Owl Haven

Wednesday May 11 2016

What a great owl spring it is.

It's been years since long-eared owls inhabited the upper crick, so it was a treat to finally see a pair back. Used to be there were half a dozen that day-roosted in the thick vine-draped cottonwoods along the crick. I even found a nest one year, with two babies on it.

These owls are quite skittish. If they weren't - if they wouldn't flush away from me, I likely would not have noticed them. Even with very careful searching, if they don't move, it is unlikely you're going to spot a long-eared owl. They are very difficult to see when they want to look like a tree. You almost have to train your eyes to see them before they materialize in front of you, kind of like those 3-D drawings where you have to let your eyes focus on another dimension before you see the picture in the patterns.

After flushing this pair a couple of times, and after searching carefully up the crick and spying what I thought *had* to be owl nests, though I could not see owls on them, I picked a cloudy day (for better lighting), grabbed my binoculars and camera, and crept up the crick hunting for owl nests (while keeping my eyes peeled for a cougar!).

I snuck up the crick (though really, with owls, there is no sneaking. They see you long before you might see them) to where the owls usually hang out. I'd take a few steps and stop, look with my eyes, peer through the binos, and think like an owl. Creep a few more steps, search, think owl. 

The thick vines are sometimes impossible to see into or through. So I studied spots which could possibly be long eared owl nests. Which should be owl nests. I found a forked tree trunk draped with vines that even 20 feet away from, using the binos, I could not see into. But it felt like an owl nest - had to be an owl nest - and after 5 minutes of studying this drape of vines from different angles, I realized I had been looking at a long eared owl on the nest the whole time!

Incredible how camouflaged they can be. 

Once I figured out for sure this was an occupied nest, I moved away. Heading further up-crick, I wanted to see if I'd flush her partner. There's a tree limb that's covered with owl poo, so obviously an owl roosts there. I crept up to that one very slowly, trying to see a perched owl, but despite my intense searching and gazing, I did not see the owl before he flushed. I found it very odd that he flushed upstream, instead of downstream to the occupied nest. Then it crossed my mind to check a couple of the possible nests I'd seen there earlier.

And sure enough - with the good lighting - I was staring right at another occupied long eared owl nest! I was only 20 feet away from this one so as soon as I snapped a few pictures, I left her alone. 

And today, mama owl still sits on this nest, but on the first one, look at what I found peering at me, sitting above his nest! There may have been more than one spud, but this one was obvious. I didn't hang around long, because mom was distressed, flying away and trying to lure me away from the nest. (This little spud is pictured up top also.)

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More owl news is the pair of BARN OWLS day-roosting in a neighbor's empty barn. Eight years here and I have never seen barn owls here. This pair is also very skittish. They don't seem to be nesting in the barn. We tried to creep up on these owls one day, but one flushed into some trees along the crick - and I was lucky to spot him. We searched the barn, and peered in and around some large stacked hay bales, and other nooks and crannies that barn owls like, but didn't find a nest. I'll have to do more snooping around.

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There are also some great horned owls nesting up the other crick.

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And I'm sure the resident screech owls are also nesting, but after 8 years I have still not found their nest! The male toots at night, and some days he'll roost in a big tree in the back yard. 

Owl's Well

Monday May 18 2009

Connie took the dogs for a walk, so I snuck up the crick to get me a dose of some Owl. There's a long-eared owl roost not too far from here, and I like to check up on them once in a while. I don't go around there with the dogs because one human crashing and stumbling through the brush is bad enough, but one human and 3 rabid dogs running crashing panting heavily in and over and around their neighborhood is just too much disturbance. Besides, this is the time of year for babies, so I sure didn't want to bother them if there were any around.

Long-eared owls look similar to great horned owls but are smaller and more slender. They're nocturnal owls that rest in roosts of dense foliage near tree trunks during the day. They're found throughout most of the US except the southeast, and they occupy much of Canada. They forage out in the open, preying mostly on small mammals, and boy are there lots of gophers around here this year. They don't build their own nest, but use abandoned nests of Ravens and magpies.

Long-eared owls are amazingly good at looking like a part of the tree/brush/vines they are hiding in. Once the biologist Karen S took me to another long-eared owl roost. We crept right through the area where she knew they normally hung out and we didn't see a one. We walked back the same way a bit later and we flushed at least half a dozen. They'd been there all along; we'd just walked right by them without noticing them.

I crept along the crick here, slowly and as quietly as I could - which was about as quiet as a herd of elephants - and sure enough, I flushed a long-eared owl. I followed with my eyes where it went, then looked back to where it came from - and there was a baby! Looking just like part of a tree. I'd have never seen him if the mother (or father) hadn't flown away. I stood still and stared at him a good long while, and he stood and stared at me, unmoving, unblinking. It's their best defense. The parent circled around, to get a better bead on me, taking up different positions, barking a warning call. After a few motionless minutes I moved on, leaving the baby alone. The adult flew further up the creek, leading me away, then circling behind the trees on the other side of the creek and returning in the direction of her baby. And there were probably more babies; I just couldn't see them.

I slowly (and, sadly, loudly) followed upcreek, and soon 2 more long-eared owls flushed. They peered at me from between leaves and branches. One hooted several times, which became more of an insistent WHOO-UP WHOO-UP call. The other barked warning calls. I just stood and watched them a while. One flew out in the open to have a good look at me, and kept hooting.

Then it was time to leave them alone - I'd gotten my Owl Fix. "Thanks Owlies," I said. I turned and walked back along the creek (noisily), flushed the mother again, didn't go to look at the baby again. The mother led me away from the baby again, one tree to the next, before circling behind the creek and back his way.

I'll leave the owls alone for a while, now that I got my Owl Fix and now I know they are still there and thriving.

Owl's well that ends well.