Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 05:18:22 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "rick@blazie.net" Subject: Re: Screech owl returns MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Hi there, > > Just curious. Is it a common occurence for screech owls to disappear during breeding season and to return this to their "regular" roosting sites this late? > > Just curious. This has been the first year, in about 3 or 4, that I "lost" the screech owls near my house. > > Kerry Stone Kerry: I doubt they are actually disappearing, although they certainly seem to. For one thing, Screech Owls are essentially resident, staying in the same area year around. There is some local movement in the fall when the young disperse but the evidence suggests that few move very far. Screech Owls are nearly silent during the breeding season. They are very vocal (and responsive to tapes) in winter and get quieter through the spring. By the time there are eggs on the nest they are virtually voiceless. You can see just how great the difference is by comparing the totals from Christmas Counts and May Counts. The birds get noisy again starting in July when the young fledge and are often noisy, even during the day. They tend to stay responsive throughout the fall. Oddly, Barred Owls are just the opposite. They are very quiet in winter but very noisy in May when they are breeding. Rick Eirik A.T. Blom 6058 Ritchie Highway Baltimore, MD 21225 (410) 789-2328 rick@blazie.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================