Saturday Night

Last night the moon was almost full and shining over Lake Superior as I stood at Hawk Ridge volunteering for an owl event. I helped check in the guests prior to the 8 p.m. presentation. After 8 I hiked up the rocks to the outdoor classroom where the naturalist spoke about the 12 species of Minnesota owls. As she held up the pictures of owls and a map of their range I held up the same picture for the audience to see. While she talked the owl banders were busy catching owls in mist nets. Two Northern Saw-whet owls were released during our presentation. Some other volunteers went down to the banding station to collect them and carry them up hill in little tubes. The naturalist gently took the owls out and held them in her hand so the audience could get a close up look at the super cute tiny owl. One of them clicked it's beak in anger. Normally a Northern saw-whet owl makes a beeping sound like a dump truck in reverse. I could have taken a picture but we weren't supposed to use our flash and I was afraid I would make a mistake with my phone. She used a black light to shine on the feathers. With the black light shining on the feathers, the first owl's feather were all pink which meant the feathers were new and this was a first year bird. The second owl had a uniform set of pink and non-pink feathers which meant it was an older owl. Before she let the owls go we extinguished the lamps that lit our outdoor classroom so the owl's eyes could adjust to the dark. Then she set the little owl free on the palm of her hand. The first owl took off immediately. The second owl stood on her hand for a full minute looking around before it flew away. By ten o'clock we had talked about all the owls and the class was over. We helped pack up the table, the equipment, and all the lamps. I was glad the temperature was in the 50's and the wind wasn't very strong. I had a very pleasant evening.