Playing Bird God

Sunday October 7 2018

Oh, $hit - I'm outside in the dark, holding a rescued squealing woodpecker in my hands, with 3 ninja kitties climbing up my legs and two screech owls waiting in a tree - NOW what am I supposed to do!?

Dark outside, and I hear some high pitched squealing of an animal in distress. I leap out the door, afraid it's one of the ninja kittens in trouble, but no, it's not a cat. Rabbit? Bird? Has to be a bird. I grab a headlamp and track down the high-pitched squealing. 

Or rather track it up - there it is - a screech owl has some kind of bird in its claw up in a cottonwood tree.

And that's when I should have turned and walked away.

But I can't walk away. I have the screech owl in my headlamp, and I watch him. The prey-bird squeals very loudly and flaps, but it's pinned in the grip of the owl's talons… while below around my feet the 3 ninja kittens swarm around frantically, looking up, trying to track down the noise which is obviously an animal worthy of cat claws and jaws.

And the screech owl flies away with his prize... but the flapping bird flaps loose and flutters to the ground. The ninja kittens are on it instantly. I am on the kittens the next instantly. I grab the bird, which turns out to be a Downy woodpecker. 

As I gently cradle the bird, it grips my fingers tightly. Any time I speak, Easy birdie, it squeaks, loudly. Oooh, shut up bird! (They can be very loud.) The kittens are trying to crawl up my legs. (Me: "Ouch! Stop it!") (Downy: Shriek!) (Ninja kitties: "Meow!") I look up in the trees, and 4 screech owl eyeballs are staring down at me silently, reflecting my headlamp.

Now what do I do??? I should have left it to Mother Nature. Not my business to interfere. Mother Nature already had this all figured out before I stuck my human two cents in. The woodpecker may die anyway, and the screech owls will be out a meal. What if the screech owls die because of this meal I cheated them out of? What if all 3 birds die because of my interference? If I put the woodpecker back in a tree near the owls, am I sacrificing the woodpecker? Is it my decision to kill the woodpecker? I can't set the bird down anywhere anyway, because the cats will get it. The kittens are great mousers, but I don't want to encourage them as being great birders, too.

I have finally stopped talking, and the woodpecker is silent, but even though I open my hand, it's gripping my fingers tightly. Its heartbeat is slowing down from its adrenaline rush, but it's strong. I'm able to look at it in my headlamp, and it doesn't look torn up at all. The owls are still watching. The kittens are still prowling around my feet. I'm holding the bird out in my open palm, where it sits calmly while I'm still trying to decide what to do.

The kittens are still trying to crawl up my legs. I lead them to the house, entice them inside, and shut the door on them… and decide to head to some different trees away from the screech owls, to try to put the woodpecker on a branch.

Not 10 seconds later the ninja kittens are following me, having found a window through which they escaped back outside. They don't know I still carry the bird since it's silent now, but they always follow me hopefully around anyway.

As I try to set the woodpecker on a thick tree branch, it's still gripping my fingers tightly… and when I try to gently turn my hand so it steps onto the tree branch, it squeals again. Shut up! I whisper, Hurry!, and as he fumbles and stumbles onto the branch, one of the ninjas is up in the tree immediately.

In my headlamp, the woodpecker squeals again… but it sees the cat and in desperation flaps away, and the last I see of it is wings flapping upward out of my headlamp, as Ninja Silvester shoots after it across the grass, but he pulls up empty-clawed.

The woodpecker's gone into the dark. It may live; it might not. Cats are empty-pawed, and the screech owls are empty-taloned. 

And I'm left feeling discombobulated. I don't like playing Bird God because I don't know if I made the right decision and I should have left it alone.

Lil' Tooters

Sunday July 22 2018

They can drive you mad, these juvenile screech owls, always hiding in plain sight, but incredibly camouflaged. They might even give you a tooting clue during the middle of the day to zero in on… and you still probably won't find them.

There are at least 3 juveniles, and 1 adult hanging in the cottonwood trees in the creek. I hear them often at night, and I'll see their silhouettes as they fly in to check me out (some seem to be very curious). I spent half a day hunting for the adult the other week, and finally find him (her?). I think it's the male I hear hooting at night, and, yet another year went by, I could not find their nest that is very near and fledged at least 3 young.

