2010
Consortium
 

First Year Owl Recovered Alive in Lompoc
Look for Black Band BO2
 

Report a banded  bird to Bird Banding Laboratory Read  An Issue of BOPS Blurb!

The following details a live recovery of a Davis burrowing owl, named BG, banded, black # BO2, on July 26, 2007 at Wildhorse golf course and recover alive three months later on October  in urban Lompoc!

Barry Garrison of California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) spearheaded a burrowing owl banding effort. Under his tutelage, Cristina Buss continued banding owls at the golf course. Cristina said BO2 was “barely fledged” when she placed the black band.

On October 26, Julie Howar sent an email to her contacts trying to find out who banded BO2 and where. She wrote: “I volunteer for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.  I received a burrowing owl from Animal Control (SB county, Lompoc office) today, 10/26/07.  It was found in downtown Lompoc, behind the local Domino's pizza shop.  It appeared to have no injuries or illnesses, was not emaciated, and was perhaps simply disoriented from being in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

Julie submitted the following information to the Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL)
Right Leg:  Federal 934-32002
Left Leg:  Color band, black w/ white writing, B over 02.  I think this band was plastic, and it was buttend (as opposed to a band closed with grommets),
BBL responded that they had no record of the band numbers. Julie suspected the owl must have been banded recently.

Julie attended a conference where, by coincidence, Cristina Buss was presenting. Julie asked fellow conference attendee, John who referred Julie to Cristina. When Cristina got home, she checked her band list and discovered she had banded the owl recovered in Lompoc.

BOPS contacted Julie and asked for more details of the recovery. Julie said Santa Barbara Animal Control officer Cheryl Maus picked up BO2 behind Dominos Pizza.

Cheryl was called by Dominos Pizza Manager, Vicky Coaly.

After Julie recovered BO2 she released it. “I  took the bird out to Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 8 miles west of Lompoc, and released it near Wall Beach.  It was quite feisty and flew well, eventually disappearing into the scrub.”

So all of you who have been involved in studying bird migration and banding birds know how exciting it is to have a live recovery! The next thing we MUST know is…..Will BO2 come back to Davis?/

When you see burrowing owls (or any other birds) please notice if it is banded and report to the
Bird Banding Laboratory

Julie, Cheryl, and Vicky Cheryl found BG behind this rock at Domino’s Pizza in downtown Lompoc Julie released BG at Vandenberg Air Force Base