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Official Newspaper of Southold Town
The owl, in profile: part 2
Focus on Nature
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Last week we spoke about the great
homed owl and the great gray owl- This
week we'll talk about some of our other
owls-
Maybe some of you have been fortunate
enough to see the beautiful snowy owl.
Each winter we have a sprinkling of them :"I:A
throughout the island: some years more,
A handful of young screech owls.
some years less- In my opinion the Times/Review photo by Paul
snowy owl is the most handsome of all Stoutenburgh
our owls. Some are pure white-, others
have dark speckles. depending on their age and sex. We find that one of the best
places to see these owls is in the marshes along Dune Road in the Westhampton -
Hampton Bays area - The last one we saw there was on top of a telephone pole, and
we drove right up to it and took its picture.
The best view I ever had of a snowy owl was out on Gardiners Island. It was the
perfect setting for this visitor from the north_ I'd been walking along the low dune area
to the south of the island when I came upon this snowy owl crouched behind a clump
of dune grass - It had already spotted me and was staring right through me. I froze in
my tracks: afraid I'd break the spell of this wild and wonderful scene- Slowly, ever so
slowty. I raised my binoculars and focused in on this incredible scene of raw beauty.
Since snowy owls hunt during the day. I assume this one was resting after its
noonday meal-
Another scene I'll not forget was when a lady called to say she had a big white bird
just outside her window- We drove to her home on the Sound and there, sittingTheSuffolkTimesmajesticallyonalog, was this most beautiful snowy owl- I was able to photograph it
right from the woman's Irving room. It was almost like cheating to be photographing
Staff Roster this magnificent white owl from inside a warm house-
Rate Card Next in size is probably our bam owl. 'monkey face' some call it. This is the owl that
has a fiat, heart- shaped face and. like most owls, can swivel its head almost
completely around. Owls can see only straight ahead, their eyes don't move like ours,
so to look left or right they have to turn their whole head. Bam owls are usually found
The News - Review nesting in old buildings, water towers and such. The McBrides on North Road in
Cutchogue- Donald Tuthill in Southold, John Tuthill in Orient and others have had
bam owls nest in their water towers. Some report they are noisy around the nestingShelterIsland
site.
Reporter
In Bellport a lady had a water tower with a small door cut in the side so you could
The North Shore Sir open it like a cabinet door and look in at the owls. Each year she'd have a bam owl
nest in the tower and all you had to do was climb up the ladder. open the little door.
The Wine Press and there would be the fuzzy owlets, usually with a parent guarding them, its bill
chattering in hopes of scaring you away. Often non - nesting bam owls will roost in
thick evergreens. so if there's a thick growth of pines near you. you might just be able
to find one there-
An interesting side note about the bam owl is that in the orange groves of Florida
people have trouble with rats. They tried to eliminate them by setting out poisons and
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The Suffolk Tunes j The owl, in profile: part 2
traps, but that didn't do the job. Then someone suggested they put up some nesting
boxes for barn owls, which they did, and have found it works 100°% better than any
poisons or traps. The owls ask for nothing and come with little asst and, best of all,
only the rats are targeted.
One of the fun stories about barn owls was when my son was very young and very
enthusiastic about photographing birds. We had gone to Greenport for some reason
or other and were traveling along a section of Sound View Avenue which, at that
time, was all farmland. Flying above the farm stubble was a barn owl hunting, which
was quite unusual to see during the daytime. We stopped the car for a better look.
Leave me here and 171 get a picture of r%' my son said. "You can pick me up on the
way back."
So we left him and thought nothing more of it We did our errands and on the way
back we stopped and picked Win up. I asked if he had any luck and he said, -Well, l
tried when it flew right over me' Believe it or not, the photographs he got back
showed a barn owl flying suk feet over his head, so don't ever underestimate the
ability of your children when they set their mind on something.
Page 2 of 2
Wetire been woifting our way down in size, so next is the lilt;e screech owl, which has
two different color phases: rusty red and gray. It nests M hollow trees, bind boxes if
the opening is big enough, and almost anything that offers a cavity and seclusion. if
you ask our grandldds about a screech owl they'll probably tell you about the one they
used to see Wong the road in the woods hearing to the beach cottage. The owl would
hear the car coming and poke its head out just as we went by. it was something we
all knew about and would watch for as we drove to the cottage.
Screech owls are easy to call in. Ws kind of fun to do all an evening, when things are
quiet outside and the Me screech owl is calling_ By copying their call you can
sometimes lure them to move in closer and closer to you until they are right over your
head.
One experience M never forget was over in Beilpoit, when: friends had a screech owl
nesting in their apple tree. Being curious, l put my hand in the hole to see if there
were any young. Out of the blue came a mad parent that hit me in the back of the
head. it knocked my hat right off! it was a little screech owl telling me not to mess
with its young. l took the advice and backed off.
Then there was a call from Fred in Mattitudc. He wanted us to come see what he had
in the tree he had just art down — something the dhainsaw had narrowly missed.
When we arrived, there was a frightened little screech owl huddled inside a log,
wondedM what had happened to his cozy Piffle home. After much excitement, he was
let back into the wild.
Our smallest owl is the saw-whet owl, which is a 6rry We owl. l was with a group of
students ookmg for birds and owls and whatever carne along. Our field trip was to
Jones Beach, and along the park road are dumps of pines that are often used by
owls for roosting.
On that day someone found a saw -whet owl roosting in one of those dumps of pines.
We called all the kids to form a circle and get down on their hands and knees and
crawl in to where the Me saw -whet was roosting. We all got in dose enough so we
avid see this pocket-sized owl, now awake and looking right at us and wondering
what we were doing, when all of a sudden a mouse ran out. Evidently we had chased
it out as we were crawling in to see the owl_ Once the owl saw it, he swooped down,
picked up the mouse and proceeded to enjoy his meal. ft was unbelievable to see this
all unfold before our eyes.
And so we cone to the end of our stories about our most common owls. Lers keep
coking and hoping owls will be with us forever. for they do only good, ridding our
area of all kinds of rodents and pesky We voles and mice.
2004 Times - Review Newspapers
http:// Rnvw2. timesrevie-sd. com/ ST /commun'ity/287118068159252.php 12/9/2004