July 12, 2007 - Call, and the owls listenThe Suffolk Times • July tla
n e ow l
Is
One of the things that helps me
find a subject to write about is the tele-
phone calls I receive from readers tell-
ing me about some interesting event or
bird they thought unusual and wanted
to share with me. A perfect example
was a call this week from Ray, who was
enjoying one of his unusual evening ac-
tivities, calling in
FOCUS owls to his back-
yard. This skill of
O N imitating owls is
well known, and
NATURE Ray is probably
b Paul one of the best.
Y He called be-
Stoutenburgh cause it was the
first time he had
called in a gray - colored owl — one
he had never seen before. Usually
he lures the little screech owl to his
backyard, but this time, along with the
usual rusty red screech owl, was this
gray owl. What was it? What he had
lured to his backyard was a screech
owl in its gray phase, a rather unusual
sight, for most screech owls are the
standard rusty red color.
Ray was so excited about his find, he
thought perhaps he could come to our
place and try his luck at calling in an
owl or two. "Of course, we'd be glad to
have you come and `hoot for owls. "' So
that evening Ray came with all his en-
thusiasm and started calling. (Oh, yes, I
might add that Ray brought a bowl of
his special calamari he's noted for and
wanted to share with us. I had it for
lunch and must say it was excellent.)
Ray tried one call, then another. Sor-
ry to say even his very best renditions
of a screech owl call didn't bring any
response. Barbara and I enjoyed listen-
ing to this expert owl caller as he cre-
ated one call after another, each one
sounding exactly as if the owl was right
there. If you don't believe me, the next
time you see Ray ask him to give you
his rendition of the call of the screech
owl and you'll have to agree with me
— he's one of the best.
�i
isten
Left: The call of the small screech owl is probably the most common call to
be heard in our area. This owl has two color phases — in one the owl is a
reddish color, in the other, gray.
Right: A winter visitor from the far North, the snowy owl is probably our
most handsome owl. It's an owl of open spaces, such as dunes, farm fields,
marshes. etc. It's one of the few owls that hunts during the day.
Evidently, there just aren't any
screech owls in our area. Perhaps the
great horned owl that the crows have
been harassing for the past week has
driven them away or, worse yet, had
them for supper. Yes, the great horned
owl isn't a bit choosy, whether it's a rab-
bit, a bird, or even your pet cat; they are
all just food for this "tiger of the woods.
While we're on the subject of owls,
did you ever think of trying to call in
any of these hunters of the night? You
say you can't because you can't make
a call like an owl? That's easily solved
— just go to your local library and see
if they can find you a tape of owl calls.
Then all you have to do is play the re-
cording of the particular owl you want
to lure to your backyard and go for
it. Start calling. It's not hard; it will all
,o with a little practice.
You'd be surprised how simple it is
to make the system work. A bit of ad-
vice — find out what owls are m your
Area. It's not much good to put a lot of
Lime and effort into an owl call for an
owl that's found only in the deserts of
Arizona. Start off with something smal
like a screech owl, which we know
nests in our area.
I've mentioned the two most vo-
cal owls in our area. The next most
popular owl found around the East
End would be the barn owl. This is
a rather large owl, light brown and
creamy white in color. It's one of the
best mouse and rat eliminators you ca
have around your buildings
m +�
� V �
o�,oN
0 4J
rooc+�
s a �a
E
H g it O
o ° M 'O
L T UA
_
as
E R i=
a�
oL c
0
41 >
41 ,
N O
= ++
bA E O
41 ybA
� � C
bA
N 4J i
O �
O C N
CL
y-
C1 N > y
d � �
C T >
d
p C O O
Y o
0
c vi w- t
.o�3c
O O ° N
o W
L 7
O ° +-
"_
o-
L J
+. 3 °
4J
M
Oc N
N N'
E mo s N
°r °2�
4J M
r N o 0
4 N E
qj 7 q! 7
c c
as
E H c
LL H C
0 IN
k A
ijl EF ML, r 'or Atli I
4
Down South in the orange groves
, rr
rats were doing a lot of damage and
costing the growers a ton of money
trying to get rid of them. The
'lAli��yy
growers
tried all kinds traps
ql %r
of and poisons, but
'n
nothing worked. Then someone came
up with the idea of introducing barn
owls into the area. The growers made
i�Nr,rr'uti
boxes for the owls to live and nest in.
Today the rat problem in the Southern
orange groves is no more; the barn
owls did the job that man and technol-
ogy couldn't do.
r r�/
The screech owl, the great horned
owl and the barn owl are the owls
we're most likely to hear and see in our
area. There are others less known, like
the long- eared, the short -eared and the
saw -whet.
Of course we can't forget the most
beautiful of all owls: the snowy owls.
They visit us in the wintertime. Look
d�!r
for them in such open spaces as
along the dunes, in open farmland, in
%
marshes and places away from man's
activities. A unique thing about this
owl is that it hunts during the daytime,
while most other owls do their hunting
��/
at night.