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Flush from my success with Snowy Owls last evening, I bought new batteries for my tape player, put on my long-johns and heavy felt boots and hit the Dark Harbour Road at 8 pm in search of small woodland owls. I began on the new Crabbe Lumber access road above Dark Harbour and had my first Saw-whet respond within a minute at the first place I stopped. It was a good omen. My fingers are so stiff I can hardly type right now, but the last four hours have been the most incredible night of owling I've ever had in 30-odd years. To make a long story short, I made 14 stops between 8:13 pm and midnight and heard (and also saw!) a total of 15+ NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like a crack addict searching for my next hit of meth. It just kept getting better and better. At two stops I didn't hear anything, but a three stops I had two Saw-whets each! I was actually beginning to lose track of how many I had heard/seen. Never get tired of hearing those little guys. Usually, within 30 seconds of playing my tape, I had a response. Sometimes the owls tooted back, but usually they just let out a strange, "mewling"call, or something like that. When they float over your head in the dark, or answer from right beside the road, shivers run up and down your spine and out along your arms (it was -8C too). And I should have brought my binoculars too. One juvenile bird allowed me to come with 15 feet while it intently watched the ground below for meadow voles. It was only eight feet up. When it fluttered through the trees it reminded me of a large Cecropia moth -- you couldn't hear the wings flap at all. It is the kind of bittersweet experience that Jim Wilson described a couple weeks ago while viewing two Cave Swallows while he was alone at Point Lepreau. No one to share the excitement with. It was the most perfect night I've ever had for owling. Not a breath of wind, the logging roads were frozen solid and no moon, just Orion and the other guys hanging overhead. I wanted to keep going, but finally had to quit at midnight because I couldn't feel my toes. I'm sure I could have found many more. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was, well, frozen. If anyone has ever wanted to hear and see Saw-whet Owls without so much as trying, now would be the time to come to Grand Manan. This may well be a once-in-50-year event. I don't know what is going on, but it is far outside my experience. They were just everywhere I stopped. SIMPLY EVERYWHERE! I would go so far as to say the island is simply infested with them. A wild guess at their numbers on this 55-square mile island would be in the range of 250+ owls, as I found 15 in about a five-square mile area. However, the downside is, if we get heavy snow this winter, there is going to be incredible mortality amongst the little owls. I'm sort of hoping they move on over the next couple of weeks for that reason. There must be an awfully high number of meadow voles around to sustain such numbers. I spaced my stops about a kilometer apart, played 100-200 call notes, and had replies usually within 30-60 seconds. I do not believe the owls were following me from stop to stop. They simply could not have traveled through the dense woods fast enough to keep up to me. The marine forecast calls for winds of 25-50 knots and rain right through until Thursday, so no more owling for a few days! In fact, tonight was the first night it was fit for owling in almost two weeks. But if anyone should want to come over and experience this "Owl-megeddon" just check that the wind is forecast to be less than 10 knots. The Grand Manan CBC is on Dec. 14th, and with a couple of teams of owlers and perfect weather, the Canadian CBC record could easily be set (I believe the record is somewhere around 25-30 birds at Wabuman Lake, Alberta). Brian Dalzell Bancroft Point Grand Manan, NB.
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