Now that's a response! Thanks for the effort Gary.

Can I press my luck for a quick follow up?

I gather that the common method is simply to find likely habitat and listen, but if nothing is heard, then try calling the owl in. Forgive me is this is a silly question, but, what then?

Do people ever use night vision to try and find them at that point? Is available light enough to see them? Are flash or spotlights ever used, and are they safe for the owl? As for the tapes used, do people ever use tapes of prey animal sounds (distressed or otherwise) to call in owls? What are the ethical issues involved there?

In fact, I still would like some very basic technique information on how people work there way along a dark trail at night...are flashlights used, and if so, how do you avoid scaring the owls when walking with them? (Do people use the red-tone lights like stargazers use?) I imagine there are other basic owling technique issues I am not even smart enough to ask about...volunteered tips are appreciated!

So...thanks for the Skagit-are location tips Gary, and if you or anyone else wants to take on the follow-ups -- or, yes, add some King County or other WA likely habitat locations -- that would be much appreciated as well!

Thanks again,

Michael Merrill
Spring Lake (Renton) WA
MGMerrillATcomcast.net

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>

> Dear Tweeters,
>
> I do a fair bit of owling in Skagit County; this area is a bit far afield from
> "Greater Seattle," so maybe I am off-base. Anyway, here goes.
>
> I don't use much high-tech gear. I do use a Radio Shack tape deck sometimes, and
> play recordings for the species that I am not good at imitating. It's more fun
> for me when I call the owls up myself. It is not hard to learn how to imitate
> the owls, with practice. Just listen to recordings and imitate. Better yet, when
> you hear the owl in the wild, reply!
>
> In the Skagit County area, I have varying degrees of success with different
> species. For Barn Owls, of course, it just pays to know somebody with a barn you
> can visit. Other than that, one can try driving farm roads such as on Fir Island
> and Samish Flats at night. One can often find a Barn Owl at Northern State
> Recreation Area, E of Sedro-Woolley. Although it is technically not allowed to
> go into the old dairy buildings, a quick walk through these dilapidated
> structures will often reveal, or flush, a Barn Owl.
>
> Great Horned Owls are pretty easy to find if one walks about at night,
> especially from about December to April or so, in areas of broken woodland. I
> almost never find this species in the Upper Skagit. They don't seem to like the
> mountains. The trick with this species is to go out in the first few hours or
> last few hours of night, and listen--not easy in our noisy man-made
> environments. The Swinomish Indian Reservation, the Fir Island Game Range, and
> woodlots on the Samish Flats are good for this species. They also turn up at
> Northern State Recreation Area.
>
> Barred Owls can be irregular. For example, I often find them at Rockport State
> Park on the North American Migration Count (second Saturday in May), but often
> miss them a week later, when I do my annual century day. This species is regular
> in Anacortes Forest Lands at various locations. In the Upper Skagit, they can
> turn up in low-elevation coniferous forests--the kind that used to have Spotted
> Owls. I used to find them fairly regularly when I was driving around the logging
> roads in eastern Skagit County like a possessed man, trying to find Spotted
> Owls.
>
> I used to have some places for Spotted Owls in Skagit, but the birds stopped
> showing up for me. There is one spot I haven't checked in ten years, though. If
> I had a beater pickup truck, I would try again. This species is a depressing
> topic, though.
>
> Western Screech-Owls are declining. A few years ago, I found a family of them
> north of Hamilton, but those birds are gone. Everett Lake (N of Concrete) used
> to be dependable, but I have not seen Screech there in ten years. In my opinion,
> a good way to search for them is to go out at dusk and the first few hours
> afterwards. June should still be okay. Whistle for them or play a tape. Try
> forested areas near creeks. They always seem to be near water. I have a
> hypothesis that the creek noise helps conceal them. One area that I would try is
> the Finney Creek drainage, a vast and very under-birded "working forest" south
> of the Skagit River. Although I found Screech there only once, close to fifteen
> years ago, I think the Finney Unit of Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
> offers good habitat.
>
> For Northern Saw-whet Owls, nighttime is best. December to January are my best
> times, but that may be skewed by effort. They are easy to "whistle up," but
> again, recordings are an option. I have had crummy luck on NSWO the last few
> years, but I used to find them a lot. They like goodly coniferous forest, but it
> does not have to be old growth. They even like relatively small conifers in
> replanted areas.
>
> Northern Pygmy-Owls are found more often in daylight. I have never seen or heard
> one at nighttime. I just walk along logging roads or subalpine trails and
> whistle for them. I found one yesterday, just north of Hamilton, on a motorbike
> "trail." The whistle is very easy to imitate, and it is a sure-fire way to stir
> up passerines. I find that I can get a response from a NOPO maybe five to ten
> times a year, if I do a ton of walking in appropriate habitat and whistle every
> time. September is the best month; logging roads in patchily regenerating
> foothills are the best habitat.
>
> A beginning birder whom I know has acquired a device called a "Fox-Pro." This
> machine is used by hunters to play recordings of various critters, including
> birds, in order to bring them into range, enabling the hunter to kill them. The
> device seems to offer some utility for birders as well. It is a little box that
> you can lay on the ground and play remotely, while you hide in some thicket. We
> used the Fox-Pro to call up a Great Horned Owl recently. I had never tried using
> recordings for that species. It worked great--we had a response at the Fir
> Island Game Range within five or ten minutes.
>
> Happy owling to one and all!
>
>
>
>
> Gary Bletsch Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA
> garybletsch at yahoo.com
>
>
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