On Saturday July 24th, I was up on Orcas Island visiting my sister. While waiting for the 10:40 ferry back to Anacortes I decided to walk down the road and look for owls. I found one in a large willow tree next to a little pond. It was the size of a Western Screech-Owl but in the one time that I saw its silhouette, it had a smooth rounded head with no ear tufts. I also saw a light flash of the wing a couple of times. I never heard it make a sound, and it flew around in the tree, moving quite a bit. Unfortunately I left my light at home since I wasn't expecting to go owling. I was mostly whistling for screech-owls, but did saw-whet a few times also. I have seen Western Screech-Owls, but never saw-whet. Since there were no ear tufts, does this eliminate it from being a screech and make it a saw-whet? Is anyone familiar with the owls in that area?

Other highlights from the day:

Anacortes Ferry Terminal:
Heermann's Gull (1)
Mew Gull
Purple Martin
Deer (7)
River Otter (1)

Orcas Island:
Osprey (1) - just East of Eastsound
Black Oystercatcher (1) - just East of Eastsound in oysterbeds
Semipalmated Sandpiper (1) - " "
Least Sandpiper (4) - " "
Western Screech Owl / Northern Saw-whet Owl - just east of ferry dock
Pileated Woodpecker - Camp Orkila
Olive-sided Flycatcher - Mountain Lake
Townsend's Warbler - Mt. Constitution

On the ferry ride back the Northern Lights were shining high into the sky over Orcas.

Thanks for your help and good birding

Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA
merrillr AT bc.edu