Crazy Owl Night

Thursday March 29 2018

When I went out late to feed Dudley his dinner in the moonlight, I was delighted to hear a long-eared owl hooting… but then I stopped short when I realized I was also hearing the call of a saw-whet owl - !!!! 

I've never heard a saw-whet owl anywhere but the forest, when out doing spotted owl surveys in Washington and Oregon. I didn't know saw-whets existed here in SW Idaho in the desert, but yes, says my expert birder friend Karen, they nest in boxes on the NCA (Birds of Prey Nat'l Conservation Area) north of here, around the Snake River.

Not much later, I heard not 1 but three screech owls, a male and 2 of last year's young.

I was so excited that I emailed Connie, who emailed back that at the same time that she thought she'd heard a pair of saw-whets tooting away up the crick. Upon further investigation of owl calls, now she thinks she heard not saw-whets but pygmy owls (!!!!!!!!!!). They aren't even supposed to be in this area, but that's what their calls sounded like.

And, if I'd felt like it, I could have hiked a hundred yards up the crick to see a pair of great horned owls, nesting in an old cottonwood (I likely would't have heard them hooting, since they are nesting, and no longer courting).

Four, maybe 5 owl species within a quarter mile of my doorstep at the same time - what a wild and crazy owl night!

this is the great horned owl nest, and top photo, the male sitting near the nest (only the female incubates the eggs)

Those Little Flycatchers: Say's Phoebes

Friday June 26 2015

It's a productive year in Owyhee for Say's Phoebes. A pair nested on top of the porch light on the front porch, right by the front door - the busy front door with constant traffic from people, cats and dogs. The birds like protective ceilings for their nest more than they dislike close proximity to people.

The Phoebe babies were spilling out of their nest April 25, and not even the people-busy Tough Sucker endurance ride, nor the evening Teeterville Jam (2 banjos, 2 guitars, 1 fiddle) on the front porch interfered with all 4 babies fledging soon afterwards.

It was such a good year in Owyhee, the Phoebes double-brooded.

June 15, four new ones were piled in the same nest, fuzzy and hot in the heat.


Thursday, June 25, spilling out of their nest, at least 2 of them fledged.  I happened to see the first one fly out of the nest into the nearest tree.


I then saw a second one fledge, onto a deer antler hanging off the lattice of the front porch. Maw and Paw Phoebe hung out with him, kept an eye on him.


I sat still and quiet for an hour, watching, taking pictures. My arms and legs cramped, my hands went to sleep, but it paid off waiting and watching, when Maw or Paw brought him a bug! That's the top photo.

The remaining two babies weren't quite ready to leave the nest, and they kept hoping for one more bug to eat.


This rather drab-colored flycatcher has a distinctive and plaintive "Peeer" call. They eat insects by nabbing them in flight, or by hovering over them and snatching them off the ground. They may winter in the Southwest and as far south as central Mexico, and they migrate north in early spring, nesting as far north as northern Alaska.

The size difference between the parents and offspring isn't that great… except for the Big Mouths on the babies!

Don't they look dejected that no food is forthcoming?

I'm a Raven and Bird of Prey fanatic, but these Say's Phoebes are intriguing, and what a treat, getting to see these little birds from the second brood fledge!

Good Housekeeping

Friday December 21 2012

It's always a thrill to see the pair of Bates Creek Golden Eagles, and never more so than when they're on their nest early on, fixing up the house, tidying things up to get ready for a new nesting season.  

This pair successfully raised one young on this nest in 2011, and one young on this nest in 2012. Often eagles will have several nests in their territory, and switch to a different nest each year. This pair of eagles has only this one, but it's big and sturdy and solid in a cottonwood tree - a good house to come back to year after year.

Last year the pair occasionally visited and worked on and kept an eye on their nest throughout December, January, and February, before the female started sitting, and laid her first egg on March 7 or 8.

That the eagles are here so early is a good sign there might be a new golden eagle or two in the neighborhood in 4 months.

She Waits

Thursday April 19 2012

Sitting low on her nest, she incubates the first egg she laid on March 7 or 8 (and perhaps subsequent eggs, laid 3-5 days apart). The golden eagles on Bates Creek started nesting on one of those two days. Incubation is typically 43 to 45 days, which means possibly today, and through Sunday, the first new golden eagle could be born on Bates Creek.

Waiting nearby is the other adult (females and males both incubate the eggs, though the male does it less, and only during the day - in the photos I'm assuming it's the female on the nest).

Last year, this pair produced one eaglet that successfully fledged. Perhaps this spring will bring one, or two new ones. 

She sits and waits.

Anxiously, we all wait!

The Eagle Has Landed!

Friday February 10 2012

Both of them in fact - the Bates Creek golden eagle pair are prepping their nest for some good old fashioned egg laying again this year!

