Owls on the Prowl

Strictly for the Birds!

Owls on the Prowl, by Ian Cannell

For the past 20 years my wife Carol and I have lived on Cherry Hills Road, backing onto Marita Payne Park. Despite the huge residential development that has taken place in this area, the number of wildlife species has actually increased, as the TRCA’s work to restore and enhance the natural habitat in the valley has begun paying dividends. I’ve seen over 140 species of birds, plus mammals such as deer, beaver, otter, mink, fox, and even opossums.

Some of my favourites among the more uncommon bird species are: Red-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers, Black-billed Cuckoo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, Evening Grosbeak, Ovenbird, Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Mockingbird and Black-crowned Night Heron. We’ve also frequently observed a Cooper’s Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk looking for lunch prospects among the the visitors to our bird feeders.

My best-loved species, however, are the owls. We’ve had Long-eared Owls with babies and two impressive Great Horned Owls. Most evenings after dusk last summer we could hear the eerie call of an Eastern Screech Owl. This little owl, only about 20-25 cm (8-9 inches) long, sometimes called the “Ghost Owl”, has a descending, whinnying call that my daughter says sounds like a horse. It Eastern Screech Owl, grey phase

makes this call from the time it’s on the nest with its young until changing to a trill next mating season. I’m one of hundreds of contributors to a current 5-year project to produce an Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, incorporating a database about the distribution and numbers of birds in our province. One of the tools provided to us is a recording of owl calls. One night I used this to try and attract this screech owl to our backyard. As soon as I heard the owl calling, from about a hundred metres away in Marita Payne Park, I started playing the recording from one of our bird feeders five metres from the back door. Nothing happened until the fourth or fifth repetition, then suddenly a fast shape hurtled out of the twilight and perched on my neighbour’s eavestrough. Staying very still, as these owls are quite skittish, Carol and I watched our visitor fly down and perch on the back edge of the feeder. It was an adult, grey-phase Screech Owl. This species has two phases or variants, the other having reddish-brown plumage. I’m hoping that this owl produces young in the spring and that we have the privilege of seeing them.