Birds According to Peterson

Joe Meche is a past president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and is still active in chapter affairs.He has been watching birds for more than 50 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 30 years. He has written more than 100 articles for Whatcom Watch.

There is no doubt that all birds are fascinating creatures. Through the natural process of evolution, birds have adapted to life in numerous habitats on every continent. It’s quite possible that more has been written about birds than any other members of the animal kingdom. Our fascination with these avian wonders spans generations and they have always been with us, marking the changing seasons as well as bringing color and joyful songs to our lives. Of course, it’s their ability to fly that is most enthralling and makes us the most envious observers.

Of all the bird species on Earth, no other family of birds has garnered more attention than the owls. In literature and in scientific research, more has been written about owls than any other birds. Owls have been celebrated as good omens during hard times and burned in effigy as symbols of superstition. They have been revered in some cultures and hated in others. Some have seen owls as symbols of war and death, as well as tragedy, while others have seen them as icons of wisdom and prophecy.

No matter their reputation, any conversation among avid birdwatchers usually comes around to favorite birds and more often than not, owls are at the top of most of the personal lists. The fascination with these marvels of adaptive evolution is well deserved. Their sense of sight is acute and combines perfectly with exceptionally keen hearing. The ear openings of owls are asymmetrical and one is larger and shaped differently from the other. This feature allows the individual birds to detect the precise location of potential prey.

The consensus is that the facial discs of owls function acoustically to collect and focus sound waves as a further aid to detecting prey. It would be similar to the effect of cupping a hand behind your ear to hear better and focus on sounds. To aid in their silent flight in pursuit of prey, the first primary feathers on the leading edge of their wings are serrated, creating no sound as the owls fly. Add to these unique features the strong feet and sharp talons and you have a very formidable predator.

Owls feed on a variety of prey, depending of the species. Small rodents are often a favorite since they are also active during times of darkness, when owls rule the airways. Owls also eat insects, reptiles, and small birds. The barred owl is quite adept at catching crayfish and small trout, taken in osprey-like plunges into the clear, slow-moving shallows of local creeks and small streams.

Owls tend to swallow their prey whole and then regurgitate the parts they can’t digest. These indigestible parts come out as owl pellets and these pellets have created an entirely new world of entrepreneurs. Owl pellet collectors gather their bounty at known owl roosts and market them to schools and other institutions for scientific study. The pellets are dissected as a practice to identify the diets of specific owls.

There are more than 150 species of owls worldwide and they can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Here in Whatcom County we have a variety of habitats that are ideal for a year-round population of owls. The excitement of owl mania only increases when we have the irregular winter visits by great gray, long-eared, and northern hawk owls. The one bird that generates more excitement than any other visitor, however, is the magnificent snowy owl. Last winter, the entire country was buzzing with sightings of large numbers of snowy owls across the northern tier states and as far south as Oklahoma.

The sizes of our resident owls range from the large and fierce great horned owl to the diminutive northern pygmy owl. In city parks and open meadows, forested woodlands and coastal meadows, owls wait patiently for prey opportunities. With the wealth of barns and outbuildings in the rural areas of the county, it’s no surprise that barn owls thrive here. City parks have become ideal places for the entertaining and highly vocal barred owls to raise new families. Forested hillsides are good places to find pygmy owls and their slightly larger cousins, the northern saw-whet owls.

The barred owls of Whatcom Falls Park have become a sensation over the past two years, given that they have become somewhat habituated to humans and even tolerate us to a great extent. The park is ideal for these owls to raise families. The park and Whatcom Creek provide more than enough prey to sustain as many as three separate nesting pairs, from Scudder Pond and downstream to Woburn Street. The pair upstream from the main falls has produced five offspring in the past two seasons.

While most owls are considered nocturnal, there are some species that are diurnal; i.e., active during the day. When the snowy owls come down to visit, you can expect to find them during the day in open areas of the county and along shoreline habitats like those at Sandy Point. Short-eared owls have been a regular daytime sighting at the Lummi Flats and have been observed nesting in the same area. The northern hawk owl is a daytime hunter as well, and a much sought after birder’s prize when they come south in the winter months.

Since many owls are creatures of the night, a new aspect of bird watching has evolved in the form of owl prowls. The concept is simply to go into an area that is known to have owls, like the hillsides above Lake Padden, and become one with the night. The darkness offers new perspectives since you will hear sounds you don’t normally hear during the day. Sounds at night are accentuated and the first time you hear the calls of a mating pair of barred owls will be memorable, to say the least.

The fascination that humans have with owls has continued unchecked for centuries. Through folklore and scientific data, owls have been a constant presence in our lives. Their secretive ways make for small celebrations when you’re lucky enough to find one; but that excitement is often tempered when the owl is already looking directly at you! Their forward facing eyes are similar to our own and perhaps therein lies the connection that we feel for these unique creatures.

Next Month: Woodpeckers and Hummingbirds