visitors from the north and the night

The sun hadn't risen yet this morning when we checked nets for the first time. To our surprise, soon followed by delight, a strange form was in one net. It was a Northern Saw-whet Owl with a beheaded mouse in its beak! We gleefully brought it back to the banding lab to put a band on the owl. At release, we tried to give it back the mouse, but too stressed, it neglected the easy meal. That's unfortunate, but hopefully, this little young male would find another feast next night.

At the end of the morning, another visitor showed up, perched in the dead birch in front of our house. A diurnal kind of predator this time, this Northern Shrike tried its luck on our banded young male Northern Cardinal, with no luck. It flew away afterward.

Yesterday, on a hike, we also spotted a Northern Shrike in a wetland not far from the station. With the arrival of this denizen of the North, it is definitively starting to feel like the season is nearing its end: only 12 days of banding left...