A tiny, cuddly owl has been making a big flap at Indiana Dunes State Park.
The Northern Saw-Whet Owl, which is about the size of a robin and weighs about three or four ounces, migrates across the upper Midwest and winters in the lower Midwest. The one drawing countless "oohs" and "aahs" from hundreds of visitors to the Indiana State Park Nature Center is part of the eight-year Project Owlnet, in which environmental groups across the nation band and track the birds.
Outside of the center on a balmy November night, barred owls and other birds continued hooting and tooting, while the brown, grey and white Saw-Whet Owl clicked its beak repeatedly, apparently not enjoying the two dozen onlookers staring at her.
"We're studying owls in school, and I just love the little owls," squealed an excited 8-year-old. "They're so cute."
The Saw-Whet Owls migrate from Canada in mid-October through mid-November, with the peak season in the first few days of this month, said Brad Bumgardner, interpretive naturalist with the state park and a birder.
The owls "are highly sought after," with birders lucky to see 15 a year in Northwest Indiana, he said. "It's really hard to find this bird."
But with the help of volunteers, the state park is seeing a banner year in capturing and banding Saw-Whet Owls for tracking, he said. They and state park employees working on their own time set up 18-foot-long nets in "X" formations 3 to 4 miles in the park.
Next, they play Saw-Whet Owl calls on speaker systems, drawing the roving raptors from a thousand or more feet in the air down into the nets. Volunteers then wrap the birds in cloth bags and transport them to the nature center to be weighed, photographed and banded to study their migration patterns.
Volunteers also shine a black light on the birds' feathers to help determine their ages.
The project is supported by donations, some of which goes to replace the $300 nets that are prone to damage from flying squirrels chewing through them, Bumgardner said. Money is raised by allowing guests to help with the netting and catching for a fee, and people also can "adopt" the owls for $25 and get information on an individual bird's migration patterns, he said.
Volunteers also can provide teachers with the Indiana Dunes Owl Curriculum, a series of charts, worksheets and more about the different species of owls in the state park.
Catching and tracking saw-whet owls is more than a hobby, said Sarah Barnes, environmental education and land protection specialist with the Shirley Heinze Land Trust and a volunteer with the owl project.
"I think birds are really a major player in bringing awareness of environmental issues to the general public, especially the owls, because they're so cute and small," she said. "Whatever we learn from them, if people care about the owls, then they may care about their habitat, too."
About 2,200 people get text message alerts about the project, letting them know if the nets will be set up and, if any birds are caught, if there will be banding at the park on specific nights.