This youngster tooted once this afternoon; I went looking for him, (also heard one tiny chirrup out of a sibling, but could not find him), and after looking and looking and looking, and staring and staring, I finally realized that stump-y thing in the crook of a cottonwood was one of the juvenile screech owls staring at me, and not, in fact, a stump of wood.

Here's what a screech owl sounds like. For several weeks, these youngsters only did one little "whop!" at a time; they've just in the last couple of nights started doing the whole ping pong ball call.

Cute lil' bugger!!!!!

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)

My Little Squeaky Toys

Sunday June 26 2016

It's hard to believe (once again) I never found the screech owl nest along the creek, particularly since it fledged four babies this year.

In the evenings, they start squeaking and tooting away (they totally sound like dog squeaky toys), and I step outside and creep closer, and peer through the trees and spot one or two or three or four of them, and we stare at each other, bobbing our heads at each to get a better focus, and talk and toot to each other.

They sure don't sound like what you might think an owl sounds like!

A little down this page:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Screech-Owl/sounds

you'll find some screech owl calls (the adults sound like ping pong balls). The babies in my trees sound like the one labeled "Agitated bark and bill clap".

I actually saw one fly into the glass door one evening (!!!!) and was afraid/hoping I might have to rescue him. I've saved a few birds who have flown into the glass door or windows, though some hit too hard and were too far gone. He sort of ended up on the porch rail, and after he sat there a bit, he flew up into a tree. I walked after to watch him, and he just kept bobbing his head and looking at me.

I like to think of them as my own little live squeaky toys, glad they allow me in their presence as they are growing up.

Foiled Again!

Thursday June 2 2016

It happened again, for about the 8th spring in a row: the resident screech owl pair had at least one baby, and I could not find the nest.

Every year it's like this: beginning of the year, in winter, I start hearing the male screech owl, tooting away for his mate. He's very vocal. You can hear some screech owl calls here. I can catch a glimpse of him in the cottonwood trees just before dark. Sometimes I'll even hear him during the day, in which case I can usually spot him.

The female rarely pipes up. In fact a couple of springs I thought, 'Oh, poor guy, he can't find a mate.' And then months later I'll hear a screech baby or two.

I know this pair nests within a 100 yard radius, likely in a hole in a cottonwood tree on one of the creeks. And I can never find the nest.

I heard the male occasionally this winter/spring, and heard the female only once or twice. I knew they were nesting again. Could not find the nest again.

And look who shows up 2 nights ago. 

This year's adult, staring at me, telling me the baby has fledged. It's nearby. I can hear it, but I can't see it. Where is he hiding his babies?

*and... last night - I heard 2 babies!

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.)

*****

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.

*******

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

*******

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. 

Snake River Screech Owls

Saturday May 19 2012

I've been lucky enough over the years to have helped with spotted owl research and banding. And I was lucky enough to participate in helping to band screech owls with the Boise district BLM! They take out a handful of people on raptor banding trips throughout the year. I signed up for this one about 6 months ago.

Retired biologist John Doremus started working with raptors for the BLM in 1972, and he was the raptor biologist for the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Owyhee County along the Snake River since it was first designated a Natural protected area in 1993. He started hanging nest boxes and building nesting platforms for raptors, and banding and monitoring the birds; and as the BLM manages this NCA, they continue this raptor banding and monitoring today.

A group of us went to a number of these nest boxes occupied by screech owls along the Snake River. 4 of the 5 boxes were occupied; 3 nests had owlets too young to band (1 week old and 2 weeks old); we banded one nest with 5 young (3 weeks old).

Here's how you catch a screech owl: Greg Kaltenecker from the Idaho Bird Observatory was the Master Raptor bander. He climbed a ladder to the nest box, opened the top, and reached in and removed the adult (presumably) female screech owl and handed her off to one of us;

then one by one he reached in and removed the 5 owlets.

When owls are upset or feel threatened, they snap their beaks. All around us were the Snap! Crackle! Pop! of agitated owls. After a while though, as long as you don't make loud noises or make sudden movements, they relax in your hands.

Greg attached a silver federal band, each with a unique number, to the right leg of each owl, then weighed each of them, while Jill recorded the info.


