I guess text doesn't forward--Sorry. The picture was taken at the
Chillicothe Banding station last night.

Dave

>Hi all! We heard some strange saw-whet vocalizations shortly after we set up
>last night and I was sure we would have one on the 1st run but no luck. We
>had to wait until our 10:30 run to catch a saw-whet. She was an
>After-hatch-year female. We've about given up on staying all night (sleep is
>good) so we are usually closing by 11:30 now. We are planning on netting
>again on Wednesday night.
>
>I've attached a pic in black light. Someone figured out that it is much
>easier to age these guys under black light. The newer, less worn the feather
>the more pink. Porphyrin is produced in the owls liver and is a component of
>some of the feathers. While it may be hard to see in the pic, this gal had
>3 generations of feathers in the primaries and secondaries. The bright pink
>feathers were just replaced this fall. The lighter pink feathers were
>replaced last year and there are a few with basically no pink. We have to be
>careful when deciding age of the tertials, since they are more exposed, they
>lose the pink coloration faster and look more worn than other same age
>feathers.
>
>ENJOY!