Re: Screech Owl again.
rick (rblom@blazie.com)
Fri, 10 Jul 1998 22:38:37 -0400
Don Burggraf wrote:
>In April, I reported in MDOsprey a singing Screech Owl in my Baltimore City
>neighborhood (Lake-Evesham area north of Nothern Parkway). I mentioned
>that I would keep an ear tuned for the owl in case it might return. No
>luck until this morning. I woke up a little before five, and I heard the
>owl singing (or calling?) the single-toned trill. It vocalized about five
>minutes longer after I first heard it, and then was quiet.
Screech owls are notoriously seasonal in their vocalization.
Typically they are very easy to get in winter (witness some of the
extraordinary Christmas Count totals), and become quieter as spring
approaches. By May (the May Count totals are pathetic by comparison) they
are nearly silent, even in response to tapes.
They start getting vocal again when the young fledge and many of
the breeding bird atlas reports are of July birds, many of which answered
tapes in the middle of the day. The accepted wisdom is that they make no
sounds while there are young in the nest, perhaps as a way of reducing
predation risk, although I have not seen any publication on the subject and
in general there is very little information available about the seasonal
vocalization of any North American owls. Almost everything we know is
anecdotal.
Rick
"Lack of education is an extraordinary handicap when one is being
offensive." Josephine Tey
Rick Blom
rblom@blazie.com
Bel Air, Maryland