They've been hanging around the area the last month, keeping an eye on their old nest from last year, and checking out new real estate further up the creek (a nest occupied last year by great horned owls, and the year before that by red-tailed hawks); but the last couple of weeks one or two have been seen at their tried and true old nest.

Today they were both on the nest (there are 2 eagles in the top photo), and presumably it's the female that was sitting on the edge, looking down in her cubbyhole that she'll soon be sitting in.

Owyhee Eagles

March 21 2011

You may not believe it by the weather, but it's springtime - nesting time for birds of prey in Owyhee.

Karen S, retired bird biologist and endurance rider, keeps tabs on the eagle nesting sites in the county, and whenever I can, I hitch a ride (by vehicle or on horseback), to peek through her spotting scope at the birds on their nests.


The Bates Creek golden eagles are trying again. Last year they were on the nest (the male and the female will switch off) for several weeks - and then they disappeared before any eggs would have hatched. They are a skittish pair, and how or why they picked a nest in a cottonwood tree less than 100 yards from a dirt road that has a fair amount of vehicles on it, is a good question - other than it is a nice big secure nest in a protective tree. I expect what really was the last straw last year was the hay cutting in the field right below their tree.

They've been on the nest for a couple of weeks now - and no tractors have been in the field yet - so I can only cross my fingers.

Last year the pair of golden eagles on the Brown's Creek cliffs raised one youngster. Eagles usually rotate between several nests in their territory, and you'll often see many nests on a cliff face. On this cliff, there are at least 4 nests. Last year's is on the far right.


When we approached the canyon, an eagle flew off the opposite cliff face - we didn't see exactly from where - and as we moved closer to scope the nests, we found all of them empty - and then saw 2 golden eagles soaring far away.


Karen did spot a nest that looked like it had fresh 'greens' on it - every year the eagles will add more sticks to their nests, hence you may see a nest that is six feet tall - including a fresh piece of green sagebrush. We'd figured that this pair had started but decided not to nest this year, since they were both off flying and no nest had been occupied for the 15 minutes we'd been watching, but just as Karen noted some downy feathers on the 'fresh' nest - one of the eagles landed on it. She (or he) stared back over her shoulder at us - we sat very still behind our binoculars and spotting scope and talked quietly - and she took her time moving in and finally settling down on the nest.


Success! A confirmed nesting in this territory again.

This week we plan to ride out on horseback to check another territory.

The Raven Tree

Tuesday November 9 2010

Beckoning in all its bright fall glory, I had to hike down to The Raven Tree on Bates Creek.

A pair of Ravens had started to set up housekeeping in the cottonwood tree's nest this spring. I had watched them over the course of a few weeks, then one day saw them no more around the tree (This was not the pair who lost both their fledged young.)


Why did this pair stop nesting? Was it the presence of their next door neighbors a quarter mile away, a pair of golden eagles? (who also started nesting, sat on their nest a while, then failed.) Ravens might make a nice snack for golden eagles, although Ravens are known to brashly harass eagles.


I climbed partway up the tree closer to the nest - and saw why they probably quit. The nest was falling apart, sagging between the fork in the foundation branches. Maybe it was too much of a Fixer-Upper.


As soon as I started climbed in the tree, I attracted two Ravens. They were obviously aggravated at me climbing in their tree, near their nest. It's nowhere near nesting season, and they haven't been hanging out in the tree, but it's clear this pair still considers this THEIR Raven Tree. They circled above me and the tree, RAWKing, intentionally making the Whoosh-Whoosh sound with their wings, circled again, then flew off still yelling.


I was a tree-climbing fool in my younger years, but didn't have the nerve anymore to climb all the way up and look into this nest (though there would be nothing in it now anyway).


It is a comfortable and secure Raven Tree - and the fact that the Ravens are still in the vicinity and still consider this Their Own Tree makes me think that with a little luck and a little bit of remodeling, maybe they'll try again next year.

The Tiniest Heartbeat

Thursday May 20 2010

Remember the killdeer nest with 4 eggs that I roped off from the horses? Ma or Pa Killdeer has been sitting on that nest every day (for about 24-28 days). Every day I've been checking on her, and then suddenly yesterday morning, she was gone. And the eggs were gone.

From the moment of hatching, killdeer babies are "precocial 2" - downy, open-eyed, mobile at birth, and capable of finding their own food while following their parent. So they had moved out, already out in the big world.

Darn, I missed the babies - until this afternoon when, about 40 yards away from the nest near the creek, a killdeer did its broken wing display, trying to distract my attention from where I was walking. I thought there must be babies around, and I walked ever so carefully forward - until I saw it.


It was so tiny and fragile and defenseless, about the size of my thumb - it took my breath away. It was standing, motionless, silent, helpless, completely vulnerable. I ran to get my camera, then ran back - and had a hard time finding it, even though it was at about the same place, now sitting in the dirt. I held my breath the whole few minutes I looked at it, fearing I'd blow it away or scare it or reveal it to a predator.

