rb_stern
Richard stern
After weeks of windy evenings and being busy with other activities I finally got around around to doing my owl survey route yesterday evening, aided and abetted by the good company and excellent ears of 2 birding friends.
the route goes 14.8Km down a remote woods dirt road, from Falmouth to Benjamin Mills, Hants. Co., and involves stopping every 1.6km. and playing a standardized recording for 10 minutes at each stop. What an amazing night, with temp of +18C at the beginning, falling to +15C at the end - a far cry from the usual hovering around zero. Also a great night for stargazing and plane-watching, as it was a cloudless and moonless sky. At one stop we had 2 pairs of Barred Owls on opposite sides of the road, responding to the Barred Owl part of the tape, and sounding very like the pair on the tape. At the last 2 stops we had 3 Saw-Whets, including one that was so close that we were right beside the tree from which it was calling - continuously from as soon as we stopped, to when we left - but it was a dense fir, and we couldn't actually see the bird.
The owl locations and count are similar to the last few years, but we missed the Gt. Horned at the last stop this time around. We also had 2 Woodcock and 1 Snipe, many Robins before it got too dark, and some deafening Peepers, Toads, and many small moths. Got home around 12:30 this morning. Richard
the route goes 14.8Km down a remote woods dirt road, from Falmouth to Benjamin Mills, Hants. Co., and involves stopping every 1.6km. and playing a standardized recording for 10 minutes at each stop. What an amazing night, with temp of +18C at the beginning, falling to +15C at the end - a far cry from the usual hovering around zero. Also a great night for stargazing and plane-watching, as it was a cloudless and moonless sky. At one stop we had 2 pairs of Barred Owls on opposite sides of the road, responding to the Barred Owl part of the tape, and sounding very like the pair on the tape. At the last 2 stops we had 3 Saw-Whets, including one that was so close that we were right beside the tree from which it was calling - continuously from as soon as we stopped, to when we left - but it was a dense fir, and we couldn't actually see the bird.
The owl locations and count are similar to the last few years, but we missed the Gt. Horned at the last stop this time around. We also had 2 Woodcock and 1 Snipe, many Robins before it got too dark, and some deafening Peepers, Toads, and many small moths. Got home around 12:30 this morning. Richard