Thanks, very interesting !!
And, I may add--The 1996 Paradise-Peabody-Sinclair-Muhlenberg Co., KY, CBC for
Short-eared Owls was a USA RECORD for a one day count w/in a 7 mile circle,
beating the old record, which as I recall was made in Oregon, year(?).
Wish I had participated, but I missed that due to work.
I have heard the # of Short-eared Owls each winter in KY depends on the their
food supply in the Artic and Northern Canada and the wx up there. The worse
their conditions up there, the more they go south. Similar to Snowy Owls.
I may add we once observed a large number, around 40, a one day rough count, of
SEOW on the Big Island of Hawaii on an old road between the big volcano and the
main airport. Those were almost tame, as sitting on fence posts, etc., close to
the road. We were there visiting old caving and Birding friends ....SEOL are
also in the Galapagos, which we have not been to.
Preston Forsythe, Browder, KY, Muhlenberg Co.
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 7:00 PM, James Wheat<james.a.wheat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I did a quick review of Paradise CBC Short-eared Owls (SEOW) surrounding the
134 mentioned earlier in this email thread.
First, the back issues of The Kentucky Warbler are a great resource and can be
found online at WKU's Digital Commons.
Second, the table below includes just the data points, and should be taken in
the context of the actual counts. BPB always writes detailed and insightful
count summaries for his CBCs and are well worth reading. For example, a strong
contributing factor in detecting Short-eared Owls is weather around sunset
(i.e., the windier the conditions, the fewer owls). Here's the table, and if
you want to learn more, explore the back issues of The Kentucky Warbler at the
link above.
| Paradise CBC | Date | SEOW | Participants | Effort Hours | Effort Miles |
| CBC 89 | 12/26/88 | 21 | 11 | 28 | 165 |
| CBC 90 | 1/1/90 | 64 | 13 | 40.5 | 246 |
| CBC 91 | 1/1/91 | 48 | 14 | 44 | 258 |
| CBC 92 | 1/1/92 | 12 | 6 | 31 | 152 |
| CBC 93 | 12/27/92 | 34 | 8 | 35.5 | 277 |
| CBC 94 | 12/31/93 | 27 | 15 | 34.5 | 301.5 |
| CBC 95 | 1/2/95 | 16 | 7 | 26 | 144.5 |
| CBC 96 | 12/30/95 | 134 | 12 | 30 | 163 |
| CBC 97 | 1/1/97 | 22 | 12 | 34 | 214.5 |
| CBC 98 | 1/3/98 | 63 | 15 | 43.5 | 283 |
| CBC 99 | 1/1/99 | 19 | 16 | 46.5 | 314 |
| CBC 100 | 1/2/00 | 5 | 21 | 62.5 | 322 |
| CBC 101 | 12/30/00 | 17 | 11 | 29.5 | 152.5 |
| CBC 102 | 1/5/02 | 37 | 18 | 51 | 224 |
| CBC 103 | 1/4/03 | 5 | 13 | 44.5 | 233 |
| AVERAGE | 34.93 | 12.80 | 38.73 | 230.00 |
James
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 6:01 PM mikesindahouse <mikesindahouse@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Cloud* Cover.
Also, was the effort for the 1995 Paradise count similar to that of prior and
subsequent years? Maybe the owls just had a particularly good year and we
happened to have greater participation as well to observe them.
Thanks,Mike Callan
On Feb 22, 2022, at 5:43 PM, mikesindahouse <mikesindahouse@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Fine print: Actual ambient light is subject to could cover. ;)
Mike Callan
On Feb 22, 2022, at 5:40 PM, Steve Brown <steve554b@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Keep in mind Oldham county is in the Eastern Time Zone. Today sunset is at
6:28 p.m. and the end of dusk is at 6:54 p.m.
Steve BrownLouisville, KY
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 1:04 PM Stephen Tyson <kytysons9152@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The sun is their clock. Sunset is more than 50 minutes later than when we
discovered the roosts in the last few days of December, and we’re seeing owls
about 50 minutes later. Here, owls pop up 10 to 25 minutes after sunset,
unless the weather the night before was really ugly… then they may be up at
sunset or a few minutes earlier. Cloudy weather messes with the amount of
light, and they respond accordingly. We have known when to go watch by just
asking Siri “what time is sunset today?” :-).
Stephen Tyson, Schochoh
On Feb 22, 2022, at 11:43 AM, PRESTON FORSYTHE <pns_for@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In past years, for us, the magic time for seeing Short-eared Owls has been
5:20 pm to 5:50 pm. With the peak close to 5:42 pm. I can remember this because
it happened over and over, with a steady decline in numbers year after year,
since BPB's CBC , (92 in one day), at Sinclair in the 1990's...1992 ?? Very few
before, or after those times...unless walking the fields and stir them up.
Especially none in the morning, unless stirred up with a line of birders spread
out. Note, the bird books say common in the morning??
For this winter, starting in early Nov., the few owls we have spotted, and the
few we have read about with the time reported...seem to all be observed between
6 and 6:20 pm. Sunset to full darkness.
Exception-- the Tyson's owl roost activity near Schochoh, Logan County. I think
the owls are attracted somehow to the name, Schochoh.
Now, as for Northern Harriers, the numbers for us also down, but we still see
off and on during the day.
Owlingly,
Preston Forsythe, Browder, KY
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 7:57 AM, Steve Brown<steve554b@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mary's right that it's been wonderful to see the owls there this season, but
I'd like to make a slight revision to this post. It seems to imply that owls
were not seen on Sunday evening.
Meg Brown and I were on Bennett Lane on Sunday, 2/20/2022, along with a young
birder and her family that we met there. We all saw at least three Short-eared
Owls, and at least one Northern Harrier. We also found the Loggerhead Shrike
again. That was only two days ago, so there is a chance that they are still
around for a few more days.
We were there from about 5:15 to about 6:45 p.m. The owls appeared around six.
Here is a link to our eBird checklist.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103299101
Steve BrownLouisville, KY
On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 8:55 PM tingsgrove <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Things might be beginning to wind down for the Northern Harriers and the
Short-eared Owls. The harriers arrived the end of October the past 4 years and
there were as many as at least 3 to 4 females and a single male as best that I
have been able to ascertain this season. I am not certain when the owls
arrived, but the first date that I photographed them was on December third.
Usually 4 would fly up together and then split off three and one. Two of them
always seemed to team up. There were a few times that 2 others would appear a
little bit later. On Saturday a friend and I were observing a harrier when 5
owls flew up at the same time from the field. Last evening three people
stayed at the fields on Bennett Lane in Oldham County until 6:15 and never saw
the owls. This evening I was the only one on site from 3:30 until 6:30 and I
saw no harriers and no owls. It was very unusual not to see a single harrier
and they have been very active. That being said this morning on my way to a Dr
appointment I did see a single owl flying across the lane in front of me and go
towards the roosting field of choice. It could be that they are still there
and just flying up with the sun staying up later. For most of the past 2
months their pattern was to fly between 4:30 and 5:45. It has been such a
wonderful time observing these birds and meeting so many great people.
Everyone has been respectful to each other as well as to the birds and the land
on Bennett Lane and many of the neighbors have been quite interested in
learning about the birds. The fields are now a flutter with more and more
Red-winged Blackbirds and Eastern Meadowlarks returning every day. The
Savannah Sparrows have thinned out a bit. This is my fourth year of birding
just down the lane from where I live and it is always very rewarding. The
fields also provide Ironweed and Joe pye weed for hundreds of Monarch
butterflies in August as well. Mary Howell CromerOldham County, Kentucky
--
Steve Brown
--
James A. WheatTaylorsville KY
