Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!edsews!edsdrd!gss From: gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: nemesis birds Message-ID: <318@dominion.edsdrd.eds.com> Date: 6 Feb 91 16:27:52 GMT References: <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> Organization: Research and Development, Auburn Hills, MI 48326 Lines: 71 In article <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>, mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes: > > I have heard people talk about something they call "their > nemesis bird"; that is, a species that they have tried to see time > after time that keeps eluding them. I don't know if I truly have a > nemesis bird, but there is one species that is probably the front- > runner; Northern Saw Whet Owl. I have tried for this bird on a number > of occasions and, although it has been calling in the trees around me, > I have failed to get a light on it. Northern Saw Whet Owl has also been somewhat of a nemesis bird for me. I've looked for them for years, though I haven't tried as hard as I could to find them. I plan to make 1991 the year, though! This weekend, my wife Karen and I finally got what has been for us a "nemesis bird" - Northern Hawk Owl. We have searched in vain for the bird for the last three years in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This past weekend, we took a combination bird-chasing / cross country skiing trip to the UP, with very good luck in the bird-chasing department (it was too warm for good skiing, with temperatures in the 30's and 40's F - last year at the same time of year, it was -20 - -30 F). First off, in Sault Ste. Marie (MI and Ontario), we saw two Gyrfalcons - an immature bird (grey wings, brown on the back) and an adult (grey wings and back). While we were still patting each other on the back over our good fortune with the Gyrfalcons, we found the Norther Hawk Owl. Amazingly, it was sitting on top of a small spruce next to the parking lot of a high school right in town. The bird was smaller than I had expected; it didn't seem much bigger than an American Kestrel. It sort of reminded me of a cross between a kestrel (long tail that it bobbed after landing) and a screech owl (chunkier body and more typical owl-shaped head). What was truly remarkable about the bird were its piercing yellow eyes that seemed to look right through you. Pretty awesome for such a small bird; I suppose you have to be tough to live in the arctic. Later in the trip, we saw a beautiful adult male Varied Thrush. This bird was also hard to miss, as it was coming to a bird feeder and was listed on the Detroit RBA. We also found a Snowy Owl sitting on top of a tall silo next to the road. A very cooperative bird, it let us watch it through a scope until we left. Winter finch populations seem to be very low this year. Whereas Common Redpolls, Pine and Evening Grosbeaks were practically trash birds there last year, we saw only a small flock each of Pine Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins, and no Evening Grosbeaks or Common Redpolls. Has anyone else noticed low winter finch populations this year? > Within a mile or so the leader started playing tapes of > Western Screech Owls and, in a short time, we got a response. Soon > a second owl started calling. Before we knew it, the pair were > dueting; one calling in a deeper tone than the other (supposedly, the > male has a deeper voice than the female). ... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I wonder if you might have this reversed. I've always been under the impression that since in birds of prey, the female is normally larger than the male, that the female's voice is deeper (lower). Of course, I suppose that larger body size doesn't necessarily result in a lower voice - I know larger people with high voices and smaller people with low voices. > > Mike ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer,