Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 07:53:08 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Re: Wintering Owl Search MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 1/28/2003 12:00:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, ABTrowbridge@MSN.COM writes: > I went on an owl search at the Arboreum several weeks ago and found > several trees that were almost caked in whitewash. It looked as if several > generations had nested in the trees. The problem was that the branches were > so thick I couldn't see very far upward. Unwilling (and probably unable!) > to climb the tree and disturb the owls, I backed off and hunted woodpeckers > instead. > > My question - how far away would they likely have been? I checked a few > nearby trees, with no results. Do they stay pretty close to home during the > day, or should I have looked a little further afield? > Maryanne, They were probably fairly close. I watched a group of Long-eared Owls throughout the winter and spring last year and though we found a definite roost site with lots of whitewash and many, many pellets underneath, we never found the owls roosting there during the day. They were always about 75-100 feet away, hidden among thick pine boughs, sleeping away the daylight hours. Saw-whets are sometimes different though. If you find whitewash and pellets on the ground, look directly up and you may find the owl sitting tight against the tree trunk. They are small enough that they can be difficult to find if they are up high though. Hope this helps, Rick Sussman ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================