[wisb] Re: My Mount Horeb & Sauk City CBC highlights, owling query & other observations
- From: <tuttech@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, agstutz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 2:36:57 +0000
Hi,
Here are some thoughts on Aaron's questions. I think owls are most vocal just
after dusk and just before dawn...much like all birds are most vocal at the
beginning and end of the day, only night is day to an owl. The problem with
CBC owling just after dusk is human interference. (At least there is a lot
less of this at 3 am.) This is important because of the nearly undetectable
audio clues to an owls presence.
Having said that first, the question that Aaron raises about time is
interesting. If we exclude obvious owls like Great Horned and their tendency to
call at dawn and dusk, it would be interesting to keep records of call backs in
order to have actual facts to use. I like to concentrate on Saw-Whets and Long
Eared but I don't think I could pattern their call backs. In the fall and
winter S.W. seem to respond to tapes with squeals or cat like me-ow sounds. As
spring approaches they seem to sing more. I can't remember many times on a CBC
when they sang at all. Usually you see them flying around your head or hear
them land on a branch and then later, esp. if you shine a light on them will
they call (squeal), if you keep after them then they seem to begin to sing
more. Sometimes they will not sing at all until they no longer hear your tape.
(Long Ears vex me a lot because they don't seem to call back).
Wind seems to be a factor for detecting them because it is so hard to hear
them land on a branch or things like that. I also think my recording-broadcast
system is loud enough to over power the wind noises. Maybe to an owl wind is
no issue, but to me it is.
Although there is nothing like hearing a Saw-Whet singing across a swamp under
a full moon I am not at all sure how darkness affects our efforts to detect
them. John O'Donnel and I were working on our memories about this while we were
doing the Riveredge CBC and could not come up with an answer. I do know that a
lot of my memories of success have been on dark nights.
Tom Utech
Oz.Co.
> Hi all,
>
> I did the Sauk City CBC on Saturday with Jim Schwarz and the Mount Horeb
> CBC on Sunday by myself. Here are my highlights...
>
> Sauk City CBC--my best areas are probably the Dam and the VFW Park
> 3 E. Screech Owls--1 apparently flew a few feet over our heads in
> response to a tape--only Jim saw it.
> 3 Great Horned Owls
> 15 Bald Eagles--most observed from the Dam in the early AM
> 1 Fox Sparrow
> 1 white-headed Junco
> about 100 Herring Gulls at the Dam--only there in the AM. Very few
> settled on the water. There is very little ice, so most of the
> waterfowl were spread out all along the river and the Madison Lakes.
> There was 1 B1 Thayer's Gull candidate in the gull flock, but it flew
> overhead in bad light and I didn't feel comfortable calling it.
> a flock of Robins and Cedar Waxwings on the golf course north of the Dam.
>
> Mount Horeb CBC--my area is the region southwest of Mount Vernon--very
> few cars, good oak woodlots and some sizable grasslands and wetlands.
>
> By best owling morning ever--no wind/ideal listening conditions despite
> temps ranging from -2 to 10 degrees F.
> Between 5:15AM and 7AM I heard 16 different owls.
>
> 10 Great Horned Owls--every other stop basically had a pair duetting
> 3 E. Screech Owls--as is usual they were in oak woodlots too small to
> harbor a pair of Great Horned Owls. I only heard a Screech Owl at one
> stop where I also heard a Great Horned Owl and the two species were
> about as far away from each other as they could possibly be and still be
> in hearing range.
> 2 Barred Owls
> 1 N. Saw-whet (possibly 2)--"toot-tooting" in a stand of conifers 6-10
> feet tall. This belt of conifers stretches from Rettenmund Rd to Colby
> Rd. I thought this area looked ideal for Saw-whets last year and made a
> note of it on my map. Hearing some "toot-toots" in response to my i pod
> made my day. I only played calls from Rettenmund, but the habitat on
> Colby looks just as good (there are more houses though)--there is also
> good Long-eared Owl habitat on Colby (I will tell you if I hear any next
> year).
> 1 juv. Northern Shrike--on 92 south of Messerschmidt
> 2 Rough-legs
> 5 flyover Snow Buntings on Primrose Center Road
> large numbers of Tree Sparrows, Cardinals and Blue Jays feeding in
> un-harvested cornfields
> other common species were only found near feeders--typically I can find
> a handful of birds by just pishing at every woodlot. This year the
> woods were empty unless there were feeders nearby.
>
> Notably absent--no Ring-necked Pheasants or Pileated Woodpeckers. I
> suspect the deep snows of the past two winters are doing a number on the
> pheasants that make it past the hunters. The absence of Pileated
> Woodpeckers in my Sauk City and Mount Horeb Counts has me a bit
> stumped--it will be interesting to see the numbers from all the areas.
>
> Owling query:
> What time of morning do other CBC owlers have the most success? On the
> Madison and Sauk City CBC's I was out starting around 4:30, but did not
> hear much until closer to 5:15. I have had owls call and/or fly in to
> check me out in the 4AM-5AM range, but vocal activity typically picks up
> after 5AM. Any other comments on conditions affecting owl activity
> would be appreciated (e.g. wind or no wind, temperature, moonlight,
> overcast or cloudy, etc).
>
> Aaron Stutz
> Madison, WI
> Dane County
>
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