All right, I've got a potential 'new' yard bird at stake here in Bellevue,
Eastgate just south of I-90. Northern Pygmy Owl maybe but that would be
unprecedented around here but not impossible I'd think. Maybe just a Western
Screech, ...or, a longer shot, Northern Saw-Whet (again unprecedented but not
impossible).

Here's the deal. At 6:50am this morning, early light, I stepped out on the
back porch to find myself greeted with single toots repeating monotonously on
the same pitch every 2-3 seconds for about 2 minutes. Hmmm..., sounds kind
of like a Northern Pygmy, me thinks. Of course, after 2 minutes and the
instant I answered back, first toot, it quit, not to seen or heard from since.

Just a few days ago, I heard a definite Western Screech at about the same
time, 6:45am or so, early morning light. That one gave me a start at first
because the first sounds were single toots repeated like and not dissimilar to
the one this morning, but only twice, maybe three times before going off on
it's more familiar "bouncing ball" call for a minute or two then quite all
together for the day.

I don't recall having ever heard Western Screech Owl just giving single
toots much less repeatedly for several minutes. Is this unusual? As much as I
would like for this to be a Northern Pygmy Owl, my first guess is Western
Screech that for whatever reason decided to toy with me and prompt me to ask some
of you brighter 'Tweets' out there for your thoughts. Saw-whet isn't out of
the question but in all my experience with them, the toots are on a slightly
different pitch and repeated monotonously at a faster pace.

Western Screech Owl detections in my neighborhood are quite infrequent. I
heard them for a few nights when I first moved here in the Spring 1994, then
never again until last year when I started hearing them (one)again during the
winter and occasionally into the summer. Then nothing until a few mornings
ago when it became only my first yard owl detection at all in 2009.

Thanks for your thoughts and insight.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA
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