Hi all:
I completed the second of three owl monitoring routes that I do last night. I have the
impression that there are fewer owls this year. I initially did my Lapland/Laconia route
on April 11. The winds were supposed to drop out but they did not. There was a steady
blow of between 40-45 km. Other conditions were optimal in that you could hear for miles
and it was clear with good temperatures. I only heard two very distant barred owls on
that night. I did a re-run of the route on April 18. The moon was bright enough to be
almost daylight and one could walk around without a flashlight to see. The first five
stops there were no owls at all, but I could see by the brightness of the night that
habitat had been totally removed for miles beyond the road barrier left. The winds were
strong during the first stop, but they died out until the last two stops where they picked
up forcibly. I ended up with six barred owls of which three were seen.
Last night I did my Rhodes Corner to Whynott's Settlement to Sweetland route. The
winds again were supposed to drop off, but intermittently throughout the route they would
gust. Most of the stops were low winds, but they seemed rather high on four of the stops.
Anyhow on stop number 1, I heard a great horned owl call as soon as I got out of the
vehicle. At the end I could hear begging calls of young great horned owls. On one other
stop I had a barred owl and a great horned owl calling. On the last stop there were two
barred owls vocal and a very vocal northern saw-whet. These numbers are down for this
route and I should have heard a lot more owls. There were three stops in a row where I
heard American woodcocks making a chittering call. Not the normal pent call or
winnowing.
James R. Hirtle
LaHave
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