Many of you have already visited the saw-whet owl banding station at Williams College’s Hopkins Forest. Unfortunately, we won’t have the opportunity to visit the banding site this year. Instead, I’ll describe the methods for capturing and banding these birds.
Here is the data collected by the banding station throughout its existence:
NSWO – captures 2001-2015.xlsxPreview the document
NSWO – net checks 2001-2015.xlsxPreview the document
NSWO – all data 2016.xlsxPreview the document
2017 owl data.xlsxPreview the document
2018data.xlsxPreview the document
2019data.xlsxPreview the document
In this lab activity you will put some of your new statistics skills to work to answer a research question using this historical data.
You will again get practice writing up a formal lab report.
Background
Saw-whet owl
The northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) is a small owl native to North America. Saw-whet owls primarily eat small mammals, and the changing availability of these food resources drives saw-whet owls to migrate southwards in the winter. These annual movements are irruptive, with especially large saw-whet owl migrations occurring approximately every four years. In eastern North America, the saw-whet owl’s permanent range includes forested habitat on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, and the wintering range extends south to the Mid-Atlantic.
Beginning in 1994, researchers studying saw whet owls coordinated their efforts through a project called “Project Owlnet”, which comprises a network of owl banding stations with standardized protocols. One of these banding stations is located in Williams College’s Hopkins Forest.
Instructions
You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the data, and then coming up with a question that you can investigate using the data collected at the Hopkins Forest banding station. The Weidensaul and Whalen papers we read and discuss in class may also inspire some ideas for focusing your report.
Write-Up
All of the Hopkins Forest saw-whet owl data will be posted on this Canvas assignment page.
Please write a formal lab report for this activity following the formal lab write-up instructions.
Describe your research question and the methods that were used to collect the data. You should use graphs and/or tables to clearly and succinctly present the appropriate data in your results section, and discuss your findings and implications of your results in your discussion.