>> FLAMMULATED OWL: Despite my recent purchase of a much
> stronger spotlight, I still have no confidence in my
> ability to locate the more difficult owls.

Increasing the intensity of a spotlight does little to increase the
probability of locating an owl. Anything over 500,000 candlepower is
unnecessary,and possibly detrimental to the vision of the nocturnal owls.
Remember that they have 8x the number of rods in their eyes that you have.

A much better investment is night vision. Owl eyes show up dramatically
with night vision, and allow you to easily locate the bird, so that you
can then shine a spotlight or flashight for better visibility. I use this
technique when trying to find the smaller owls (saw-whet, flams, and other
tree huggers), especially when leading a group that has an expectation of
viewing a bird.

Jamie Acker
owler at sounddsl.com
Bainbridge Island, WA