Guy & Tweeters,

I probably qualify for the "extremist" category when it comes to night time
owling. I am usually out one morning a weekend from October to March,
weather permitting.

My equipment:
Audio - My daughter's CD player connected to a small speaker. It
works, but it is the weak link in the system. Somebody could make a killing
selling a portable system capable of rapidly accessing digital files with a
speaker system to birders. I use a homemade CD of Washington owls gathered
from various sources.
Spotlight - I have a 500,000 candlepower cordless spotlight. Any
more candle power is probably harmful, and at observation ranges, overkill.
A 300,000 candle power spotlight would be ideal, but I have not seen one
anywhere.
Nightvision - Some years ago, my wife bought me "Night Owl Optics",
and at the time, I was extremely skeptical and wanted no part of them. (I
spent many a watch at periscope depth looking through a night vision
periscope at the Soviet fleet in the early 80's. I don't have fond
memories....) At any rate, night optics really help out. They are useless
for an area search, but terrific for pinpointing a calling bird buried in a
cedar tree. Owl eyes shine back in IR like two yellow stars in a pitch
black sky that move together. When leading an owl prowl, these have bailed
me out on numerous occasions for views.

Ethics:
Touchy subject that is similar to "cats" on Tweeters, especially
when dealing with seldom seen night owls such as Boreal, at places that do
not allow playback, such as national parks....
I alternate my routes so that I do not owl the same location two
weekends in a row, so as to minimize disturbance to any one bird. Using
playback or calling with voice is a disturbance to the resident bird. Both
evoke a response. As I am learning from my Barred Owls on telemetry, just
because a bird does not appear when called, does not mean that it has not
responded.

You are welcome to join me sometime, however besides Barred Owls, not much
is responding locally here. It won't pick up again until the Saw-whets
start migrating again in October.

Jamie Acker
Bainbridge Island
Owler at sounddsl.com