Blog #25—Another Northern Saw-whet Owl

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"This Week At Hilton Pond North" is an on-going series of original photo essays—posted more or less weekly—about natural history happenings here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of upper Ashe County, North Carolina. If you want a free e-mail reminder about each new installment, click here to SUBSCRIBE.

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ANOTHER NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL

#25: 16-30 November 2025

Random observations about Blue Ridge Birds & Nature

BIRD BANDING RESULTS FOR

HILTON POND NORTH DURING CURRENT PERIOD

16-30 November 2025

● Banded in 2025: 51 species, 1,136 individuals

● All-time totals, March 2024 to present: 70 species, 3,148 individuals

The table below shows birds banded during the Current Period (Columns 1 & 2), each species' Yearly Tally (Column 3), and a Grand Total for each species (Column 4) since banding began at Hilton Pond North in March 2024. Any new species for the current year are in RED.

NEWLY BANDED BIRDS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

16-30 November 2025

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

BANDED BIRD RECAPTURES/RETURNS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

16-30 November 2025

White-breasted Nuthatch banded here 10/03/24; now after-hatch-year unknown

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

If you missed our 2025 Ruby-throated Hummingbird Banding Summary, it's still posted HERE.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, and text © Hilton Pond North

When they came from Ohio to visit Hilton Pond North in late October, good friends Amy Girten and Kim Pierce Lascola helped us install a long line of mist nets along a stretch of driveway beside our residential cabin—about the only level open space on our otherwise undulating 35 wooded acres. We valued their assistance since we planned to unfurl those nets in early November after the Ohioans departed for home. We would deploy six 10' x 36' nets—after dark—during our second annual attempt to capture and band a nocturnal bird species rare to Ashe County NC, i.e., Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO, above).

On several evenings we were stymied by weather—rain and strong winds make deploying nets ineffective and unsafe for birds—so we weren't able to operate until 5 November. That night we opened nets and turned on our NSWO audiolure, a battery-powered loudspeaker that plays a continuous loop recording of the repetitive "toot-toot-toot" call of Northern Saw-whet Owls. (It sounds like someone "whetting" or sharpening a saw.) Last year on the 5th the lure instead brought in a young Eastern Screech-Owl (above), which we banded, measured, and released. Although this was a small owl species, it was still larger than the diminutive NSWO we were seeking. A day later on 6 November in 2024 we did net two saw-whets—the first fully documented occurrence for that species in Ashe County NC.

This year we caught nothing on 5 November, nor on several nights thereafter when weather didn't allow us to run nets and the audiolure. Finally, an hour after midnight on the 20th as we were preparing to shut down, in our headlamp we saw one of our target birds in a net (above). It was soon to be only the third Northern Saw-whet Owl banded during two fall/winter seasons at Hilton Pond North. The owl must have just gotten caught—it was so loosely tangled we thought it might escape—so we hurriedly extracted it. Although we're certain this saw-whet would rather have been somewhere else, being caught temporarily in the mesh is a short-term experience that causes no harm.

We worked quickly but we were also quite careful, not only for the well-being of the owl but also because we had to beware the bird's business end: Four viciously curved talons with needle-like points (above). Saw-whets may be tiny—about the size of an open palm—but their claws make short work of small mammals and can easily scratch and break the skin of a bird bander.

In addition to murderous talons, the foot of an owl has another adaptation that helps it snare prey. In songbirds, the toe configuration is called "anisodactyl," with three toes in front and one pointed back—supposedly an adaption for perching. Owls are also "three-plus-one," but the outside toe (at bottom in photo above) can swivel to the rear (called "semi-zygodactyl"). As an owl swoops in, the movable toe means TWO hind claws can dig into the mouse or shrew, squeezing prey for a more secure catch.

With our newest saw-whet out of the net and securely in hand, we moved over to our comfy, warm, and winterized banding office to measure the owl's tail, wing chord, and weight (mass); those parameters told us our owl was a female based on her larger size. (Among raptors, males are typically smaller than their mates—sometimes by as much as a third—but that's a story for another time.) For the record, this latest owl weighed in at 95.54g (3.37 ounces), about the same as an adult Blue Jay!

