A few evenings ago at Lincoln Park (West Seattle) after working on saving
the last Sanicula crassicaulis (Pacific Snakeroot - Carrot Family)
population in Seattle from encroaching alien grasses and other plants it was
getting towards dark so I tried hooting to the Barred Owls. Though I got no
immediate response, one of the Barred Owls soon started what I call the
"monkey holler" of a crecendo repeated hoots with no "cooks for you" ending
along with their weird somewhat cat-like scream, both of which I believe are
often associated with courtship. I saw one fly a short distance then found
both male and female perched near eachother when I went to investigate.

Then yesterday afternoon at 12:37 pm I walked by to see if any owls were in
the area that I had seen them and if I could find any perches with pellets
below. When I arrived one owl started giving his/her "who cooks for you".
It seemed that it may have been no coincidence that it gave its call when I
arrived. There was no response from the other owl and I didn't locate a
second one. Then later the same afternoon at about 3:30 pm I came back to
check on the owls and to take another quick check for pellets. Once again I
got another mid-day "who cooks for you" and once again no other owl
responded. I've previously observed Barred Owls hooting in the
mid-afternoon at about this time of year and associated it with courtship,
but this time there was no exchange and it seemed that the owl was hooting
at me. While I don't know if it is at all probable, I had a theory that the
owl had seen me hooting before and remembered me, even though I didn't hoot
at all that day. It then may have treated me as it might another owl in its
territory by hooting at me, though it didn't swoop down at me as one might
do to an intruding owl.

I will lead a walk this Saturday evening at Lincoln Park 5:30 to 7:00 pm to
hopefully observe both the owls and with more of this interesting behavior.
Details in the subsequent posting.

Stewart Wechsler
Ecological Consulting
West Seattle
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net

-Advice on the most site-appropriate native plants
and how to enhance habitat for the maximum diversity
of plants and animals
-Educational programs, nature walks and field trips
-Botanical Surveys

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