I know that pygmy owls can be low, and in my one-bird experience, you should
look high as well. The one I saw was at the very top of a cedar (I think it
was), maybe 90 feet up or so.

Of course, that doesnt't help you much if you have too much tree to search
through. I'd suggest the following trick:

When the owl calls, cock your head to the side, with one ear toward the
ground and the other facing up. Change the angle of your head slightly with
each call. You will quickly be able to approximate how high up the bird is.

With our ears at the same level, we can easily tell left from right, but
sounds above us and below are effectively in stereo -- the sound has the
same distance to travel to each ear -- so it's easy to misjudge where
they're coming from. By cocking your head, you create a slight difference
in the distance that the sounds travels to each ear. By changing the angle,
you can triangulate a little to gauge distance. I might have botched the
layman's explanation a bit, but it works. :)

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: Patric and Karla Grimwood [mailto:p_grimwood at msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 9:20 AM
To: tweeters
Subject: Northern Pygmy Owl calls again


Hello Tweets,

My Northern Pygmy Owl started calling again yesterday morning early. This
morning it is still calling at 9:15am. Unfortunately, I can't find it in my
trees. How high up should I be looking? It seems close enough that I am
having a hard time locating its location too. I've tried calling it in with
a sound file from the computer, but can't get it to move. Any other
suggestions are greatly appreciated. I would love to actually see this bird
after hearing it for the second season.

Karla Grimwood
Carnation (Lake Marcel), WA
p_grimwood at msn.com