When we band, it's always good to know a bird's age as well as its sex. Sometimes age can be determined by plumage color or condition, but researchers figured out a special trick for accurately ageing Northern Saw-whet Owls: Look at the wing feathers under UV light. Thus, we turned out overhead lighting, flicked on a "black light," spread the owl's right wing, and saw its outermost primary feathers and innermost secondary feathers glowed pink (above). This bright hue comes from porphyrin pigment, which glows under UV light in new feathers but fades over time. Thus, pink feathers above were newly acquired by the owl, while brown ones were apparently from last year—making this a second-year bird hatched in 2024. After banding, measurements, photographs, and the UV wing check, we placed the saw-whet on a small tree limb where she perched for a few seconds before flying silently into the night—perhaps to return in later years or (even better) to be recaptured by some far-off owl bander.

If you're wondering why we're so interested in Northern Saw-what Owls it's because—as the name suggests—this is mostly NOT a southern species. NSWO breed primarily in boreal forests of Canada and along the northern tier of the U.S., less commonly at higher elevations in the Appalachians. Because they're nocturnal, folks didn’t realize—historically—that saw-whets migrate in large numbers, reaching rarely as far south as northern Florida. When researchers began using audiolures in the late 1980s, they were astounded to see just how massive and widespread Northern Saw-whet Owl migration really is. We surprised folks when we banded ten at our old research site near York SC and have been pleased to band three in two years here in upper Ashe County NC.

Although it's feasible NSWO nest just 12 aerial miles northwest of us in Virginia at higher elevation Mount Rogers (5,729') or Whitetop Mountain (5,525'), we know for sure they at least migrate through and/or overwinter here at Hilton Pond North (3,000'). Thus, as time, weather, and bander stamina allow, we'll likely deploy nets and run the audiolure a few more times this December, and we'll crank things up again next year in late October as we try to learn more about Northern Saw-whet Owls here in the heart of the Blue Ridge. The more we know about their distribution, migration, longevity, and site fidelity, the more we understand how best to protect these little owls and their habitats, and most of this information can be attained only through banding.

Our resident Bobcat (above)—although we may have more than one at Hilton Pond North—was on the prowl on the night of 17-18 November 2025 as it walked up our driveway near the well. (Click on arrow above if needed.) Everything about our short video suggests this is a powerful animal that fears nothing in the wilds of North Carolina. With those muscles and that frame you can see how a Bobcat is capable of pulling down even a good-sized White-tailed Deer, although more common prey are Eastern Cottontails and White-footed Mice. Bobcats are exceptional climbers and will sometimes cache larger kills—like deer—high in trees to protect from scavengers, returning over several days to feed.

At our various residences during the past fifty years it has been our tradition at Thanksgiving to display the foot of a Wild Turkey festooned with a tail feather of the same species. These artifacts, collected long ago in the hinterlands of West Virginia, have traveled with us to a half dozen states and the homes of relatives with whom we shared a holiday feast. This year it's only fitting F&F (Foot & Feather) graced our Thanksgiving table at Hilton Pond North, where current-day relatives of this long-dead hen turkey roam in good numbers across our property in the Blue Ridge Mountains of upper Ashe County NC.

And speaking of Wild Turkeys, the free-ranging hen above is likely a youngster produced locally this year. A loner at this point, she may be looking for a flock to join for the rest of the winter. The biggest benefit to flocking behavior is there are more eyes and ears looking and listening for potential predators—even though that means sharing limited food resources during cold weather ahead.

Sunset from Hilton Pond North, 26 November 2025 (above). Second son Garrison Ballard Hilton and Trevor Waltenbaugh were here for an early Thanksgiving Eve feast and got to watch their first evening panorama from a bench on Sassafras Overlook. So pleased to share it with them.

Our first Purple Finches (PUFI) of the season arrived at Hilton Pond North on 15-16 November, three adult males with raspberry feathers (above) and one young, brown individual of undetermined sex. (NOTE: Brown PUFI at your feeders in the Carolinas could be either females or immature males; the latter take two years to get their red adult plumage.) Folks often have difficulty distinguishing male Purple Finches from male House Finches (HOFI). In close view, look for a straight upper edge (culmen) on the top mandible of a PUFI; in a HOFI the culmen is decurved.

Perhaps the best way to differentiate adult males of these two species is to look at lower flanks. In PUFI (bottom bird above), any streaking will be reddish in color, while flank streaks in HOFI (top bird) are always dark brown. (Note that female and IMMATURE male Purple Finches all have dark brown flank streaking!)

Incidentally, those four Purple Finches that arrived 15-16 November this year were far later than our first in 2024, an immature bird on 21 October. Last year's PUFI were also far more abundant; we banded 103 through November, compared to just those four so far this fall. Quite a difference!