and the middle of the Delmarva each night and then back to their 
respective day jobs after a night of banding.  Turkey Point is a very 
good migrant trap, especially for raptors.  We had hoped that the 
results of their effort would inspire some upper bay area folks to 
establish a banding station there, but that hasn't happened as of yet. 
To run an effective annual banding effort it would take someone with 
the passion, time and local resources to make it work.

Of the 324 owls that they banded we have direct recoveries from 2. 
One went to Cape Charles Virginia in 13 days and the other went to 
near Halifax, North Carolina in 26 days.  A third owl that they banded 
was recovered after being struck by a car during March of 1997 up in 
Quebec just west of Montreal.  They also netted one owl that was 
banded a year earlier (1994) in southern Maine near Kennebunk Port. 
None made it over to Assateague.

It is looking like this year will be another irruption year for 
saw-whet owls.  These appear to occur at 4-year intervals, in sync 
with small mammal cycles in the boreal forests of Canada.  There was 
an irruption in 1999 as well.  In the east, the 2003 irruption was not 
as notable as 95 and 99, but when one looks at continental scale 
banding records you can see a 2003 irruption in the banding data.  If 
the cycle is "perfect" then 2007 should be an irruption year.  We will 
know for certain in just a few weeks.  Once it is all over, we will 
know how it compares with past irruptions.

So the feathers are about to hit the wind - stay tuned and keep your 
eyes open.

Best to all,

David F. Brinker
Project Owlnet
1200 Frederick Rd.
Catonsville, Maryland 21228

Web: http://www.ProjectOwlnet.org
E-mail: 

ph. 410-744-3246 (home)
ph. 410-744-8939 (office)

Assateague Island Banding Station
38 09' 53" N    75 10' 23" W





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean McCandless" <>
To: <>
Sent: October 01, 2007 15:12
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Record Numbers of Saw-whet Owls Moving


Several Years ago, a nice fellow named Smoot Majors came up to Turkey 
Point
banding Saw-wets and I thought it was pretty successful. At least I 
thought it
was the nights I was up there. I hope that someone would use Turkey 
Point as
an indicator for our area. It's a Northern Maryland Migrant trap. One 
of the
best in the areas in my opinion. If I remember correctly several birds 
that were
banded at Turkey Point were picked up again at Assateague.

Sean McCandless
Cecil Bird Club President
Elkton, MD