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Thanks, Mary. Phil On Sep 7, 2019, at 12:12 AM, Mary & Nick Freeman < mnfreeman@...> wrote:
Hi Phil
In the 19 years surveying owls in the San Gabriel Mountains in lLA County, we have found one NSWO calling at around 5pm on a summer day. Another NSWO we found called at 2:30pm one spring day. It’s rare to hear one calling during the day in general.
Cheers!
Mary Freeman Glendale, CA
Hi Geoff, Nathan, Bruce, Dan, Gary, and everyone, Thanks for all of your interesting input. Collectively all the input tells me there’s a simple answer to my original question, which was, “Did anyone else hear, or thought they heard, a Saw-whet Owl near the Crossbill site?” The simple one-word answer seems to be, “no”. So I’m happy to leave it at that, namely: maybe I heard a SWOW along the lower Agua Dulce trail. Or maybe not. Or maybe someone will get a chance to tape the mystery call. Or maybe the critter will send me a selfie. At least I saw my FOS butter-butt, and a female selasphorus. Whoopee. Happy birding to all, and remember, you never saw a bird that didn’t see you first. Phil
Yes, all 3 are up there: chipmunk, ground squirrel, and owl. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA Phil: It turned out the recording I was thinking of is a ground squirrel, which still sounds very similar, just slightly higher pitched. In my experience, these squirrel and chipmunk calls can carry quite a distance and pick up reverberations along the way that make them sound very un-chipmunk like. Hi Geoff, My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there?
Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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All, I’d think daytime calling has a connection with breeding season territoriality. On 2 Feb 2011, although a bit before breeding season, a saw-whet was calling without elicitation at 1:00PM near Thunder Spring, Palomar Mountain State Park. Over quite a few years I have no other full daylight records. Yes, the simple answer to Phil’s question seems “no.” Thanks to him for reporting this originally. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA
From: Mary & Nick Freeman [mailto:mnfreeman@...]
Sent: Saturday, September 7, 2019 12:12 AM
To: phil Pryde <PhilPinSD@...>
Cc: sandiegoregionbirding@groups.io; Geoff Rogers <rogersgl1952@...>; Andie Jehl <dandiej@...>; Nathan French <nathanfrenchphotography@...>; Bruce Rideout <BRideout@...>; Gary Nunn <garybnunn@...>
Subject: Re: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Saw-whet Owl? Hi Phil In the 19 years surveying owls in the San Gabriel Mountains in lLA County, we have found one NSWO calling at around 5pm on a summer day. Another NSWO we found called at 2:30pm one spring day. It’s rare to hear one calling during the day in general. Hi Geoff, Nathan, Bruce, Dan, Gary, and everyone, Thanks for all of your interesting input. Collectively all the input tells me there’s a simple answer to my original question, which was, “Did anyone else hear, or thought they heard, a Saw-whet Owl near the Crossbill site?” The simple one-word answer seems to be, “no”. So I’m happy to leave it at that, namely: maybe I heard a SWOW along the lower Agua Dulce trail. Or maybe not. Or maybe someone will get a chance to tape the mystery call. Or maybe the critter will send me a selfie. At least I saw my FOS butter-butt, and a female selasphorus. Whoopee. Happy birding to all, and remember, you never saw a bird that didn’t see you first.
Yes, all 3 are up there: chipmunk, ground squirrel, and owl. Phil: It turned out the recording I was thinking of is a ground squirrel, which still sounds very similar, just slightly higher pitched. In my experience, these squirrel and chipmunk calls can carry quite a distance and pick up reverberations along the way that make them sound very un-chipmunk like. My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there? Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Hi Phil
In the 19 years surveying owls in the San Gabriel Mountains in lLA County, we have found one NSWO calling at around 5pm on a summer day. Another NSWO we found called at 2:30pm one spring day. It’s rare to hear one calling during the day in general.
Cheers!
