Abstract
Abstract We used information compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Laboratory to identify sex-specific trends in annual Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) movement during autumn migration across eastern North America. The study included 40 710 individuals with assigned sex, 14% of which were assigned male and 86% were assigned female. Males were disproportionately banded at higher latitudes, and regional differences existed in sex ratios of owls at different banding stations, suggesting sex-specific migration patterns exist in this species. We used DNA analysis of 592 saw-whet owls caught in eastern New York to evaluate the accuracy of the morphometric methods used by banders to sex the majority of saw-whet owls reported in the Bird Banding Laboratory archives. Eighty-five percent of these owls could be sexed morphometrically and 97% of the morphometric assignments were congruent with genetic analysis. However, the current morphometric method disproportionately assigned males to the...
Published Version
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