A Series of Fortunate Events

Night Owl Night, by Susan Edwards Richmond, Illustrated by Maribel Lechuga

I have set myself a challenge to write 8 blog posts this month. This amounts to 8 times more than my current running average*. I have a couple of reasons, which are conspiring to be extremely complimentary.

First, I am a member of the Belleville chapter of Toastmasters, working through Level 4 of “Presentation Mastery”. For my second of three Level 4 projects, I have chosen to “Write a Compelling Blog” which requires me to write 8 blog posts in a month (I’ll leave it to you to judge the ‘compelling’ part). The only time I’ve ever come close to 8 posts in a month has been when we’ve been travelling, and as we have no vacation travel plans in the foreseeable future, I need another angle.

The angle: I am on the Board of Directors of the Bird Observatory where I also volunteer during banding season, and I have been invited to be interviewed by the County radio station in late November to recommend several books about birding that might make fun Christmas gifts. I’ll be recommending a total of 7 books and providing a synopsis of each. Since 7 is awfully close to 8, I decided to write a separate post about each of the books which will a) help prepare me for the interview and b) check several boxes on my Toastmasters project. Win Win!! Or, Lazy Lazy!! You pick.

Night Owl Night is the first of my book recommendations, a beautifully illustrated children’s book that explains the process of and science for banding Northern Saw-whet Owls. When I stumbled across this book in our local bookstore (Books & Company) I was amazed!

I wrote about bird banding back in March, and you can read about it here if you like. Owl banding is very similar except that it’s colder and darker because we band at night. The process of owl banding is EXACTLY how this book describes it. Out of curiosity, I did a bit of research and it turns out the author is a birder, naturalist, and teacher who lives in Massachusetts. Fun fact: Massachusetts is where one of our recaptured adopted owls showed up. So many worlds colliding!

The story in this book focusses on a young girl who wants to be taken out owl banding by her scientist mother. This night, “Night Owl Night”, is her first time being allowed to join her mother as she bands Saw-whet owls. It explains the process of capturing owls in the mist nets, banding them, taking their measurements, and releasing them. It also gives a bit of extra detail on 4 different species of owls at the end of the story: Eastern Screech owls, Barred owls, Great Horned owls, and of course, Northern Saw-whets.

Then we hear a swish through the darkness. A blur. The second net is suddenly alive!

Gently, Mama unwraps a feathery ball. My heart twists and thumps. A saw-whet owl. Tiny. Perfect. We carry it back to the cabin.

In the cabin, as Mama holds the owl securely in her hands, it ruffles its feathers and claps its bill. “It’s okay, little one,” I whisper. “You’re safe with us.” When the owl hears my words, its bill grows still. It’s feathers relax. “You have a way with owls, Sova,” Mama says. My breath catches as we measure and weigh it. I gaze at the heart-shaped face, at the speckles on the belly.

Mama fans out one of the owl’s wings, then shines a special black light on the underside of its feathers. “See the pinkish glow?” she says. “That means this owl hasn’t replaced any feathers yet. It’s young. This is its first migration.”

“Like me,” I say. “It’s my first owl migration, too.”

* if you are one of my five followers then I apologize in advance for the many alerts you are going to receive this month