Re. saw-whet owls: They seem rather spottily distributed to me. I can't
whistle on their pitch so I'm stuck with lugging a tape around, so I am
less likely than those who can whistle to call them out. George Gerdts
gets them to respond routinely in winter at several spots on Bainbridge
Is. and we have had some luck with them in our Skagit Bay CBC area near
Fishtown, but I've only heard one once in maybe 15 years of owling at
Seward Park for the CBC and later, though the habitat seems just fine for
them. Another place where they are regularly reported is along the Green
River east of Auburn on the Kent-Auburn CBC, but I don't know the
specific sites myself.

It has also been my experience that for as yet unfathomable reasons
saw-whets may call readily one night and not be heard again at the same
spot at the same season and with the same moon/weather conditions. They
often in winter respond to a taped song with a single "skew" and refuse
to respond again. They have their own agenda. W. Screech Owls seem
quite a bit easier to call in, in my experience, but most of my sightings
are of probably the same few individuals at the same known locations.

Gene Hunn.

On Wed, 27 Dec 1995, Nunnallee, Dave wrote:

>
> Regarding Saw-whet Owls, Chris Hill wrote:
>
> >...So it seems, based on limited looking, like there are
> >quite a few Saw-whets "out there" in winter in W.
> >Washington. <clip>... I haven't seen big numbers on
> >W Washington counts <clip> ...are the low totals on local
> >christmas counts due to low numbers of Saw-whets, or
> >to people not looking? How often do you expect to find
> >this species in winter around here?
>
> One of my pet peeves is the standard statement in many birding books,
> "Common in proper habitat", and with no other group of birds than owls is
> this phrase more over-used. IMHO, owls are among the most difficult of
> birds to find, and with a few exceptions I think they are generally much
> less common than we are led to believe. I have spent many evenings looking
> & calling for owls of various species, and I have seen nearly all of the
> Washington species, but I have come to the following conclusions:
>
> 1. The vast majority of owl sightings are made by a very few birders. Try
> pinning down a birder who you know is well experienced, and most will admit
> that they have seen only a very few individuals of even the most "common"
> species, such as Western Screech, Pygmy and Saw-Whet.
>
> 2. The vast majority of owl sightings are made in the same localities, by
> the same people, year after year, particularly on Christmas bird counts. If
> you know the best localities, you can find 'em; if you don't, you can't.
> Access is important, too; Barn Owls are easy to find if you have access to
> a barn where they stay, but most barns are on private property.
>
> 3. Serendipitous owl sightings are really pretty uncommon, save for obvious
> species such as Short-eared and Great Horned Owls, and of course Burrowing
> Owls "in the proper habitat". Random, or even carefully planned, scouting
> trips are often fruitless unless you have some inside information.
>
> In view of the above, I suggest that you were either very lucky or very
> talented to find your two Saw-whets in an unknown location. Still, there
> are birders, such as Gene Hunn and Richard Rowlett, who have both the talent
> and hard-core dedication to routinely find owls in numbers. My hat is off
> to them.
>
> As far as Saw-whet Owls specifically are concerned, there are a few
> locations where they seem to be found year after year. Some spots I know
> about include Samish Island, the dike along the Skagit wildlife area on Fir
> Island, and of course Reifel Refuge near Ladner, B.C..
>
> Dave Nunnallee
> dnun461 at ecy.wa.gov
> Bellevue, WA
>
>