I spent Friday night at Sherman Pass in a vain attempt to detect a Boreal
Owl. The weather was not in my favor, as within an hour after sunset, the
wind picked up to a howl. At one gust, my car was moved. It was not a
night for productive owling.



I did have a BARRED OWL call five times from the Kettle Trail to the north,
possibly in response to my Boreal calls, just shortly after sunset. This is
significant, given the time of year and the altitude (5575 feet). Several
biologists studying Spotted Owls have noted that when Barred owls move into
Spotted territory, the Spottys tend to move upslope. There has been some
hope that maybe the Spottys will hang on at these higher elevations, and
survive as a species. I had a Barred Owl call at Roger's Lake last fall,
and had hopes that maybe this was a transient bird. With this bird at
Sherman Pass in mid-March, it now appears Barred Owls altitudinal limits may
be similar to Spotteds.



Jamie Acker

Bainbridge Island

Owler at sounddsl.com