The Horatio Colony Nature Preserve: A 415 acre Nature Preserve with 3 ½ miles of hiking trails accessing unspoiled acres of woodlands, streams, and upland swamps. Offering exhibits, tours, lectures, and special programs about the history of the Colony family and the social and natural history of the area.

Two years running (2008-2009), The Horatio Colony Nature Preserve has hosted the Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding Project. The project has been developed and executed by Christine Volonte, MS Candidate, Conservation Biology, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England.

Horatio Colony Nature Preserve - 11/12/08
Photo by Jennifer Twohig

The nature preserve was one of four sites in Cheshire County. The other sites included Beech Hill Nature Preserve, also in Keene; Davis Hill, Pisgah State Park in Hinsdale; and Cheshire County Nature Trail in Westmoreland.

This program enabled the region to participate in Project Owlnet, a cooperative network of bird banding stations in the US and Canada dedicated to increasing the data and collective knowledge of owl migration, primarily that of Northern Saw-whet Owls (www.projectowlnet.org/intro.htm).

The project was conducted in collaboration with the Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory. All data was be submitted to the North American Bird Banding Program, jointly administered by the United States Department of the Interior and the Canadian Wildlife Service www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/

The project goal was to collect data on Saw-whet owls to demonstrate that they migrate through south west New Hampshire during fall.

Female and male Northern Saw Whet Owls. Females average larger; in this case the female weighed 92 g. and the male weighed 75 g.
Photo by John Parsons

Horatio Colony Nature Preserve 11/12/08
This owl was a same-season recapture. originally banded at Horatio Colony
on 11/07/07 and recaptured there on 11/12/08. Band # 1014-13253

Bird banding is controlled under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and requires a federal banding permit in the United States. Some states also require a permit. Legally, only federally approved bands may be placed on birds.

Banding sites were operated from the end of September (peak of migration takes place in October) to late November. Every effort was made to avoid any harm to the birds. Nets were checked every half hour and they were tied up when no one was on site, to avoid birds being caught in unattended nets. The handlers are trained in the careful, gentle handing of each bird. Captured birds were weighed, examined and banded, then released immediately.

The numbers of Northern Saw-whet Owls documented by the project thus far (more than 300 individual owls over two seasons) are sufficient to encourage further study of the species in the region.

The first-year project banded 172 Northern Saw-whet owls and netted 6 that were originally banded at other stations.

In its second year, the banding project netted 132 individual owls, including 2 owls previously banded by another banding station.During its second year, the project also netted 1 owl that had been previously banded in Cheshire County, right here at Horatio Colony. Originally banded on September 30, 2008, this female owl returned to the nature preserve in 2009, where it was recaptured on November 4, 400 days after its original capture.