Intermountain Bird Observatory

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Banding Stations

We operate two raptor banding stations each Fall. Our Lucky Peak station is open for visitors (visit information: https://www.boisestate.edu/ibo/science/lucky/), whereas our Boise Peak station is not.

Year-to-date Results

Total banded raptors by species from IBO’s Boise Peak and Lucky Peak banding stations combined. Rank represents the current year rank out of a total of 34 years (counting 2026).
Species Boise.Peak Lucky.Peak Total.2026 Rank Tied Longterm.Season.Average
SSHA Sharp-shinned Hawk 139 137 276 33 536.39
COHA Cooper’s Hawk 82 143 225 16 Tied 208.82
NSWO Northern Saw-whet Owl 0 191 191 14 315.00
AMKE American Kestrel 24 53 77 31 145.61
FLOW Flammulated Owl 0 36 36 13 Tied 38.00
RTHA Red-tailed Hawk 17 19 36 13 34.15
MERL Merlin 6 6 12 29 Tied 23.82
NOHA Northern Harrier 4 3 7 7 Tied 4.06
AGOS American Goshawk 3 2 5 34 20.31
LEOW Long-eared Owl 0 4 4 3 1.00
PEFA Peregrine Falcon 2 1 3 17 Tied 3.21
GOEA Golden Eagle 1 1 2 5 Tied 1.15
BAOW Barred Owl 0 0 0 2 Tied 0.03
BOOW Boreal Owl 0 0 0 3 Tied 0.09
BWHA Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 10 Tied 0.42
CORA Common Raven 0 0 0 2 Tied 0.00
FEHA Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 4 Tied 0.09
GHOW Great Horned Owl 0 0 0 3 Tied 0.06
GYRF Gyrfalcon 0 0 0 2 Tied 0.03
NSHR Northern Shrike 0 0 0 4 Tied 0.09
PRFA Prairie Falcon 0 0 0 31 Tied 3.48
RLHA Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 2 Tied 0.03
RSHA Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 3 0.06
SWHA Swainson’s Hawk 0 0 0 10 Tied 0.27
WESO Western Screech-owl 0 0 0 4 Tied 0.03
TOT Total 278 596 874 24 1001.80

