Nearly every autumn evening at Andy Guest State Park, Chief Ranger Brett Clawson is surveying and banding the Saw-Whet owls that are migrating from the boreal North. Until the past few years, little was known of this migration; the tiny nocturnal creatures have largely escaped notice until modern techniques of calling and capture had allowed scientists to acquire data and describe this migratory phenomenon.
Many banding programs exclude the public, however; Ranger Clawson generously invites birders to see the banding process. "The more people know about our program, the more they will respect and support the natural processes that the owl migration represents."
