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Re: Eastern Screech Owl

Subject: Re: Eastern Screech Owl
From: "Jim Morgan" <>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 15:17:21 -0700
Welcome home Rich.

Here is some information from Bent on the Eastern Screech that you might
find interesting, but nothing on winter calls.

Jim

Jim Morgan
Prescott, Arizona USA
http://www.wingsofnature.com

"Voice: The name of this owl is somewhat unfortunate, as it very seldom
indulges in anything that can rightly be called a screech. Mr. Forbush
(1927) heard such a note from only one individual, of which he says: "It
resembled the note of the siren whistle, beginning low and full and
gradually rising without the usual tremolo until it ended in a shrill
shriek."

Francis H. Allen has given me his description of two of the notes: (1) "the
well-known wail, or whinny, the so-called love song, consisting of a
succession of short, even, low notes delivered with varying degrees of
rapidity. It also varies in pitch. Sometimes the first part is slow and the
latter part rapid, virtually a trill"; (2) "wheeoo, a mellow whistle with a
falling inflection, often followed by three shorter notes, each a very
little higher in pitch than the preceding note: 'wheeoo, woo, woo, woo."

I am tempted to quote Thoreau's (Langille, 1884) graphic description of the
love song; he says: "It is no honest and blunt ti-whit, tint who of the
poets, but, without jesting, a most solemn, graveyard ditty, the mutual
consolations of suicide lovers remembering the pangs and the delights of
supernal love in the infernal groves. * * * Oh-o-o-o-o that I had never been
bor-r-r-r-r-n sighs one on this side of the pond, and circles with the
restlessness of despair to some new perch on the gray oaks. Then: that I
never had been bor-r-r-r-n echoes another on the further side with tremulous
sincerity, and bor-r-r-r-n comes faintly from far in Lincoln woods."

The screech owl's call is seldom heard until after dark, but Mr. Kalter
tells me that he has heard it calling on at least three occasions in bright
daylight, at 11.30 a. m. and 1.15 and 2 p. m. On two occasions he has heard
one calling while in flight, once while being chased by a robin. Dr. Winsor
M. Tyler contributes the following good description of the screech owl's
notes:

"The commonest note of the screech owl is a whistle, well within human
range, which, rising a little in pitch, becomes tremulous, then slides down
below the starting point, the tremulous quality becoming so marked that,
near the end, the voice is almost divided into separate notes. The whole has
a sad, dreary effect, due rather to the tone of voice and the sliding change
of pitch than to any minor intervals.

"The owl varies this cry in several ways. The note may begin on various
pitches: that is, one wail may be markedly higher or lower than the wail
preceding it; the pitch may rise very little, or it may rise two or more
tones before it falls at the end; the pitch may fall a varying degree,
sometimes three or four tones; and a fourth variation is at the beginning of
the cry when the quavering quality is delayed appreciably.

"A second note, less common than the wail in proportion of about 1 to 10,
may be suggested by the letters ho-ho-ho-ho, pronounced with a good deal of
aspirate quality. This series of notes is generally given alone, but it may
sometimes immediately follow the wail. The pitch of this call is about five
tones below the highest note of the wail, and as a rule does not vary,
although it occasionally runs upward a little. It is sometimes heard in the
daytime.

"I have often heard another note in August and early in September, when
several owls: presumably a family out hunting: had gathered 'in the dead
vast and middle of the night' and were calling to one another from the trees
about Lexington Common. Among the subdued whinnyings and tremulous owlish
coos, there comes out of the darkness a sharp cry: almost human, or like a
little child's voice: a cry like keerr, sometimes rolling at the end. It is
about as long as a flicker's call note, and moves about as the bird flies
from one perch to another. Sometimes the note is uttered with so much energy
that it suggests excitement or eagerness.

"It seems probable that this is the call of a fledgling owl, signaling its
whereabouts to its parents while they are away, searching for food among the
branches of the trees, or on the grass underneath. On one occasion, when the
owls were about the house, at 1 o'clock in the morning, I heard the shriek
of a robin burst out of the night."




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