I've been busy this winter, so I haven't had much time to post. One of the reasons I've been AWOL is that I've been chasing owls for the past several months. During a Christmas bird count on the Outer Banks, I heard my first Saw-Whet and Long-eared Owls (the latter was truly hair raising). On a weekend jaunt to Belhaven NC, I managed to see my first Short-eared owls, two distant specimens flying like bats in the twilight. Last weekend, I made a trip to Charlotte with some birding friends, and we had outstanding looks at a Great Horned Owl. Nearer to home, I mimicked a Barred Owl under a winter full moon, and had one fly right over my head.
My favorite member of the order Strigiformes, other than perhaps the northern Snowy Owl, is our local Eastern Screech Owl. The above individual was photographed in the middle of a road, near Santee State Park in South Carolina, in 2007. At first, I thought it was a pine cone, but noticing it had ear tufts, I hit the brakes, got out of the car, and snapped this photo with a Nikon "point and shoot" camera. I was within twelve inches of this little guy, when I realized he must have been hit by a car. (Notice the two different pupil diameters. . .I'm not sure if I'm over-personifying, but he looks like he got sucker punched and isn't too happy about it). He later flew off into the night, apparently OK.
Ever since that encounter, I've had a special affection for these fairly common, but elusive critters. Like cute little stuffed animals from the store, Eastern Screech Owls come in two separate colors, one reddish brown, like our friend above, and a paler, grey morph. Eastern Screech Owls belong to the genus megascops (big-eyes), which are widely distributed (I saw Pacific Screech Owls in Costa Rica). Locally, they can be found almost anywhere, typically near dense woods, and being cavity nesters, they can be enticed to nest in owl boxes.
Three weeks ago, my partner Sasha had a dream. In the dream, a Screech Owl came to her, as if to give her some shamanic guidance. The next day, Sasha remembered the dream, and went for a walk along the edge of some woods near our house, right around dusk. Lo and behold, she found her Screech Owl, sitting atop a telephone pole.
This was a significant event for us, not only because it confirmed Sasha's gift for animal communication (she also "found" the Short-eared Owls for me in January), but because we'd never seen a Screech Owl in Chatham County. If you read the first post of this blog, you will see that Eastern Screech Owl was high on my wish list for Fearrington Village, where we live.
When we visited the location the following night, the Screech Owl was in the same general area, hunting moths, and after perching in the trees, doing its haunting trill. "Screech Owl" is, in fact, a bit of a misnomer. Of the two typical sounds the bird makes, one is like a neighing horse, the other is like a lilting, hypnotic love song in the night, a series of rapid fire hoots that will charm even the most casual listnener. The Long-eared Owl, and the Barn Owl I heard last fall. . .those birds could screech!
In any case, once I found out this bird was in my neighborhood, I immediately set myself to the task of building it a home. My friend Ken, who is handy with these kinds of things, agreed to help me. So off I went to Lowe's to purchase the lumber and supplies. Having spent way too much time and money, we took comfort that this home was built to last. We dubbed it the "Hoot Carlton."
Now that the owl box was built, we had to put it up. Since Fearrington has many prying eyes, and loads of rules, we decided to put it up in a clandestine manner. Yes, this is a secret owl box, perfectly camoflauged, the whereabouts of which are known only by three people. Once I get some permanent residents in the Hoot Carlton, I might let some of my neighbors in on the secret. Maybe.
Here's Ken putting the box way up in a tree. Nearby is a field, where the owl has been seen hunting on several occasions.