Total by year and by species

Total banded raptors by species by year from IBO’s Boise Peak and Lucky Peak banding stations combined. Rank represents the current year rank out of a total of 33 years (counting 2025). Note, the first three years rank lower as there the trapping protocol varied (different sites, different, hours, etc.). Also, starting in 2014, we shifted the starting date 10 days earlier.
Years AGOS AMKE BAOW BOOW BWHA COHA CORA FEHA FLOW GHOW GOEA GYRF LEOW MERL NOHA NSHR NSWO PEFA PRFA RLHA RSHA RTHA SSHA SWHA WESO TotalByYear YearRank
1993 20 23 0 0 0 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 13 136 0 0 243 33
1994 34 75 0 0 0 155 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4 0 0 1 6 0 0 35 431 0 0 753 29
1995 26 24 0 0 1 103 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 9 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 309 0 0 504 32
1996 33 81 0 0 0 208 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 19 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 39 423 1 0 811 26
1997 16 132 0 0 0 200 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 21 13 0 0 2 3 0 0 58 527 1 0 976 18
1998 36 174 0 0 0 286 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 20 1 1 0 2 4 0 0 18 804 0 0 1346 3
1999 24 249 0 0 0 222 0 0 49 0 4 0 0 16 9 0 845 1 4 0 1 52 583 1 0 1166 9
2000 38 151 0 2 0 134 0 0 7 0 1 0 0 12 3 0 137 1 3 0 0 24 433 0 0 800 27
2001 9 258 0 2 0 228 0 1 17 0 2 0 1 14 6 0 159 2 4 0 0 38 576 0 0 1138 11
2002 31 340 0 0 0 273 0 0 12 0 3 0 0 26 6 0 67 1 5 0 0 54 615 0 0 1354 2
2003 23 360 0 0 1 216 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 43 2 0 163 4 4 0 0 27 659 0 0 1339 4
2004 37 213 0 0 0 201 0 0 15 0 1 0 0 16 0 0 60 7 5 1 0 19 525 0 0 1025 16
2005 13 116 0 0 0 249 0 0 10 0 1 0 0 15 1 0 65 4 2 0 0 9 452 0 0 862 24
2006 14 114 0 0 0 162 0 0 2 0 4 0 0 27 5 0 105 4 3 0 0 28 469 0 0 830 25
2007 39 94 0 0 0 202 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 13 5 0 121 1 1 0 0 45 523 0 0 924 23
2008 6 108 0 0 3 124 0 0 62 0 1 1 2 18 2 0 178 3 0 0 0 24 353 0 0 643 31
2009 10 184 0 0 1 276 0 0 27 0 1 0 2 44 0 0 151 6 2 0 0 26 673 0 0 1223 6
2010 29 117 0 0 0 225 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 33 0 0 93 4 4 0 0 9 536 1 0 958 20
2011 17 121 0 0 0 174 0 0 43 0 1 0 0 23 0 1 551 2 2 0 0 13 670 0 0 1023 17
2012 19 125 0 0 0 258 0 0 41 0 0 0 3 18 0 0 550 1 3 0 0 28 698 1 0 1151 10
2013 17 167 0 0 1 178 0 0 98 0 1 0 1 18 12 0 271 5 2 0 0 25 526 0 0 952 21
2014 12 217 0 0 0 275 0 0 38 0 2 0 0 48 2 0 336 4 7 0 0 34 662 0 1 1263 5
2015 10 152 0 0 0 270 0 0 59 0 0 0 15 35 2 0 749 3 6 0 0 24 595 1 0 1098 12
2016 17 129 0 0 2 363 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 40 7 0 281 3 3 0 0 25 865 1 0 1455 1
2017 24 145 0 1 2 331 0 0 37 0 0 0 1 41 6 0 493 4 7 0 0 30 605 0 0 1195 7
2018 10 149 0 0 0 269 0 0 62 0 0 0 0 29 1 0 307 7 8 0 0 49 510 1 0 1033 15
2019 26 102 0 1 1 274 0 0 43 0 0 0 0 35 15 0 560 6 3 0 0 34 573 0 0 1069 13
2020 12 115 0 0 0 269 0 1 45 0 2 0 1 22 2 0 491 6 7 0 0 70 670 0 0 1176 8
2021 17 85 0 0 2 275 0 0 88 0 2 0 0 19 10 0 363 4 3 0 1 101 520 1 1 1040 14
2022 12 112 0 0 0 240 0 0 33 1 2 0 1 17 1 1 174 4 6 0 0 56 512 0 0 962 19
2023 11 158 0 0 0 216 0 0 67 0 1 0 0 45 2 0 610 5 2 0 0 38 473 0 0 951 22
2024 8 106 0 0 0 175 1 0 66 0 3 0 6 23 0 0 274 5 0 0 0 16 456 0 0 793 28
2025 7 109 1 0 0 146 0 0 36 1 0 0 0 9 12 0 313 2 2 0 0 39 339 0 1 665 30
Grand Total 657 4805 1 6 14 7221 1 3 947 2 38 1 27 786 134 3 7884 106 115 1 2 1127 17701 9 3 32720
AveragePerYear 20.31 145.61 0.03 0.18 0.42 218.82 0 0.09 35 0.06 1.15 0.03 1 23.82 4.06 0.09 292 3.21 3.48 0.03 0.06 34.15 536.39 0.27 0.09 991.52
2026 5 77 0 0 0 225 0 0 36 0 2 0 4 12 7 0 191 3 0 0 0 36 276 0 874 0
2026 Rank 34 31 2 3 10 16 2 4 13 3 5 2 3 29 7 4 14 17 31 2 3 13 33 10 24 4
2026 Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied Tied

Graphs for Comparison to Previous Years