The public owl nights at Indiana Dunes State Park close on November 15, 2026. That date matches the point where, by the banding station's own math, roughly nine of every ten migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls have already gone past. The rest trickle through after that, and the same study stretches the full migration window to December 4. Indiana Audubon's Project Owlnet series is called Saw-whets & S'mores, and it runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at the park's Duneside Shelter. The six November nights left are November 6, 7 and 8, then November 13, 14 and 15, each from 7 to 10 p.m. The station's long-run average puts the middle of the migration on November 1, so every remaining night falls on the downslope of the run. Choosing which weekend to go is the real decision.
Dune Acres' town website says the town is bounded by Indiana Dunes National Park. The national park in turn surrounds the state park on three sides, according to the Indiana DNR's park map. That puts the owl nets in the same protected shoreline woods that start at the town line.
The Station's Numbers Draw the Curve
Brad Bumgardner, now Indiana Audubon's executive director, started banding at the Indiana Dunes station in fall 2009 with a crew of banding volunteers. In 2016 the Indiana Audubon Quarterly analyzed the first seven seasons, 2009 through 2015. It found the captures followed a normal curve centered between October 31 and November 1, with a standard deviation of 11.1 days. Here is how the 2026 public calendar sits on that curve:
| Point on the 2009–2015 migration curve | Date | 2026 program calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Earliest capture on record, 48 hours after a strong cold front | October 2 | Before the program opens |
| First 10% of migrants arrive | October 17 | Public nights begin October 16 |
| Average migration date | November 1 | The October 30–November 1 weekend |
| Last 10% of migrants arrive | November 15 | Final public night, November 15 |
| Latest capture on record | November 22 | After the program closes |
These are historical averages from the station's early years, and any single season can shift with the weather. The earliest capture shows how much fronts matter. It came two days after a particularly strong cold front moved through. On those averages, November 6 through 8 falls about half a standard deviation past the midpoint, with a solid share of the run still to come. November 13 through 15 falls in the thin tail. Indiana Audubon is direct about the odds. Captures are never guaranteed, some nights the nets stay empty, and many guests sign up for more than one night to improve their chances.
Why the Shoreline Catches Owls That Inland Woods See Later
Indiana Audubon says most saw-whet migration clusters along the Great Lakes shoreline, which is why the Dunes station reliably catches owls every year. The species is Indiana's smallest owl. It breeds in Canada and the Upper Midwest and moves south each fall. A regional field study in the Quarterly describes owls crossing Lake Michigan and some following its shoreline. That puts the wooded dune ridges just inland of the beach directly under their route.
Earlier continent-wide modeling built on 85,000 banding records predicted an average banding date of October 27 to 31 for the Indiana Dunes. For an area just thirty kilometers south of the Lake Michigan shoreline, the same model predicted November 1 to 6. In other words, the lakeshore is expected to see the owls before woods a short drive south do. The Dunes station's measured average of November 1 came in a few days later than that prediction. Indiana Audubon says the owls' movement deeper into Indiana isn't well documented, and that its second station, at Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary about 150 miles southeast, is meant to help fill in that part of the story.
Bands show where these birds travel. In the station's first seasons it caught owls that had been banded in Wisconsin and Michigan. A female banded at the Dunes in November 2009 was caught again in October 2010 at Isle au Haut, Maine, 947 miles away. Project Owlnet now links more than 100 banding stations across North America. Every owl caught is weighed, measured and fitted with a small numbered leg band before release, so one capture at the Duneside Shelter becomes a data point in a network that tracks migration timing and population trends.
Recent Seasons Have Run Larger Than the Early Ones
From 2009 through 2015, yearly totals at the Dunes ranged from as few as 16 owls to a high of 57 in 2015. The station logged 231 capture records over those seven years, including recaptures. In 2024 the station banded 93 owls, well above any of those early seasons. Indiana Audubon said that brought the station's 16-year total past 800. The Quarterly attributes the swings between years to weather, banding effort and the total number of birds migrating.
The early data also shows which owls the nets tend to catch. Of the 231 records from 2009 to 2015, 175, or 75.6%, were female, 16 were male and 39 were of unknown sex. Hatch-year birds made up 59.3%, a share that changed with breeding success up north. Statistically, then, the owl in a bander's hands on a November night at the shelter is most likely a female, and most likely one born that same year.
What an Evening at the Duneside Shelter Looks Like
The registration page puts the program at the Duneside Shelter, Indiana Dunes State Park, 1600 N 25 E, Chesterton. After entering the park, visitors follow signs past Wilson Shelter. An evening runs in this order:
- Registration first. Indiana Audubon says advance registration is required, at dunesolwnet2026.eventbrite.com.
- Park entry at the gate. The program costs nothing, but park entry is paid. The Indiana DNR's current gate fee is $7 for a noncommercial vehicle with Indiana plates and $20 for one with out-of-state plates.
- Hourly net checks. The banding team checks the nets once an hour, and guests watch any captured owls get banded. Only trained, permitted banders handle the birds.
- S'mores between checks. Guests roast s'mores at an outdoor fire by the shelter. Friends of Indiana Dunes supplies the s'mores every night of the series.
- Weather calls. Rain, high wind or other poor conditions can cancel a night, and registered guests are notified. The Eventbrite page says Indiana Audubon will help reschedule, pending availability.
Questions can go to the State Park Nature Center at 219-926-1390. Bumgardner explained the decision to drop the program fee in Indiana Audubon's season announcement:
"There's something pretty special about seeing one of these tiny owls up close and then watching it disappear back into the night. By making our Saw-whets and S'mores programs free, we hope more families can experience that moment while learning how this research helps us understand their migration."
For a closer look, the Behind the Scenes sessions let small groups help set up nets and join the banding team on its hourly checks. They run Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays through November 8. The cost is $55.20 for adults and $38.19 for youth ages 8 to 17, and park entry is not included. These sessions end a week before the public nights do, which again places the most hands-on access closer to the middle of the run.
Two More Dates on the Same Calendar
On Saturday, November 14, the same weekend as the last public banding nights, Humane Indiana holds its Festival of Owls. It runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Porter County Expo Center, 215 E. Division Rd., Valparaiso. Tickets are $15 for ages 13 to 64, $10 for ages 4 to 12 and 65 and up, and free for children 3 and under. The lineup ties back to the lakeshore station. Cookie Ferguson of Indiana Dunes National Park is presenting on Project Owlnet, and Bumgardner is running an owl-calling contest. Nicole Harmon brings live owl presentations, Jim Vincent covers wildlife photography, and authors Carrie Steinweg and Matthew Cordell round out the program. Someone could watch a bander work at the Duneside Shelter on Friday the 13th and hear the program explained in Valparaiso the next morning.
Earlier in the month, Indiana Dunes National Park marks its 60th birthday on Thursday, November 5. From 2 to 3 p.m. at the Paul H. Douglas Trail in Gary, the park screens Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability, a film about the fight over the dunes that produced the country's first urban national park, and serves celebratory cake. The protected land that film is about is also why owls crossing this shore still find woods to land in.
Mark Hull grew up in Dune Acres and has spent decades building and selling homes in the dune woods these owls pass over every November. If an evening at the Duneside Shelter has you curious about the houses tucked into the shoreline forest next door, Mark Hull can show you how they are built and what keeping them up involves. Book a complimentary consultation.
