Cork and I heard something last night that I haven't heard in years -- a Saw-whet owl.
These are the coolest little raptors. For one thing, according to the Cornell Lab All About Birds website, their main prey is man's nemesis -- the Whitefooted Deer Mouse. Go owls go!
The Saw-whet is just tiny, not much bigger than my hand, and if it wasn't for their perplexing call you could easily not even know they exist since they are strictly nocturnal and incredibly elusive. I once found one dead and I have heard of another that flew into a window. That's the total of Saw-whets seen in my experience.
However, I have heard their calls a couple of dozen times. Click on the Cornell Lab link above and listen for yourself. Their main call sounds like the back-up alarm of a vehicle.
The Saw-whet that I found dead seemed to have died of a heart attack. I found it years ago in the winter right after a fresh snow. It had been sitting about eight feet off the ground on a balsam branch and had fallen into the new powder beneath. It never even fluttered its wings.
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3 comments:
I clicked on the link- never would have guessed that was an owl. Maybe it only does that when it backs up!
I have a friend who used to be on shift work and came home late one night to hear what he thought was a large machine backing up somewhere in the woods near his house. He reasoned it was a logging machine, perhaps a feller-buncher, and realized that it never quit backing up. Fearing the operator had perhaps had a heart attack or was otherwise incapacitated he grabbed a flashlight and set off through the bush. He spent hours roaming around in the dark, never catching up to the sound. He went back home and a long time later found out what was making the back-up alarm.
Wow , interesting sound. Also true to your website name "ain't life wild?" It certainly is!
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