• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Allerton

Park & Retreat Center

  • Reserve
    • Weddings
      • Wedding Spaces
      • Lodging
      • Request for Information
      • Catering
      • Testimonials
    • Meetings & Retreats
      • Meeting Spaces
      • Request for Information
      • Lodging
      • Catering
      • Team-building/Breakout Activities
    • Special Occasions
      • Event Spaces
      • Lodging
      • Catering
      • REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
    • Lodging
      • Weekend Wind Downs
    • The Dome
  • visit
    • Event Calendar
    • Park FAQs
    • Plan Your Visit
      • Park Maps
      • Public Tours & Hikes
      • Lodging
      • Weekend Wind Downs
      • Area Attractions
    • McCraw Family Visitor Center
    • Camp Lost Garden
    • Greenhouse Café
    • Accessibility
    • Concert Series
      • Concert Series FAQs
    • Youth Programs
      • Summer Day Camp 2025
    • Food + Drink
      • Supper Club 2025
  • THE FARMS
    • About
      • Farms Spaces
    • Spring 2025 Session
    • Summer 2025 Session
    • Folk Talk
    • THE FARMS FAQ
    • Instructor application
  • discover
    • About
    • The History
      • Allerton Family
      • Robert Allerton
      • Allerton Park
        • Since 1946
    • The Gardens
      • Formal Gardens Map
      • Public Tours & Hikes
      • Classes & Workshops
      • Bloom Calendar
    • Natural Areas
      • Trail Map
      • Public Tours & Hikes
      • Birding
      • Research
      • Management
    • Mental Landscapes Map
    • Artwork
      • Map
    • The Future
      • Master Plan
      • Artisan Village
      • The Wandering Woods
    • Park Blog
    • Diversity, Inclusion, and Access
    • Sustainability
  • engage
    • Donate
      • ALL IN for Allerton
      • Building the Legacy
      • Memorial & Dedicatory Gifts
      • Sponsorship Opportunities
        • Holidays 2024: Sponsorship Opportunities
      • Wish List
    • VOLUNTEER
      • Volunteer News
      • Allerton Park Photography Group
    • SHOP
    • Employment Opportunities
    • In-Residence
      • Artist-in-Residence Program
      • Naturalist-in-Residence Program
      • Past Residents
  • connect
    • CONTACT
    • Since 1946
    • ENEWS
      • enews archive
    • Allerton in the News
    • Staff
      • Staff Recommendations

Northern Saw-Whet Owl Survey

December 1, 2021 by Steve Hoffman

Last month, our Natural Areas staff helped University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign biologists and Illinois Natural History Survey conduct a Northern Saw-Whet Owl survey. They were fortunate to net two and attached a numbered identification band to their legs that will allow other researchers who capture them to identify where these migratory owls have been. Owls are weighed, measured, sexed and aged and then quickly released. The two Allerton visitors were both females – one hatched in 2021 and one hatched in 2020.

Biologist Michael Avara from the University of Illinois Avian Lab removes a White-Throated Sparrow from the mist net, which are used to catch birds for research purposes. The nets are a very fine mesh almost invisible when expanded.

Owls are fitted with a light-weight aluminum band. In the event they are recaptured valuable migration data can be collected.

Biologists take a variety of measurements to help determine the sex, age and health of the owls.

Owls incorporate pigments known as porphyrins in their feathers. These pigments fluoresce under UV light but degrade over time. This degrading process helps the biologists determine which feathers are new and which are old. This technique is used to age the owls. This owl was hatched in 2020.

Northern Saw-Whet Owl

Northern Saw-Whet Owl caught near the Allerton Mansion poses near a photo of the Mansion.

 

Learn more about research going on in Allerton’s Natural Areas here.

Filed Under: Park Blog

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TripAdvisor
  • Linkedin

515 Old Timber Road

Monticello, Illinois 61856

217 333 3287

allertoninfo@illinois.edu

CONNECT

  • Contact
  • eNews Archive
  • Staff
  • Photog Credits

Sign up for Allerton news

Click to Subscribe


University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign

Copyright © 2025 · allerton on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in