[Birdtalk] On the prowl for Boreal Owl

[Tim Avery]

Another weekend and of course another adventure.   Thankfully this was only a 10
hour adventure, however those 10 hours were from 5:30 pm Saturday night, till
3:30 am Sunday morning (check the time this email was delivered and you will
see this isn’t a joke).  This weekend wasn’t used for a cross state drive for a
rare bird, or to get to warm weather, no, this Saturday night was used to look
for Boreal Owl in northern Utah


Colby Neuman joined me and we headed to Cache County to check out several
locations of past sightings of the species as well as to do some exploratory
work in hopes of scaring up one of these awesome little owls.  Our first stop
for owls was the road to Tony Grove, which was passable for 3 of the 7 miles. 
We stopped when the snow covered the road and tried for Boreal with no luck. 
Also kind of strange was no response from Saw-whet while Colby was whistling.

Next we headed Hell’s Canyon, just west of Beaver Mountain Ski Resort.  We
parked the car where the first big drift of snow crossed the road and walked a
little over a mile up the road in the dark.  No Boreal Owl’s and even stranger,
no Great Horned and not a single peep from a Saw-whet


Back on highway 89 heading towards Beaver Mountain we stopped to try for Boreal
right off the highway as the habitat looked great.  No Boreal again, but this
time a Saw-whet began singing in reply to the Boreal song.  We had another
singing Saw-whet along this road, before turning off to go to Beaver Mountain. 
Where the road splits we had a Great Horned Owl hooting away, dashing hopes for
any smaller owls in what looked like more good habitat.

We drove up to the ski resort, which looked more like a muddy hill.  We played
the tape from the parking lot, and after the first round of toots (about 25
seconds long), we had two strange calls from the trees about 70 yards away.  I
thought it sounded Pygmy-ish, but Colby  thought it was something different and
after talking about  it we agreed it was something neither of us had heard
before.  We decided to head up onto the mountain to get to some good habitat on
the north sided of the resort.  About half-way up the slope we stopped and
played the tape again.  At this point a small owl flew into a conifer about 20
feet from me, making enough noise to warrant my flashlight shining at it.  The
tiny owl wasted no time taking flight, and after fluttering towards another
tree, disappeared into the night.

We guessed that this was the same bird that called at us just 15 minutes
earlier, but weren’t quite sure what it was.  Would a Pygmy or Saw-whet come in
to a tape of a Boreal?  In any event we hiked to the first ridge we could get
to, slipping and sliding in the mud as we went.  At the top we played the tape
again, with the only reply being a Saw-whet Owl that sounded  like it was deep
in the woods, and quite aggravated.  IT was toot-toot-toot-ing to its hearts
content.

We then headed off towards Rich County stopping at several more locations,
hearing one more Saw-whet and one more Great Horned.  At one stop Colby and I
both thought we heard a singing reply of what sounded like a Boreal Owl,
several miles off.  Unfortunately we didn’t hear it again, and couldn’t decide
if our minds were just playing tricks on us


Our last stop was at the trailhead to the Limber Pine Trail, before deciding to
head through Woodruff and Evanston to Salt Lake.  Except for my being pulled
over just outside of Laketown, the rest of the trip was rather uneventful (and
thankfully I didn’t get a ticket!).

So after getting home and looking around on the web a bit for calls of Boreal
Owl’s I am pretty much still empty handed.  However, on the owl pages site, I
found this interesting bit of info:

The male will emit a low "Wood" or "Wood-whoohd" to contact a breeding female.
To show aggression he can deliver a whip-like "zjuck" sound.
The female's call is infrequently heard, and similar to the male's, but fainter,
higher pitched and not as clear. An aggressive female may utter a sharp "Jack"
as well as hoarse "oohwack" and croaking sounds "kraihk, kwahk".
When the male announces his arrival with trills or "wood" calls, the female will
respond from the nest hole with a high pitched "seeh", sometimes with a verse
of suppressed song. Her contact call is a mewing, hoarse "zuihd".

I need to find these vocalizations so I can hear what they sound like for a
comparison to what we heard, as we couldn't put anything else to the sound.

In any event, I hope to get back up in the next couple weeks for another shot,
and to maybe check out a few more pieces of habitat.

Good Birding

Tim
Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.birdtography.com