** Reply to message from RIsherwood at aol.com on Tue, 15 Oct 2002 18:36:17 -0400
(EDT)


> Twice this summer while camping in coastal forests I have heard in the dead
> of night a very distinctive series of calls - two or three loud tortured
> shrieks ( rather like a cat when you tread on it) followed by, or
> alternating with, a long trill, first rising then falling in pitch. I heard
> it first in September in the Broughton Islands of BC , and again this week at
> Obstruction Point on Orcas Island. Neither time did I see the bird.

Sounds like a Western Screech-Owl, Richard. It is about the only coastal owl
that may give a long trill such as you heard... and is much more likely to be
on the Broughton Islands than a N. Hawk Owl. Granted, one hears the "bouncing
ball" song more often.

Jack Bowling Prince George, BC mailto: jbinpg at shaw.ca