There are 2.

Quick update on Barred Site 2.

There are 2 barred owlets,

The absolutely Fantastic Photo courtesy of box owner:

First Barred Success

Barred Site 2.

Very pleased to get documentation that after a decade barred owl site 2(went up sept 2012) has had a successful nesting! very cool indeed. So far one confirmed owlet.

Squirrel + Owl interactions = 3 Videos

These first 2 are squirrel and screech owl, First one (well narrated) the screech owl successfully wards off a Fox Squirrel in Texas (a tad larger than gray squirrel of the southern US) internal and external views, Next a Gray Squirrel (although slightly smaller than fox squirrels they maybe slightly more aggressive) evicts a Screech Owl with internal and external view. Final video is from the UK where Gray Squirrels are invasive, and even though Tawny Owls (a tad smaller than Barred owls a tad larger than Barn Owls) may prey upon gray squirrels, this squirrel pushes the owl out of the tree hollow: all are are very well done and very intriguing.

all videos use with permission.

video courtesy of texas backyard wildlife

Video Courtesy of Megascops’ Manors there are more squirrel vs. screech owl interactions on the channel as well!

Embedded with permission of Robert E Fuller Website: Robert E Fuller | Wildlife Artist | Photographer | Naturalist YouTube Channel: Robert E Fuller – YouTube

Thank you and much appreciated for the uses of the videos! I love watching these interactions.

Owling Challenge: Superb_owl Sunday

The play on words I can not take credit for, I saw it on a social media owl site but it is very fittingly applied to the first points of the season, which did happen on Super Bowl Sunday. Late start this year for owl points. Anyway, my wife gets the first 2 points of the year, we went for a long family walk and she was able to fist see a great horned owl, and a snowy owl. The great horned owl was a truly impressive find from a distance, in fact I thought at first it was just a suspicious clump of leaves and pine needles after she pointed it out. We then got quite a bit closer to reveal it was in fact an owl that was behind the pine needles.

The great horned owl after we got closer to confirm, yes an owl

The trail went right under the tree that the owl was in, able to get a good photo.

A little ways after the great horned owl, my wife sees this snowy owl

so today:
My Wife 2 points
Me 0 points

Last year I earned the trophy with a 3 points to 2 total, breaking the tie driving my son home from practice, with this late day road side hunting barred owl and was able to get this ‘high-key’ portrait of it.

A 2 Saw-Whet Day

Its not often I find one saw-whet owl, so I was a bit taken back when I found 2 on a walk. I even double backed along the trail just to make sure the first one hadn’t followed me. Maybe a pair, or maybe just a good year for them?  No points for the challenge(solo walk) but exciting anyway.

Saw-whet owl #1,

Saw-whet #2 seen about 15-20 minutes later.

2 Points to Tie (Owling Challenge) + Lots of Photos

Score: 2 to 2

It has been a better than average year for snowy owl sightings so we took our first family walk of the season along a local beach and trails on a mild December day.  Now my wife stopped to help out our youngest put some layers of clothes into a backpack and I casually walked up a head.  My wife did not like the apparent cheating by me looking for owls while she was helping out.  She quickly filed a complaint to the rules committee.  The committee quickly sent out a ruling that this did not violate any rules and it was indeed a fair part of the challenge.  This ruling would comeback to haunt me a little later on as I helped our youngest up the trail of a larger dune. My wife took the competitive advantage, scampered to the top to get a good view and quickly found 2 snowy owls before anyone else reached the top.   We are now tied with 2 owl points a piece, but it seems like this year is a better owl year for us, as there have been plenty of owl sightings the were not counted as points.  Especially barred owls seem to be around in good numbers this season. So hopefully more points to come.

First snowy owl, 1 point for wife.

Second snowy owl, 1 point for wife

the rest of these owls were not found with-in challenge parameters so no points.

barred owl (solo owl walk, no points)

This screech owl was in a hollow used last year, (no points)

another solo find, barred owl

This barred owl seen with-in a couple hundred feet of the barred owl below(solo owl find, no points)

a saw-whet in a pine found on a solo owl hunt (no-point)

Owling Challenge 2018

Last years challenge was a bit of a pitcher’s duel, not many owls for points. I won last years challenge 1-0, with a road side barred owl. This year is off to a faster start. The first point for 2018 was also a road side barred owl, unfortunately it was too dark, and the docu-pic is in question. The ruling on the field is 1 point, but it maybe up for protest at the end of the season based on the poor quality of documentation. The second point was for a saw-whet owl that I was alerted to by tufted titmice. otherwise never would have seen it. So right now the score is 2 points for me, 0 points for my wife.

