[Birdtalk] East Canyon Owling!

[Tim Avery]

This evening I took John Ennis from North Carolina up to East Canyon in 
search of  a few owls as part of preparation for a group of birders from 
N.C. visiting over the next week.  The traffic in the canyon was about 
double if not triple the average Friday night, and at points it was 
impossible to even try owling.  Fortunately by about 10:15 it had calmed 
down enough to hear!

We started about 6 miles from Big Mountain Pass in East Canyon (Summit 
County) trying for Screech-Owl.  The screeches were a no show, but 
plenty of Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos, and Robins chirping away 
into the dark.  AT my usual Flammy spot I might have gotten one 
response, but the noise of a nearby group of campers was too much.  At 
the next stop further up the canyon we were able to get two Flammy's to 
respond and one came in for a brief glimpse on the flyby.  A little ways 
further (towards Big Mountain) we had a Saw-whet respond for a few toots 
way off in the distance, and another Flammy come in about 10 feet away.  
John was able to get a look at the bird as it flew away. (They weren't 
much for the lights this evening).

At the last big turnoff before you get to the pass, we had two Saw-Whets 
come in pretty close and call up a storm for nearly 20 minutes.  Luckily 
I wasn't buzzed by an angry owl for my whistling. 

And finally at Big Mountain Pass there were no owls, just a couple in a 
car... and a Poorwill whistling on the Salt Lake side of the pass.  
There were also around 30 deer seen from the 6 mile mark in Summit 
County all the way too Little Dell, so if you go up at night watch out 
for the deer!

Cheers,

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