At 04:31 PM 12/27/2005, you wrote:
>I am home again after about 4 months.
>and now back to recording.
>
>I need some good long recordings of Eastern Screech.
>Not many in MN.
>
>It appears that the highest numbers are in TN on the TN river.
>http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3730id.html
>
>Can anyone tell me if these guys make noise all year or do I have to
>go during breeding season.
>
>Long trip to make to get skunked so I am asking.
Rich:
I have said this before in this group: I think these little guys are in
much trouble.
They are rarer, make much less sounds, and hide far more than they did
forty years ago, nearly everywhere I've been. In the 1950's they were well
integrated in suburbia and prevalent. People per se and their subsidized
predators are not the main problem.
I believe it is the fault of night-lighting. "Security". All small - medium
sized cryptic / nocturnal / forest creatures are now easy pickings for
large nocturnal predators - On cloudy nights our obsessive highway lighting
lights up forest floors and tree details all night long for many miles from
every highway. Light forward scatters through fog without much
absorption. This combination of fog-cloudy and night light is wrecking
everything that needs darkness, IMHO. Thus the decline of all Caprimulgids
and small owls within five miles of "civilization"s roads. But remember,
safety first!
Interestingly, this theory also predicts that the largest nocturnal
predators will do very well: indeed, Coyote and Great Horned Owl
populations are now off the charts.
GOOD LUCK finding one. they used to call all year (until it became
suicidal). I have lived in NH 24 years and heard exactly one once.
Seek dense vegetation, it helps them - the one good thing about Japanese
Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica - it hides Screech Owls.
-- best regards, Marty Michener
MIST Software Assoc. Inc., P. O. Box 269, Hollis, NH 03049
http://www.enjoybirds.com/
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