The questionable docu-shot for a barred owl, can almost make out the tail and the top of its head??? maybe a protest review if there is a tie.

Saw-Whet Owl 1 point for me

How Did a Saw-Whet Owl Get its Name: Submitting Evidence?

One of the owl worlds ‘great’ mysteries (or not) is how did a saw-whet owl get its name. Of course there are answers: John J. Audubon wrote:

The Little Owl is known in Massachusetts by the name of the “Saw-whet,” the sound of its love-notes bearing a great resemblance to the noise produced by filing the teeth of a large saw.

and

I was much astonished to hear these sounds issuing from the interior of the grist-mill. The door having been locked, I had to go to my miller’s house close by, to inquire if any one was at work in it.

http://www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/little-owl

The problem is there is disagreement among those that study these owls as to which of the many sound saw-whets make that is the actual call that gets its its name. I found this thesis online the outlines the discussion very well:

The Northern Saw-whet Owl is named for a “saw-whet” call, although there is dispute about which call this is, as Saw-whets make a variety of calls, and the literature is ambiguous as to which vocalization is the true “saw-whet” call. The call is said to be likened, however, to a saw being sharpened or “whetted” (Cannings 1993).
The first call that many people claim is the “saw-whet” call is an advertising call that consists of a repetitive series of notes pitched at 1100 Hz. This call is given at a rate of two calls per second and is made primarily by males although females will make a similar call during courtship. The female’s variant is much softer, however, and less consistent in both amplitude and pitch than that of their male counterparts. The male’s version of this call is very loud and can be heard 300 meters away in a forest and up to a kilometer away over water. Territorial males will respond to a recorded playback of this call with a softer, lower pitched version that is more rapid, at four to five notes per second (Cannings 1993).
The second call thought to be the “saw-whet” call is a nasally whine or wail. This call is produced at about the same pitch as the previous call, but lasts for two to three seconds. The pitch will change during the call as more harmonics are added, as will the volume (Cannings 1993).

The last vocalization suggested to be the Saw-whet’s namesake is probably the closest sounding call to the sound of a saw. It consists of a brief succession of loud calls that usually consists of three calls per series. This call is made by both sexes. This particular call has been described as a “ksew-ksew-ksew” call (Cannings 1993).

http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1170&context=honors

Like a lot of owlers I have heard both calls and then some, and none of them reminded me of a saw or anything else being filed or sharpened on a whetstone. So I went to youtube to see what I was missing, and much to my dismay after seeing lots of videos of how to sharpen things I still was left not finding a similar sound to the owl. Until I saw one with an antique treadle grinding(whet) stone. It wasn’t the sound of the actual grinding that made a sound that was similar, it was the harmonic squeak of metal on metal that suggested (with out much imagination) with the right speed and rhythm would do a very nice tooting imitation, this would also explain the sounds from the “gristmill” confusion in Audubon’s account too, as a rotating grain grinding wheel that needed lubricant may also produce a similar sound. Anyway here is the video: I would love to hear from others that may have more insight than me on the subject or other evidence one way or another.

Owling Challenge: a ‘Pitcher’s Duel’

Last years owling challenge result, I won 2-0.
This year was off to a tense start with neither my wife nor myself able to pick up points, there were owls around, a good year for snowy owls too, but upon replay none qualified for points until yesterday. 1 point for a road side hunting barred owl for me. Found on my drive into work first thing in the morning. According to section 5: We have to be together for an owl to count as a point with the one exception being road side owls. Such as a new screech owl in hollow or a hunting owl. So this clearly qualifies. Anyway score is 1 to 0 in the bottom of the 7th.

No points for these owls as we were not together, seen earlier in the year
Barred owl:

Long-eared owl:

One challenge point for me for this road side barred owl:

Been a While

Site 1

It has been very quiet at this site, owl wise this season.  The resident screech owls disappeared back in 2015. Unfortunately, it seems, no new screech owls have found this prime real-estate yet. Sometimes Barred or Great Horned owls spend some time in some woodlots near by in the winter. This year nada. Well until just recently, to save being completely owl-skunked a snowy owl showed up…well quite a distance away but no doubt an owl!  This year has been very good for snowy owls, not quite up to the record breaking 2013-2014 snowy year but close.  So just a distant docushot snowy owl pic.