Autumn migration of Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) in the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern United States: what observations from 1995 suggest

Abstract

During the autumn of 1995 more than 5,900 migrant Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded in eastern and central North America. Though typical numbers of owls were banded at most Great Lakes stations during 1995, a record number were netted at Hawk Ridge, near Duluth, Minnesota and, when compared with more normal years, a remarkably disproportionate 40 percent of the total were banded at 5 stations in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. The movement occurred throughout the eastern U.S. and may have been comparable to that of 1965 when unusually high numbers of Northern Saw-whet Owls were netted at songbird banding stations throughout the northeastern U.S. In the Mid-Atlantic states, the 1995 movement was comprised largely of immature females, with the proportion of males decreasing as latitude decreased. Many owls migrating through the Mid-Atlantic states probably wintered south of Virginia. None of our banded owls were recovered as northbound spring migrants along the southern shores of the Great Lakes. Interstation retraps and other autumn recoveries present a pattern that suggests that the forests of the southeastern United States may be an important wintering area for a portion of the eastern continental population of Northern Saw-whet Owls.