Mary Freeman Glendale, CA
Hi Geoff, Nathan, Bruce, Dan, Gary, and everyone, Thanks for all of your interesting input. Collectively all the input tells me there’s a simple answer to my original question, which was, “Did anyone else hear, or thought they heard, a Saw-whet Owl near the Crossbill site?” The simple one-word answer seems to be, “no”. So I’m happy to leave it at that, namely: maybe I heard a SWOW along the lower Agua Dulce trail. Or maybe not. Or maybe someone will get a chance to tape the mystery call. Or maybe the critter will send me a selfie. At least I saw my FOS butter-butt, and a female selasphorus. Whoopee. Happy birding to all, and remember, you never saw a bird that didn’t see you first. Phil
Yes, all 3 are up there: chipmunk, ground squirrel, and owl. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA Phil: It turned out the recording I was thinking of is a ground squirrel, which still sounds very similar, just slightly higher pitched. In my experience, these squirrel and chipmunk calls can carry quite a distance and pick up reverberations along the way that make them sound very un-chipmunk like. Hi Geoff, My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there?
Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Hi Geoff, Nathan, Bruce, Dan, Gary, and everyone, Thanks for all of your interesting input. Collectively all the input tells me there’s a simple answer to my original question, which was, “Did anyone else hear, or thought they heard, a Saw-whet Owl near the Crossbill site?” The simple one-word answer seems to be, “no”. So I’m happy to leave it at that, namely: maybe I heard a SWOW along the lower Agua Dulce trail. Or maybe not. Or maybe someone will get a chance to tape the mystery call. Or maybe the critter will send me a selfie. At least I saw my FOS butter-butt, and a female selasphorus. Whoopee. Happy birding to all, and remember, you never saw a bird that didn’t see you first. Phil
Yes, all 3 are up there: chipmunk, ground squirrel, and owl. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA Phil: It turned out the recording I was thinking of is a ground squirrel, which still sounds very similar, just slightly higher pitched. In my experience, these squirrel and chipmunk calls can carry quite a distance and pick up reverberations along the way that make them sound very un-chipmunk like. Hi Geoff, My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there?
Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Hi Phil, A recording of Merriam's is at http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/454 It is the most likely species here. The speed does pick up at the end but the quality is not as penetrating and a bit lower-pitched than a saw-whet. I agree it would not carry as well as a saw-whet's call.
Geoff
Hi Geoff, My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there? Best, Phil
Phil and all, Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Hi Geoff, My “one second” interval was entirely a spur of the moment estimate - the calls were very quickly repeated and could easily have been less than a second. But I won’t rule out chipmunk, either, except to say that the call seemed to be coming from a fair distance away, and if it was a chipmunk he would have needed a good set of lungs. Do you have a recording of whatever sp. of chipmunk would have been up there? Best, Phil
Phil and all, Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Phil and all, Not ruling saw-whet owl out but Birds of North America Online says calling speed is “about 2 per second.” I can vouch that an agitated saw-whet will briefly produce notes even faster. I think a speed nearing a second apart would be more in the Merriam’s Chipmunk range. Geoffrey Rogers San Diego, CA
From: SanDiegoRegionBirding@groups.io [mailto:SanDiegoRegionBirding@groups.io] On Behalf Of phil Pryde
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2019 10:17 PM
To: sandiegoregionbirding@groups.io
Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Saw-whet Owl? This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . . The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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Sorry about the ambiguity in my email of last evening - I was mainly reaching out to those who had already gone to “the spot” to look for the Crossbills, which is about 1 1/2 miles down the Agua Dulce trail, as described in Gary Nunn’s email of Sept. 2, and other earlier reports. For those who haven’t tried to see the Crossbills, the joke was that some considerate person had tied a string of (yes, unused) toilet paper to a fallen branch to mark the spot where the Crossibills had been most reliably seen (except yesterday). I didn’t see a Bigfoot, either. Phil
You’re a million steps ahead of me, but, I’m wondering WHERE were you when you heard all these magical mysterious sounds?
This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . .
The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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This morning (Tues.), while looking for the mythological Red Crossbill (aka the toilet paper bird), I heard at a distance an incessant call that seemed to meet the requirements for a Saw-whet Owl. The loud sharp notes, a whistled sup, sup, sup . . . , were about a second apart, and went on and on and on . . .
The Bird Atlas notes that it calls “rarely even at midday”. I’d estimate it was about 9:30 a.m. when I heard it while at the toilet paper site. That would be near the southernmost portion of its regular range. Just wondering, if any one else who was up there looking for easily spotted wildlife (such as Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and purported Crossbills) also heard anything they suspected of being a Saw-whet Owl?
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