Hi everyone,
This morning at 12:00AM Bryan Mathews, Carol Schulz, and I met in Auburn to
go owling in the freezing cold in Kent. It turned out to be a very successful
night, with 4 species of owl in approx. 3 hours. The plan was to owl at Soos
Creek Park for a while, then go to Shadow Lake Bog, and end the night at the
Emerald Downs area of the Auburn Valley. At Soos Creek Park, we walked up the
trail and turned right at the first T in the trail. Bryan blew a Western
Screech-Owl call through his owl-whistle. A bird responded pretty far in the
distance almost immediately. The bird then stopped calling after a few
minutes, and did not fly in to us. So we went back to the T and this time
turned left. A ways up the trail on this side, we called for a Northern
Saw-whet Owl. Another immediate response. The bird was tooting not too far
off on the hillside. After a few minutes of listening to the bird, we called
again briefly and after several seconds, Bryan waved his hands and ducked as
the Saw-whet flew straight for his face! He said that he had no time to do
anything other than get out of the way, the bird was literally <1 foot from
his head, and was not going to stop. The little owl then flew across the
trail and landed in some dense cover. We called one more time and the bird
flew at us again, this time landing on a Cedar trunk just above eye level,
very close. The owl stayed on this perch for only 3-4 seconds, and then flew
to a perch right next to us in a small thicket. He once again only stayed
there briefly before flying back up the hill where we originally heard him
from. But it was long enough, and we left the bird as he continued to call.
We then decided there were two birds in the same area, as they called from
both sides of the road without us seeing any shadows. Up the trail a bit
further, we heard a Great-horned Owl calling in the distance. The bird was
not really responding to us, besides calling. We have a suspicion that this
bird was on the nest. Another interesting thing about this bird was that the
call added another 'hooo' at the end of the call, making it sound like, "hooo
hoo-hoo... hoooo... hooo... hoo" or, "Who's awake, meee tooo hoo." Has anyone
ever noticed this call? Is it more often given by a female on the nest?
By now we were getting a bit cold and started heading back. On our way, we
noted that the N. Saw-whet Owl was still calling from the hillside, but this
time it was giving a slower and much longer tooting, very similar to a Pygmy.
As we called for a Western Screech in the area of the T in the trail, Bryan
noticed a huge Great-horned Owl fly directly over us, less than 30 feet up.
We also scared what we think may have been a daytime bird. As we called for
Western Screech, the bird gave a very scratchy, weak "sheeka-sheeka-sheeka"
as it flew from one bush to another. Whatever it was, it didn't respond again.
We then drove to the Shadow Lake Bog, and called there for all owls. When
we first drove up, we could hear a Barn Owl screaming in the distance. We
then walked into the thick forest, with the trees blocking so much light that
we couldn't see anything without the flashlight. Nothing responded to our
calls, however. Finally, as we did a N. Saw-whet call, we heard the bird
fairly far off in the distance, and several seconds later Bryan saw the
shadow of one flying. However, the bird didn't call again, and we couldn't
find it with the light.
We then drove the back roads in Auburn and Kent, especially near Emerald
Downs in Auburn, hoping to see a Barn Owl. However, we didn't see any at all.

Owls seen/heard:

Great-horned Owl: 2, 1 visual
Western Screech-Owl: 1 heard only
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 3, 1 visual
Barn Owl: 1 heard only

All in all, an excellent night of owling!

http://hometown.aol.com/birdking88/index.html
Birdking88 at aol.com
Charlie W. Wright
Sumner, WA
Age 12