Eastern Screech-Owl also gives a similar, lower pitched version, that sounds like someone dragging their thumb across the tines of a pocket comb (hence our name for it). That is a Northern Saw-whet Owl–what’s been called the “the comb call”. But beware, because screech-owls can bark too, but if heard well, you can tell the difference: But my nocturnal endeavors proves Gerry’s description is true … these little owls are just really, really good at not being found, and they’re probably more common than we realize. That has been my experience as well-I’ve never found one that wasn’t in a conifer. Gerry Wykes describes the perfect Saw-whet roosting site as, “…with a dense covering for a roof, an airy open bottom, and a location low in the “shrub’ry.” It was the type of spot I’ve eyed hundreds of times before, except that all my spots lacked the presence of a Saw-whet.” What they all had in common was forest edge, with rather dense undergrowth and wild grape, or other types of vine tangles. Only one of them had any conifers at all. The week we made that recording, I found 9 Northern Saw-whet Owl winter territories in a forest preserve area of about 5 square miles, in the Chicago metro area. What sounds like a very distant Great Horned Owl in this last recording is trucks speeding along an 8-lane expressway a few miles away. Our small group sat back and listened to them go at it, with one of them running through the whole repertoire of calls, from barks and “ kneeuks” and whines to finally finish with the “toot-toot” advertising call. One time, while doing a Christmas count, I started up a saw-whet, which then got a second bird to start calling. Since then I’ve heard mostly barks and an occasional “strangled cat” whine.
My first experience with a saw-whet at night was the result of broadcasting the “fall vocalizations” in some likely habitat near Chicago. Owls are talkative, and on these disks is a treasure trove of owl noises. Now I do, and it’s changed everything.Ī friend of mine turned me on to the Cornell 2-CD set Voices of North American Owls. As for saw-whets, well, it turned out that I didn’t know what kinds of noises they made in fall and winter. Barred Owls are range-expanding, and are filling up woodlands all over northern Illinois. The raucous “ who-cooks-for-you’all?” of the Barred Owl, and the “ toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot …” of the Northern Saw-whet Owl.Īll I ever got to respond were screech and Great Horned, because there simply were no Barred Owls in the Chicago area (boy, has that changed), and saw-whets either didn’t call back or simply weren’t there. The classic Great Horned Owl territorial hooting. When prey is plentiful, they will kill more than they can eat at once, caching the excess in a safe place.Northern Saw-whet Owl roosting in a vine tangle, by carroll.cathy, on Flickr.įor many of us in the ABA Area, October and November is when northern and mountain owls start showing up close to our homes.įor much of my nearly 50 years of birding (east of the Mississippi), going out owling meant playing 4 calls (first on a cassette recorder, then an iPod): the Eastern Screech-Owl “ whinny” and deep trill. They nest in tree cavities, where the female does all of the incubation and brooding while the male hunts. They spend the daylight hours roosting quietly in thick cover, where their presence is sometimes betrayed by the scolding of a mob of smaller birds.Īlthough they vocalize year-round, Northern Saw-whets can be heard more often during their breeding season (April through June), when they are looking for mates. Northern Saw-whet Owls are almost entirely nocturnal and are far more often heard than seen. Starlings and squirrels compete with them for nesting cavities and also plunder nests and kill owlets. Saw-whet Owls may be preyed upon by larger species of owls and hawks. Sign up for ABC's eNews to learn how you can help protect birds
In addition, habitat shifts caused by climate change may affect the southern range limit of this species in the future. Saw-whet Owls sometimes fall victim to collisions, and the mature forest habitat they favor is increasingly lost. It has bright yellow eyes and a large, rounded head without ear tufts. Named for its repeated tooting whistle, some say the bird sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whetstone. The tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl is almost as diminutive as the Elf Owl and Peru's Long-whiskered Owlet.