Barb Beck, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
barb at forestburg.forsci.ualberta.ca


We have called a lot for owls at night and very little during the day.
However even out of breeding season at least many will respond to taped
calls (either of their call or that of another species)

Below is a quick summary off the top of my head.

Barred... in and out of breeding season .. pretty easy to incite a riot.
Great Horned.. in and out of breeding season.
Boreal.... In and out of breeding season. Main song. Only tried twice
during the day and both times successful.
Great Grey... Have only been successful once..during the day in Aug.
(This is the one owl we have tried for several times during the
day when we locate one because I would kill for a recording) We
see lots of these guys but none talking.
Saw-whet.... in and out of breeding season. Song, alarm call, and several
other vocalizations.
Long-eared... first ever in Edmonton Xmas Count responded to my immitated
saw-whet whistle (I frequently do that to bring down other small birds)
when we were starting the daylight portion of the count. We then
dug back in the car for a tape and got him to respond some more
so I could record it. In this case the response was not the hoot
"song" but the "small dog barking"call.

Other observations: Owls call better, usually, at night. If it is windy or
raining forget it. Below -20C shuts most birds up... you really have to
work like crazy on a really cold Xmas count. Moon seems to have some effect
on spontanious vocalization but not to responses to tape in saw-whet and
great horned owls.

Owls call better on a full belly. If they are out hunting they are less likely
to disturbe their hunt and hoot than after they have downed their dinner. This
has been observed by several people in our area.

Saw-whets that will not respond to a saw-whet call respond to boreal calls.
We have far more saw-whets in the winter responding to boreal calls than to
saw-whet songs. Great Horned Owls that are ignoring their own call sometimes
get very excited aat the call of a Great Grey. (My husband and I have called
hundreds of saw-whet and great horned owls)

It is a myth.. at least in this area.. that great horned calls stop saw-whets
from calling. We have often had a great horned singing in the top of a
spruce with a saw-whet calling 10 feet from the ground in the same tree.

Will somebody PLEASE figure out how to get them to respond better during the
daylight hours than night for Christmas Birdcount. My husband kicks me out
into the frozen wilderness at 12:01.. he will not even let me have a cup of
coffee until I get in the car.

Barb Keep you bum off the ice and
your binoculars off the roof of the car