Owl

[jqgs214]

This little guy has been in the yew by my house all day

 

[fossil]

Looks like maybe a Barred Owl, they can frequently be out and about in broad daylight during mating season (now). They are pretty ubiquitous as owls go. In fact, they are so successful that they threaten other owl species by basically taking over their territory. They are even threatening the Great Horned owls out here in the west. When I lived in Virginia, I realized there was a mating couple whose nest was just across the street from my driveway. I followed them through a mating season during which they had 2 owlets. Fascinating. Anyway, keep watching for the owl. What you've seen could be either him or her. She'll occasionally take a break from sitting on the nest, but he'll never go in and sit on the eggs. He'll bring her food, she'll incubate the eggs and keep the owlets nourished. I hope you get to watch the whole thing play out. I actually put together an illustrative narrative of my experience watching them in 2005. Here's the female mom we named Harriet:

 

[jqgs214]

It's a northern saw-whet owl. First I have ever seen in my yard.

 

[fossil]

Oh yeah...cute little birds. My sense of scale from the pic was way off. Can you tell if they're nesting nearby?

 

[jqgs214]

I have no idea, I was taking out the garden bed below the yew and he flew right into it. Was there all day. Think he / her left when it got dark. Will have to wait and see if it comes back again.

 

[billb3]

This little guy has been in the yew by my house all dayView attachment 99640

Watching chipmunks ?

 

[bogydave]

This little guy has been in the yew by my house all dayView attachment 99640

Cool
Good picture
Might keep mice , shrews etc. in hiding

 

[Jack Straw]

We had one swoop down and kill a rabbit a few weeks back.

 

[osagebow]

Cool Saw-whet pic. Quite appropriate - call supposedly sounds like a hand saw being sharpened with a whetstone.

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[DevilsBrew]

Thank you for sharing this experience. I love owls.

 

[ScotO]

This is still my favorite owl call of all. I love being out in the woods during spring gobbler season, just before sunrise, and hearing the barred owls and whipoorwills everywhere calling and talking. I do the barred owl call to 'shock' the turkeys into gobbling on their roost in the dark, makes setting up on them a lot easier.....

We've called several barred owls in by trying to locate turkeys.

Sounds like "who cooks for you....who cooks for you-all"......

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[begreen]

One night a few summers ago I was up in the Cascades foothills at a friend's place. We were sitting around the firepit and it was getting late, the fire had dwindled to glowing coals . With no light pollution the night sky was stunning in its starry display. The Milky Way ducked behind Sauk Mountain, crisply outlined in silhouette. In the distance coyotes were yipping at the night splendor. A bottle of Maker's Mark had sedated us into a peaceful reverie. All of a sudden we heard very clearly a beep beep beep beep out of nowhere. When it stopped we asked each other "did you hear what I just heard?" Then, about a minute later it repeated with a steady beep of about 8 counts. Now it really had our attention. Sounded like a bloody UFO. Then silence, then it repeated, now from a new location. The rhythm and pitch were so perfect it sounded man-made, but we were out in the boonies and anyone thrashing through the woods would have surely made a lot of noise. This went on for about 10 minutes. The effect with a backdrop of coyote yipping in the far distance was magic.

Eventually we all decided this had to be a bird of some sort, and likely an owl due to it's nocturnal behavior. When I got home I got on the internet to see if I could identify this mystery night denizen. After listening to many owl audio clips I found it to be the northern pygmy owl. I'll never forget that night. It was one of those rare moments where life and universe are singing and we were lucky enough to be there for the show.

Here is the call: http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Glaucidium-californicum-6.mp3

If you like owl calls, Owl Pages is a great site for audio clips:
http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php

 

[osagebow]

Often see those big barred owls out hunting. Had one being mobbed by crows fly right up to me. Chucked a rock at the crows to scare them away and he hung out for a few seconds eyeballing me before he split.