This morning was a successful birding hike because of my ears. I started my hike at 5:45 am and after about 15 minutes some songbirds led me to my owls in a new location. It was obvious why the Great Horned Owl liked the particular location … dead snags (hunting perches) and openings down to the forest floor (line of sight). I discovered lots of whitewash. Thus it was obvious to me the owls had been using this area for an extended time. I saw four of five owls, and the youngsters were begging for food. Whenever Mom moved, her owlets would not be far behind.
The sun was just kissing the treetops about 6:00 am when I took these Great Horned Owl photographs.
One difficulty with birding by ear is learning bird songs, and their variations. Would you recognize a robin’s alarm clucking. See my earlier post about Cornell’s Merlin Sound ID App. It’s free and easy to use, and will help you learn bird song.
After my time with the owls, I continued my hike to a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker nest hole. I discovered this nest hole six days ago when I was taking as evening hike. The youngsters should be sticking their heads out of the hole soon when demanding to be fed. When I first found the nest hole, even though I could hear the newly hatched chicks, it took me over 20 minutes to find the hole due to the echos in the forest.
