Greetings,
Jimmy Billstine and I targeted a nice-looking evening to go up to eastern
Douglas County to look (listen) for Boreal Owls last Thursday night,
between Diamond Lake and Lemolo Lake area. It was a gorgeous owling night:
clear, pretty full moon, no wind most of the time, silent. In one area we
snow-shoed in a couple miles.
We had at least 4 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS, 1 GREAT HORNED OWL, 1 WESTERN
SCREECH-OWL, and 1 possible Boreal Owl.
At about 1 a.m. we stopped at our 30th (or whatever) location for the
evening. After playing one round of a Boreal Owl primary male song, we
almost immediately heard a fairly quiet call perhaps 150 meters NNW of us.
It was a fast series of individual hoots/toots (but not fast enough to call
a trill), all on the exact same pitch and with no acceleration or
deceleration whatsoever, and only a half- or full-second break irregularly
about every 2-8 seconds. It lasted for about 50 seconds total. It was
similar to the following recordings.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/26693
http://www.xeno-canto.org/110187
http://www.xeno-canto.org/101538
Not having heard this call before in person, and since it did not continue
for extended scrutiny, and was fairly quiet, Jimmy and I are hesitant to
say for sure it was a Boreal Owl, but at this point, that's the only option
we can come up with. We are hoping to follow up on this location (more
passively by spending time at the area over the next couple months)
listening to see if there might be a nest in the area. Location is
purposely not mentioned to avoid disturbance in case they are nesting at
the location.
In terms of alternative possibilities, Northern Saw-whet Owls are much
slower, and higher in pitch. The pitch seemed reasonable for a high Western
Screech-Owl, but I've never heard a screech-owl use this cadence. When they
do a series of hoots they either do a slower series, or a bouncing ball
(slow to fast) or a very fast trill, usually with at least slight change in
pitch or tempo or both, and none of them last as long as some of this
series did.
Any thoughts appreciated/welcome.
Matt Hunter
Melrose, OR
P.S. No wolves were seen or heard, despite dragging a piece of teryaki
jerky 30 ft behind me on a string. :-)
