The Saw-whet Owl Project

[jmream1]

The barn owl can smell

[porfirio133]

no one should talk loud because owl have sesitive ears i really meant that but they are so cute

[richintalent]

I have heard a similar noise at night here in upstate NY, but it's a little more raspy and screechy sounding- do saw-whets sound the same all over or to their calls vary from place to place? Whatever this animal was, the call was more of an "Eek-eek-preek-preek!" slowly rising in pitch.

[richintalent]

Lol the girls don't like it very well do they?

[lovemecows]

cuties...Great sound.

[DickinsonCollege]

Dickinson Scientist Gene Wingert:

The reason for owl banding research is both to learn where the birds breed their migration routes and wintering habitiat so these areas my be protected. Also, and more urgent is the siting of wind turbines. We must know migration routes to argue against certain sites for wind turbines or we will have a lot of owl burger.

[Sparklyhotdog]

Lol, my bad. Please disregard that. I'd say your assumption isn't very safe, though.

[Sparklyhotdog]

Why are you banding them?

[tulku420420]

IN many cases, the actual research itself can contribute to a decline in population,. over exposure to humans, and human scent being place on the bird by petting can be very damaging to the natural life cycle .... just what was the purpose of banding these owls ?

[DickinsonCollege]

Couldn't tell you. Someone else shot the video as part of an environmental science class. I'd guess that, since they're scientists, they have a handle on the effect of their research and probably had a good reason for conducting it.

[19tshrike]

@tulku420420

Most birds have ZERO sense of smell, so what you write here is complete nonsense. Mark-recapture of animals, especially secretive species such as saw-whets is the only way to track population status and migratory routes/stop-over sites.  Without such data there is no information to help support any efforts for conservation of the species or habitats in their breeding range and stop over sites.

[19tshrike]

@tulku420420

Most birds have ZERO sense of smell, so what you write is complete nonsense (or just plain ignorance). Mark-recapture of animals, especially secretive ones such as saw-whet owls is the only way to gather data for efforts to support conservation of habitat in their breeding and migratory ranges.

[TheFerruccio]

what's the beeping for?

[DickinsonCollege]

The "beeping" is the owl's hoot! They're pretty cool little buggers.

[TheFerruccio]

That's interesting!! It sounds very synthetic. Was it made by the owl in the hand?

[lilcrank222]

im doing a research paper on the saw whet owl and i need to know what some more info is about the saw whet owl and what you guys are doing so could u post a comment answering me?? thanks

[DickinsonCollege]

You can e-mail professor Gene Wingert for more info about the owls.

wingerth at dickinson edu

[lilcrank222]

im doing a research paper on this its really cool so if you guys ever get my commet can you give me more info?