I met up with seven owlers for the Seattle Audubon Owling field trip coming
off the 2:10 am ferry from Seattle and took them out to owl Bainbridge
Island. The weather was very cooperative- cold and clear. Sound carried
very well; at our first stop we heard three Barred Owls calling from
different directions. It was a very unexpected night out owling - birds I
expected to respond didn't, and birds that I didn't expect responded. In
addition to a total of 14 owls, there were also 5 deer, 2 raccoons and at
least 4 meteors seen.



Barred Owls were frequent responders, and on three separate occasions,
responded to another owl species call. In the first instance, at a historic
Western Screech-owl location, a Barred Owl gave a "whoaa!" call in response
to a Western Screech-owl recording. This bird later flew in overhead
silently, and perched openly for a visual for the group. In another
instance, while calling for Northern Saw-whet owls, a Barred Owl flew in
silently and perched for a closer visual. In the last instance, a Barred
Owl flew into the same tree at approximately the same height, as a
responding Northern Saw-whet Owl. The saw-whet must have seen the Barred
coming, because it ducked out and around the tree to the other side of the
road, and commenced calling again.



Northern Saw-whets were challenging. While the group had a total of 6 for
the night, and heard a good repertoire from the species, including three
tooters, it wasn't until 6:15 when I was pretty well frustrated at not
getting a visual for the group, that one perched briefly for the group to
observe. This was the same bird that a Barred Owl made a pass at.



At almost 7 am after getting obsessed with trying to get a visual for the
group on a saw-whet, I realized we might be too late to hear a Great Horned
Owl. We quickly drove to the location, and after calling for several
minutes, were rewarded with a male Great Horned Owl calling back many times.
It was a nice way to end the "morning".



The group heard or saw 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls, 7 Barred Owls, and 1 Great
Horned Owl.



Jamie Acker

Bainbridge Island

Owler at sounddsl.com