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Index of Subjects --001636ed6f599dd7480480ea266e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, With regard to field guides, they all admit that that's what they are - guide books to take into the field, to identify birds. If they were to include info. about nest construction and egg types, they would likely become large back-pack guides, or coffee table books. There are actually field guides to nests and eggs, and guides (not exactly field) to many families of birds, including owls. You only need to spend some time on a pelagic trip, or on, e.g. Seal Island, to see that some people like to take whole libraries of books into the field with them. I have all kinds of books (at home) full of that kind of info., and I love to read them, but not as field guides. Actually, I too grew up and started birding in the UK, and I find that people there are far more worried about nest disturbance, activism, etc., than they are in N.America, and although I have no proof, I suspect that has nothing to do with the lack of that info. in field guides. The upcoming way of doing all this, though, is what I'm currently starting to embrace - in the field, anywhere there is cell phone or wi-fi coverage, use a smart phone to get the data from the internet, or use an app. such as Ibird, which has calls and songs, as well as printed ID info. and pictures, of all N.American birds at the touch of a finger. It should be pretty easy for you to google N American bird calls, or owl sounds, and within a few minutes, identify the owl you have been hearing. And BTW, Grt. Horned Owls nest in old crow's nests, flat clumps of branches etc., whereas Barred nest in cavities in big trees (or in Kings Co., nest boxes). But just because an owl is calling, it doesn't mean there's a nest nearby - it could just be lonely, or trying to establish a territory, so the habitat of a single calling owl doesn't mean much in terms of ID. Best wishes, Richard On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 2:09 PM, Stephen Shaw <srshaw@dal.ca> wrote: > Thanks to all for the info and opinions, which apparently narrows it down > to > either a Great Horned or a Barred Owl. We have mourning doves visiting > feeders > or hanging out fairly often here so I know the calls -- this was much > louder and > bolder (less soft & mellifluous) -- not a mourning dove. > > There was no doubt that this particular owl (at least when on its game that > morning) was an invariant 4-hooter, so my question was whether a 4-hoot was > definitive or not -- this seemed to be less convincing to some than to > others. > The only part of the original description I'd clarify is about the first > note > described as a 'Huh'. I wrote this in differently to clarify that the > first > note's perceived 'tone' was pitched a bit higher than the following three > notes. > It would have been fairer to write Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo as the general quality > of > sound was entirely similar for all 4 notes, just a little higher for the > first > one (shouldn't call it a 'tone' -- it's obviously a broad-band call). All > 4 > notes were evenly pitched within each syllable, with no detectable up or > down > centre frequency shift or overtone change. That sounds like a GHO if > Susann > Myers is correct. I haven't had a chance to visit the Cornell U site yet > -- > thanks for the suggestion. I once bought their acoustic analysis software, > Canary I, but never used it much. > > Regarding habitat, we live on the north edge of Chocolate Lake near the > Armdale > Rotary. We're the middle of three somewhat treed lots, of which the one to > the west has by far the largest area of mostly natural trees including > conifers, but none of them are really stout, old trees suitable for nesting > for > a big bird. The calls came from that direction. The nearest possibly > suitable > treed area is several lots further away at the west end of the lake just > above > the sewage pumping station. Several mature white pines have still been > left in > place there, though the wooded area above has been gradually > bulldozer-ravaged > by a developer who has been slowly building several houses on an improbably > steep slope (at least one large pine was chain sawed). > > As a half-perplexed aside on this, one of the strangely anti-educational > aspects > of North American bird books (I have Sibley, Smithsonian/Floyd, a Peterson, > & > Kaufman) is that they usually fail to say anything about early stages -- > nesting habit, egg types etc. As a result, I actually don't know if a GH > owl > needs a large tree hole to nest in or could take over a crow's nest, etc., > so I > wouldn't know what to look for in this case. This lack of info is in > marked > contrast to some UK books that I grew up with which had all this stuff in > spades, although I don't think they were called field guides. I'm guessing > that these N. Am omissions may be the result of some latter-day politically > correctness pressure -- presumably from activists aiming to discourage > people > from disturbing nest sites (or egg-collecting, or getting interested in > intrusively identifying the nest owners from the nest construction and the > egg > type). Is this a fair inference, or is there some other explanation? The > 'well, page space is limited and costs big money' argument doesn't sound > too > convincing. Does anyone know what the background to this imagined > conformity > is, or do I just have the wrong books? > Steve > > > Quoting Suzanne Borkowski <suzanneborkowski@yahoo.ca>: > >> Hi Steve; >> I'd never question the expertise of Susann Myers or Joan Czapalay when it >> comes to identifying owls - I've been lucky enough to go owling with both of >> them - but I have to say that your description of the call sounds more like >> the Barred Owl than the Great Horned to me. >> >> It's funny how a written description can vary from a spoken one. I've >> read yours several times now, and it sounds like the four notes of a Barred >> which calls in two sets of two notes: Huh-Hoo and then Hoo-Hoo with the >> fourth note being slightly drawn out. The pause between the two sets is >> very brief. (Who cooks for you?) >> >> To my ear, the great Horned gives a 5 note call: Three notes, then two >> notes - Huh-Huh-Huh - Hoo Hoo (Who's awake - Me too) >> >> Just my two cents worth. >> >> Where in Halifax do you live? Are you close to a wooded area? >> Cheers; >> Suzanne >> >> --- On Tue, 3/2/10, Susann Myers <myerss@eastlink.ca> wrote: >> >>> From: Susann Myers <myerss@eastlink.ca> >>> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Which owl? >>> To: naturens@ch