I have a new favorite bird: the northern saw-whet owl. Until last week, I had never seen one in the wild. But last week, Joey Herron called to invite me to his banding station at Valley Falls State Park, just east of Fairmont, W.Va..

"That storm on the East Coast," he said, "is keeping birds inland, so the next two nights should be productive."

I arrived well after dark at about 7:45, and soon thereafter we walked a short distance up a trail to open the mist nets. After unfurling the nets and starting the audio lure of saw-whet song, we went back to Herron's banding shed.

"We'll wait about 30 minutes before making our first net check," he said.

Herron has been banding birds for many years, and after seeing a saw-whet owl in Canada he wondered if he might be able to catch and band migrating saw-whet owls. He knew there were quite a few saw-whet banders in the Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic states, so decided to give it a try.

In the fall of 2005, he caught and banded a disappointing total of seven saw-whets. The following year his total fell to three. But in 2007, he caught 49 owls, and last fall he caught 35. Going into this evening his 2009 total stood at 27.

Until banders began studying these small owls, little was known of their migratory habits. Herron has captured previously banded birds from Canada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Over the next two hours we captured five saw-whet owls, and Herron caught two more after I left. Their bright yellow irises gleamed in the glow of Herron's head lamp.

After extricating the owls from the net, Herron weighed, measured and photographed them. Then we took them outside and released them by placing them on our open palms. Each sat quietly for at least 30 seconds before flying off to a nearby tree.

As Herron worked, he wore a constant grin.

"Checking these nets is like Christmas morning -- I never know what I'm going to find," he said.

Though saw-whets are small owls that easily fit into the palm of a hand, they are ferocious predators. They primarily eat deer mice and voles, and it may be that their migration is influenced by the availability of rodents.

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