Getting set up is no minor feat! Project leads with several of our fantastic volunteers. L to R: David La Puma, Maia Nguyen, Steph Bartlett, Harrison Hepding, and Charlie Roberto.
By David La Puma & the Cape May Owl Project Team
The fall of 2024 marked our second full field season of the Cape May Owl Project, and it turned out to be a memorable one. Over 33 nights from mid-October through the end of December, our team returned to the South Cape May Meadows to continue a banding tradition that dates back to 1980. Armed with mist nets, headlamps, owl calls, and plenty of warm layers, we set out once again to capture and study some of the most elusive nocturnal migrants on the East Coast.
By the end of the season, we had banded 87 individual owls representing three species: 75 Northern Saw-whet Owls, 7 Barred Owls, and 5 Long-eared Owls. While the Saw-whets made up the bulk of our captures—as expected during a typical fall—this year’s real surprise was the unprecedented number of Barred Owls, all of them hatch-year birds. Whether these young Barreds were the product of a particularly successful breeding season or indicative of a broader movement or shift in behavior, we don’t yet know. But it’s the highest number of Barred Owls ever captured in Cape May’s 44-year owl banding history, and it has us paying close attention.
Maia, who was a staff member of New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Songbird Project during the fall of 2024, put in many of her off-hours volunteering at the Owl Project. here she is banding and measuring one of the Barred Owls. Steph Bartlett (taking the photo with her phone), who also worked on the Songbird Project by day, pulled many a long night with us banding owls in her "free time". This is just one example of how the critical mass of local research can have important synergistic effects on unrelated projects.
Here a Long-eared owl gets their "class photo" with measurements. these images allow us to revisit specific birds long after release to compare plumage variations and other interesting characteristics. Additionally, if a bird is recaptured, locally or at another stations, we have an opportunity to look at changes across time as well.
One of the biggest advancements in our project this year was the deployment of GPS transmitters on seven Northern Saw-whet Owls. These ultra-low power (ULP) GPS units collect location data at programmed intervals and upload it every few days via the cellular network. Despite the intermittent nature of the data, the picture we’ve begun to build is remarkable. Some tagged owls overwintered locally in Cape May, while others moved across the Delaware Bay, up into the Mid-Atlantic, and even as far north as Philadelphia. This tracking work has opened up new dimensions in our understanding of how these tiny forest owls use the landscape once they leave our nets.
One of the seven Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) fitted with the Flicker GPS ULP transmitter. These devices have the ability to be programmed with very conservative duty cycles, stretching out their tiny batteries for a year or more. Even though NSWO tend not to spend much time in open sun, the small solar panel provides the possibility of even a little recharge, which could extend the life of the unit even longer.
Michael Lanzone attaching a Flicker GPS ULP to a Northern Saw-whet Owl. Holding the owl is Dr. David Winkler, visiting from California.
Our recapture data added further insight. We recaptured 19 individual owls a total of 28 times, including one originally banded last season in Maryland. Some individuals remained in the area for weeks—up to 32 days—underscoring Cape May’s importance as a stopover site. For Northern Saw-whet Owls in particular, we calculated an average minimum stopover duration of about 11 days, reinforcing the notion that Cape May serves as critical migratory habitat.
We also continued our commitment to public engagement, offering a dozen informal owl demonstrations at The Nature Conservancy’s South Cape May Meadows Preserve. These impromptu events followed successful banding nights and drew more than 200 visitors, many of whom got their first up-close look at a wild owl. The enthusiasm and curiosity at these gatherings reminded us of the importance of sharing science with our community in real time.
Above are the locations of the seven deployed units as of the end of March. Stay tuned to learn more about where these birds end up as they continue north to the breeding grounds. For more maps, check out the link at the bottom of this post.
None of this would have been possible without the dedication of our incredible volunteer team. From setting up nets and extracting owls to taking measurements in the middle of the night and sharing insights with curious visitors, their energy and commitment were the backbone of our success. We’re also deeply grateful to The Nature Conservancy, the Cape May Point Science Center, and the many supporters—local and beyond—who helped make this work possible. All transmitters were purchased through contributions to our GoFundMe campaign and we are deeply grateful for the support of over 50 donors, including a very generous anonymous couple, who helped make our GPS tracking effort possible.
As spring is unfolding, we're seeing signs of northbound movement from our tagged owls. And while the transmitters will tell part of the story, we know that the full picture will continue to unfold with each season, each bird, and each night spent under the stars in Cape May.
If you're interested in reading the full report, you can find it here.
If you would like to support the Cape May Owl Project, Tax-deductible donations can be made via GoFundMe here.