Richmond Audubon Society

Richmond, Virginia

Local Birds In The News

Saw-whet Owl Project in Central Virginia

Background and Site-by-Site Results

The Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is principally a Canadian breeder, with smaller breeding populations found in the northern forests of the U.S. and in selected high-elevation locations in the Appalachians. It is an irruptive migrant in the mid-Atlantic states, with higher migration volume strongly correlated with rodent population crashes in the northern forests. Originally thought to take either a near-coastal migration route or one that follows the eastern mountain ranges, it has been confirmed through migration banding projects in the last few years that substantial numbers of these owls migrate through the Virginia piedmont and the western coastal plain just east of Richmond. The first records hinting at this possibility were obtained by Gene Sattler of Liberty University in 2002, banding just outside of Lynchburg during the month of November. He caught 39 saw-whets that first year. In 2003 Bob Reilly began an exploratory banding program on several nights in late November at his Timber Creek site in Powhatan County, capturing 9 owls. In 2003 Gene caught an additional 38 owls at his Lynchburg site.
2004 marked the first year of extensive coverage for November and early December at the Timber Creek site in Powhatan as well as a few nights of exploratory monitoring by Bob and John Dillard of RAS in cooperation with VADGIF at a site in the Powhatan Wildlife Management Area that is approx 10 miles west of the Timber Creek site. Gene monitored at his Lynchburg site for November and early December. That year 52 owls were caught at Lynchburg, 36 were caught at the Timber Creek site in Powhatan, and 2 more were caught at the exploratory Powhatan WMA site. The next two years, 2005 and 2006, were poor years for owl migration in Virginia. For those two years Gene caught 7 and 12 owls respectively at Lynchburg, and Bob caught 15 and 9 owls respectively at Timber Creek. The Powhatan WMA site was not operated in 2005 and caught no owls on several nights of sampling in 2006.

2007 was quite a different story. Anticipating an irruptive year based on reports from Canadian banders, Bob and RAS volunteer subpermittees Julie Kacmarcik, Rita Shultz, and Risa Elliot, as well as Game Department Biologist JD Kleopfer opened and operated four sites on the Piedmont and western coastal plain, in addition to the Timber Creek site in Powhatan. Julie, with equipment support from Richmond Audubon, operated the Powhatan WMA site. She also worked with JD at a new site on VCU’s Rice Center in Charles City County. Equipment for the new Rice Center site was provided by VADGIF. Rita and Risa established and operated two new sites, one in Cumberland County and a second one in Goochland County. The Cumberland site is supported by the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory, who also sponsors a site at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, run under Bob’s permit and staffed by DCR’s Brett Clawson, CVWO’s First Landing bander, Peter Doherty, and another of Bob’s subpermittees, Sheila Scoville.

Gene Sattler’s Lynchburg site captured 71 saw-whets in 2007. Captures at the sites under Bob’s permit for 2007 were as follows:

Northern Connections

In 2007, 16 of the owls captured at the Timber Creek, Powhatan WMA, Cumberland, Goochland and Charles City County sites had been banded previously at stations north of Virginia. For 2003-2006 another 11 fell in that category. Multiple owls were caught that had been banded in Ontario, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland, and one owl was captured that had been banded at Whitefish Point, Michigan (an approx 900-mile straight-line distance from the Timber Creek site)..

Evidence of Over-wintering Saw-whets on the Piedmont

This year provided the best evidence to date that some of these owls are over-wintering on Virginia’s piedmont.

1. An owl banded in Maryland in October was captured at Timber Creek on 11/02/07 and was recaptured at Timber Creek on 12/20/07.

2. An owl banded at Timber Creek on 10/31/07 was recaptured at Timber Creek on 12/27/07.

3. An owl banded on 11/26/05 at Timber Creek was recaptured by Julie Kacmarcik on 12/07/07 at the Powhatan WMA site (again, less than 10 miles form the Timber creek site)

4. An owl banded on 11/17/07 at Timber Creek was recaptured at Timber Creek on 12/31/07.

With expanded coverage planned to continue for 2008 and beyond, we are poised to learn much more about this species use of the central Virginia piedmont.

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