[Birdtalk] Northern Saw-whet Owl at Pineview

[Kristin Purdy]

When a chickadee strings together a rapid-fire succession of "dee-dee-dee" 
notes and there's no chicka-chicka about it, follow that bird!

I followed a trio of dee-dee-dee'ing Black-capped Chickadees to a NORTHERN 
SAW-WHET OWL in a black willow above the shoreline of Pineview Reservoir, 
Weber County, this afternoon. The three chickadees were vocalizing like 
Lilliputian machine guns reminiscent of the fast cadence of a White-breasted 
Nuthatch. The saw-whet barely acknowledged their presence and later mine by 
opening his or her eyes to mere slits.

Researchers have learned that chickadees mobbing a predator use more dee 
notes the more significant the threat. So a Great Horned Owl, not much of a 
threat to a small songbird, will not earn as many dee-dee notes as will a 
Northern Pygmy-owl, a species that may prey upon birds for up to 35 percent 
of its diet. The small saw-whet owl also preys on songbirds, although 
perhaps not to the same extent. Science Magazine originally published the 
results of this research in June 2005, and I apologize to the person who 
sent me this article because I can't remember who it was. See a summary at 
this link:

http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=10732

I was walking the shoreline on the return leg of a wild goose chase that 
might have been a domestic goose chase when I heard the chickadees. I had 
seen, at an extreme distance, a Greater White-fronted or Graylag Goose with 
a flock of Canadas in Geertsen Bay of Pineview Reservoir and I was making my 
third attempt to access the bay from an Angler's Access at least a mile to 
the west. The goose was neither clearly a Greater White-fronted nor a 
Graylag and appeared to have field marks of both species, so I had to let 
that one go. It's a good thing the saw-whet made up for the disappointment.

Other notables in Ogden Valley today included my first sightings of Eurasian 
Collared-doves there. I saw a flock of about a dozen and a half in Liberty 
at Liberty Park, and another pair on 5900E. in Eden. It seems odd that I've 
never seen them in Ogden Valley before and today I saw them in two places. 
Go figger.

Kris