Tweets,



Yesterday evening (September 2) I hiked the Huckleberry Mountain Ridge Trail
west to Bone Lake and beyond (accessed above Greenwater via FSR 7010/7012
and assorted spurs) following rumors of either Spotted or Barred Owl in that
vicinity. No luck with Spotted, but as it was getting dark a medium-sized
owl circled over head at the edge of an open patch. It seemed too buoyant
for Spotted or Barred and not sufficiently bouncy for Short-eared so I
suspected Long-eared. A quarter mile further near the high point of the
ridge at the edge of a meadow two more bounded out of and in and among the
trees. I eventually got a good look at one perched and it was a Long-eared
(long ear tufts, yellow eyes, orange face). On my way back I encountered
what I think were at least three more, loosely associating, but never more
than two in sight at one time. Curious but mostly silent.



I had a very similar experience east of Walla Walla a few years ago. I quote
from my August 9, 2005, tweeters posting titled "A Harry Potter mail call
moment":



"Last week, August 3 [2005], I found myself camped just north of the Oregon
border on FSR 64 in the Blue Mountains at ca. 5800 feet, on the Mill
Creek-Wenaha River divide. I took a short stroll down the road and had a
medium sized owl swoop low and land on a exposed twig not far over my head.
It repeated these short overflights several times and afforded a close view
as the light faded. I ruled out Barred Owl as the belly was marked more like
a Spotted and it seemed less heavily built, but there aren't any Spotted
Owls within 200 miles and I thought I could detect a yellow iris, but no
visible ear tufts.



A few minutes later the same or another similar owl flew across the clearing
near my spot, soon joined by at least six more owls, all flitting about,
probably catching insects, but also very curious about me, frequently
dipping overhead within a few feet. One landed on a branch silhouetted
against the dusky sky and showed its rather long, closely-spaced ear tufts.
LONG-EARED OWLS. Not much in the way of vocalizations -- just a few squawks,
contact notes -- and nothing more overnight.



What's with these owls? Do they nest in this habitat (subalpine fir /
Engelman spruce / lodgepole pine forest) or were they post-breeding upslope
migrants?"



I recall that Mike Denny reported something similar about that time also in
the Blue Mountains and that there have been similar encounters at Hart's
Pass and at Sunrise on Mt. Rainier. Mark Vernon watched a pair at owls at
dusk near Noble Nob September 11, 2008, a short way southwest of Naches Pass
that were probably Long-eared.



As I very much doubt that Long-eared Owls breed in these areas it would
appear to represent a fall migration phenomenon (or, perhaps, "post-breeding
dispersal"). Sort of like the movement of Prairie Falcons down the crests in
fall.



Is this phenomenon documented in the literature?



Gene Hunn



PS: Also last night a Common Nighthawk cruised over the ridge near Bone Lake
and a pair of Great Horned Owls called back and forth north of Windy Gap at
the Cascade crest, just before the lighting, thunder, rain, wind, and fog
shut me down.