Every fall, Indiana’s woodlands become a secret highway for one of North America’s most elusive raptors, the Northern Saw-whet Owl. At barely the size of a soda can, this fierce little owl silently migrates under cover of night, revealing itself only to those who know where (and how) to look.
Indiana Audubon’s Project Owlnet brings together science, conservation, and community to uncover the mysteries of this tiny predator’s journey. Operating from two long-term banding stations at the Indiana Dunes and Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary, our team tracks and studies saw-whet migration across the region. Using standardized methods aligned with the national Project Owlnet network, we contribute critical data to better understand population trends, migration timing, and long-term shifts linked to climate and habitat change
Northern Saw-whet Owls are common, but not commonly seen. Their secretive nature makes them difficult to track through traditional surveys like the Breeding Bird Survey or Christmas Bird Count. As a result, they often go unnoticed in conservation planning, despite their sensitivity to habitat shifts and forest fragmentation. In Indiana, our research focuses on fall migration, with some emerging work on spring movement. Recent weather-driven fluctuations and increasing MOTUS tower detections hint that we still have a lot to learn. That’s where Project Owlnet comes in.
With over a decade of migration data, hundreds of owls banded, and cutting-edge MOTUS tracking, Project Owlnet is helping us understand how these elusive birds move, where they go, and why it matters for forest conservation across the region.