The owlets were sublimely, ridiculously cute, and of course we all posed with our fluffy little treasures before Greg tucked them all snugly back in their nest box, putting mama screech in lastly on top of them.


One day, maybe each of these babies will be sitting on nests of their own along the Snake River.

[slide show here]

The Owl Tree

Thursday May 10 2012

He's been driving me mad. 

A male screech owl, uncommonly hooting during the day, for the last couple of days. He's very close, but I've been unable find the little hooter.

One daytime hoot - the sound of a pingpong ball bouncing - sends me flying outside to try to pinpoint his location… but he does not make another sound… until hours later when I'm back inside. I jump back outside with camera and binoculars, and begin to scan the trees. He must be somewhere within 40 yards, in one of the trees along the creek.

The leaves are starting to grow thick on the cottonwood trees, but I peer through them, raking every trunk, every branch with my binoculars, walking slowly up the creek and back, but I see nothing except for leaves and bark. The owl doesn't give a clue - doesn't move a feather, doesn't blink an eye, doesn't utter another sound. I cross the creek and study the trees from the other side, but I can see nothing but leaves and bark from a different angle, a jigsaw puzzle with a million green leaves, white bark of cottonwoods and brown bark of locusts, and an invisible bird. I know he is watching me. Half an hour I spend, methodically searching the trees - but I come up empty. 

The screech owl hoots again during the next day, and I resume my search. As I'm scanning with my binoculars a particularly tall and gnarly locust tree, one in which I would be roosting if I were an owl, I realize my lenses have focused right on an owl! He is so well camouflaged, I almost miss him. It's not the screech owl; it's a larger great horned owl, perching like a knot on the tree branch, his eyes sleepy slits, as he barely acknowledges this owl-hungry human wandering below his Owl Tree. 

But there is no sign of the screech owl, who I am sure is still watching me.

The screech owl hoots once again on the third day, but the only owl I find is the silent great horned owl, perched in a fork of the Owl Tree.

The screech owl hoots once again on the fourth day, and I leap outside, armed with camera and binos, and I swear I will not go back inside again until I find this mysterious owl. Today he gives me one more clue as I'm outside: a single sound - a high pitched 'Wop!' - which narrows my focus to an area twenty yards wide, ten deep, a tree on either side of the creek, maybe 30 feet up.

Again I comb the trees with my bare eyes and the binoculars, up the creek then back down the creek, one side, then the other side of the creek, analyzing every branch. Time passes, water tumbles down the creek, wind sighs in the trees - but the owl holds his silence. 

I am drawn back to the Owl Tree. There is something about this tree. I scan it with my bare eyes, and again with my binoculars - and suddenly I find I am staring right at him - the screech owl, looking in every way - shape and size, streaked markings the color and direction of the bark - like the Owl Tree itself. 

His eyes are sleepy slits, and like his bigger great horned cousin, he knows I'm there, but barely acknowledges this human who can't hardly tell an owl from a tree.

Now I have a friend. Even when he doesn't hoot during the day, talking in his owl sleep of his good owl dreams, I check the Owl Tree, and I can pick him out with my bare eyes. Now he is obvious to me, because I know his secret now. I can see.

Treasure From Above

Friday February 12 2010

No, it's not poop on the porch railing, but a pellet! A gift from some owl last night. He wasn't even perching on the roof, because that's overhanging - he perched on the railing!

You can see little rodent bones in the pellet. If I took it apart I could probably put a whole mouse (or two mice) skeleton together.




I hear screech owls here every night. Occasionally I'll hear a great horned owl. Just a quarter mile up Bates Creek, at least two long-eared owls are hanging out - same place I've seen a day-roost of them (they prefer thick vines to roost in - and you will not see them unless they fly), same place I spotted a baby last year.

The long-eared owls and great horned owls will take up and lay eggs in an abandoned nest in the cottonwood trees. The birds aren't sitting on nests yet, but now's the time to view and make a note of the nests, because they'll be hard to see once the leaves are out. (And buds are already starting on some of the trees!!)

Screech owls will use a cavity in a snag. Plenty of snags around here also, but it's hard to spot the screech owls in the twilight or dark.

Did you spot the long-eared owl in the top photo? Here are some hints.




And I do realize that I am probably one of only a few people who get excited about owl pellets...