How on EARTH do these animals survive - indeed, they thrive around here - first, laying eggs on the ground any ol' where, where they have a great chance of getting stepped on, then the babies surviving when at this stage they can certainly not avoid predators?

Doubtless there were more baby killdeer around - but I left before the dogs came galloping after me, or some kestrel happened by.

It's that ol' Darwinism thing again - I guess it knows what it's doing.

Darwinism Theory Suspect!

Tuesday May 18 2010

Even the smallest being can challenge a mighty centuries-old theory.

A pair of Eurasian collared doves (an invasive species here, I might add), decided to build a nest and lay some eggs. Steph and I figured this is a Redneck pair.

"Hey honey! I got an idea! Let's build us a nest and lay some aiy-ggs!"

"OK well we don't got much money, so let's just throw us up a quick few sticks right here where we're sitting so we don't got to go far! We got a great view and it's low maintenance!"

(A few pieces of straw were tossed haphazardly on the edge of a finger-thin tree branch where it's touching the roof.)






"Heck I dunno how long our straw pieces will stay so we better hurry with the aiy-ggs! There, I popped a couple out! Whoops! This un's about to roll out the nest! Just nevermind that second one that's just going to fall through a hole in the nest!"


"That's okay, I'll put a stick there to barricade it! Just don't bounce too hard when you fly off."


The doves are trying to blow cannon holes in Darwin's ideas of natural selection, survival of the fittest and strongest, the intelligent reproduce so the species survives, etc.

Who knows? Maybe the little gray doves know more than humans. Maybe they'll defy the rules. There are an awful lot of them around. But then, one more gusty day, and this pair of doves aren't going to be reproducing anything but poached eggs for the ants.

I think Darwin can rest easy.

Owl's Well That Ends Well

Friday May 7 2010

In some cultures, the owl is a harbinger of doom and death.

(They're all so wrong.)

In some cultures the owl symbolized protection and wisdom. Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, made the owl her favored creature.

Next to Ravens, Owls are a very special bird for me. They're beautiful and mysterious, and mostly hard to find - if you do see one, consider yourself lucky. One of my great jobs was doing spotted owl surveys. I've gotten to hold spotted owls when we banded them.

This spring I've been quite lucky to find several owl nests in the area - 2 long-eared owl nests and 2 great horned owl nests.

This is a family of great horned owls down the creek whose progress I've been following. The three babies always looked quite fierce when I checked on them, although they never showed alarm. Mom and dad pretty much totally ignored me.

April 26:


May 3:


May 6, the nest was suddenly empty! Did they fledge already? Those fluffy balls of feathers surely weren't able to fly already! We'd had a terrible wind storm the night before, and I was so afraid they'd blown out of their exposed nest, maybe fallen in the creek right below the tree, and drowned.

May 7:
I hiked to their nest, and this is what I found: all three babies had indeed fledged! (It takes 35 days from hatching to fledging - leaving the nest.) They were all in 2 trees 50 yards up and across the creek. Two were hanging out with mom and dad, and one sat in a tree by himself.






Owl's well that ends well for this owl family.

(Really, there's just nothing cooler than Ravens and Owls.)

Don't Tread On Me

Thursday April 29 2010

The horses had wandered into the back pen - somewhere they don't often go, even though the gate is open and there's a bale of hay in there. I was hanging out with them, watching them, petting one here and there, when I saw a killdeer streak across the ground, start its chittering distress call, and start its broken wing display to distract me from where I was walking - a sure sign she (or he) was on a nest.

I stopped and looked away from the bird at the ground, searching for eggs. Her display got louder and more wounded looking - she'd run at me, and when I'd look at her, she'd turn and flash her bright orange and white tail at me, and drag a wing and limp away.

After much scrutinizing of the ground, I spied her nest - 4 spotted eggs in a little indention on the ground!

On the ground, with 9 horses roaming about picking at slim blades of grass. At one point, looking at the closest horse, I lost the location of the nest briefly, because the eggs are so well camouflaged - and Sunny had all 4 legs on either side of the nest when I found it again.

I stood guard near the nest to keep the horses off it, and watched the killdeer. She was most worried about Jose, who was closest - she tried distracting him with her display. It worked at first, he stepped toward her to investigate, but went back to eating when she ran away and flashed her tail at him.

Mac and Smokey both were interested in the bird, thinking maybe she was a toy, and followed her for a few steps... but lost interest when she ran away. But it worked - she'd lured them away from her nest. She was a bit harried, with all these giant creatures about, not knowing which to worry about most.

We've worked around the killdeer at our endurance rides - one had a nest in the parking area that I roped off, and one had a nest right at the finish line (we moved the finish line for the bird!)

The male and female will incubate the eggs for 24-28 days.

I've gone and put up a little fence around the nest, so the horses won't tread on it.