Raptor Time

Owls, anyone? Earl Plato

So I missed the annual Bert Miller Club Owl Prowl this year. We were in Simcoe at our grandson’s hockey playoff game. So I lost on both accounts. Writer’s note: We did beat Simcoe 4-1 in the final game back in Fort Erie! What did I miss nature-wise? Here’s an old memory.
We have met Blayne Farnan of Port Colborne, noted owl expert, and have walked with him. during the day. Blayne has developed “owl finding” skills to a high degree. I made some notes over the past years. Blayne took us to owls’ appropriate habitats. We found areas where conifers grow - such as spruce, arbor vitae (cedar), and red pine. Owls like these most.
1. Walk slowly and quietly looking down on lower branches and on the ground for white droppings and the dark, usually oblong pellets of fur and bone that owls cough up daily. We have found a treasure trove of Great horned owl pellets. I counted easily ten pellets in the area. As we approached the pellet site there were the tell tale white washing on the trees.
2. When you find a tree marked by either or both signs look up into the tree for a dense spot which may hide or be an owl. Don’t expect any movement unless you disturb one. Be quiet and look carefully. This is how Bob Chambers uncovered a little Saw whet owl. 3. As soon as you spot an owl back off immediately to the farthest spot you can see it. Why? The owl is then more likely to relax, less likely to fly away. I have been with Rob Eberly when he focused in on a Short eared owl on Ott Road. There staring at you were these two huge yellow orbs. amazing closeness! 4. Blayne Farnan takes many large groups out but usually it’s he, his wife, and a few of us. Make it a small group and avoid surrounding the bird. If the owl has to continuously turn its head to see all of you , it may fly off.
5. Be alert for the loud, frenzied calling of birds mobbing a predator (owls and hawks). This is how Ernie Giles and I once had a good look at a Great horned owl in the Stevensville Conservation Park. A large flock of crows had surrounded the raptor as he sat in deep in the protection of a pine tree for several minutes until finally he tried for an escape. The last we saw him he was flying east pursued by the crows. Remember that these owl day hunts occurred in winter and early spring. Keep birding, eh.