From Montana Wild Wings

The first part of January, a forest service worker brought us a northern saw whet owl who had been hit by a vehicle. It appeared to have a head trauma, but nothing appeared broken. It was given a quiet space and time to mend.

It had come from an area that was part of the Owl Research Institute’s Northern Saw Whet study area, so we contacted ORI to see if they would be interested in banding it when it was ready to be released. They said they would be happy to - more information is always a positive.

At the end of January, Denver Holt and Jeanna Clifford stopped by the center to do the banding. Denver took measurements and weighed the owl before banding the leg. It is an interesting process and always fun to hear what the Owl Research Institute has been up to.

Later that day, the forest service worker who had brought us the owl picked it up to return it to the area it had come from. The little owl was dubbed “Woodsey” after the Forest Service owl.

It was a rewarding full circle for this owl. Thank you Forest Service worker for helping this owl and Denver & Jeanna for taking time to include it in your research.