Cara J Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 ©USDA Wildlife Services Recently, a Wildlife Services biologist captured a snowy owl at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. When released, the owl carried a USGS leg band and was the first participant in a three-year research study in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Lab. Red-tailed hawks have shown no problems when outfitted with lightweight patagial wing tags, which makes identification of hawks returning to the airport easy for airport biologists. USGS, however, doesn’t have sufficient information on how patagial tags would impact snowy owls. Wildlife Services biologists at Michigan and Illinois airports come into regular contact with wintering snowy owls. They will work with National Wildlife Research Center research wildlife biologist Dr. Brian Washburn in partnership with USGS to evaluate three auxiliary marking techniques for ease of identification and impact on the owls. ©USDA Wildlife Services Birds in the study will be marked in one of three ways: just a federal leg band; a band and marking with nontoxic paint; or a band and two patagial wing tags (white with a black letter and number). Over three years, any returning owls that are recaptured will undergo a physical examination to determine any impact of the [...] Read more: http://wildlife.org/biologists-to-test-impact-of-auxiliary-markings-on-snowy-owl/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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