This evening I confirmed the presence of two EASTERN SCREECH-OWLS together in our nest box in northeast Ithaca. At around 6:30 PM, one of them came to the hole of the box, trilled once, and perched in peace for a while. Then this owl began fidgeting and kicking backwards, in a way that suggested to me that someone was pushing from behind for a turn at the box opening. After a few minutes, I saw the first owl step back, turn around, and clamber over the second owl's head and out of sight, while the second owl took its place at the hole.
I had the strong but counterintuitive impression that the second owl's pupils were smaller than those of the first. Could the default resting state of owl pupils, even in a dark box, be narrower than their state after adjustment to twilight? Could the second owl have been in a bad mood? (I recall reading that in humans, joy makes the pupils dilate, but sadness makes them contract.) Or were my own pupils, which were extremely dilated themselves at this point, deceiving me? In any case, the second owl took its time at the hole of the box, scanning the surroundings with increasing intensity. It too called once. At around 7:30, this owl suddenly plunged out of the box, whereupon I lost it in the like-colored weeds that we left around the tree last fall. Then the first owl immediately took its spot at the box opening. I feel slightly more confident also about my ability to distinguish these owls by sight now. For one thing, the first owl to appear seemed to show a shadow or dark patch at the base of its bill, which created the very vague impression of Charlie Chaplin (or a different, quite notorious person I don't want to mention). The head streaking also seems to be a basis for telling the owls apart. Mark Chao From: Mark Chao [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 1:07 PM To: '[email protected]' Cc: 'Miyoko Chu' Subject: NE Ithaca screech-owl, Fri 3/18 [.] At midday today, I heard a sustained commotion from at least four chickadees, a Downy Woodpecker, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch from a spruce tree in our yard. I peered under the tree and into the dense branches to try to find the trigger for such agitation. I saw nothing at all until, in a flash, a small bird flew powerfully all the way cross the yard and straight into the owl's nest box. A moment later, I saw an owl perched at the hole, first in cryptic and then in more relaxed posture. I also saw an owl in the box earlier this morning. I think that there are two possibilities. 1. There is one owl in our yard. This bird flew across from the box to the spruce at some time between 8 AM and noon, perhaps to escape some living threat or nuisance, or to find greater thermal comfort on this warm day. (Songbirds have often mobbed the owl in the box, but have never managed to roust it before, to my knowledge.) 2. There are two owls in our yard. One was in the box this morning, while the other was in the spruce. Flushed by me, the latter owl joined the other in the box. I feel that the second option is just as likely as the first, or even more so. If this is so, then it would seem highly likely that the two birds are mates. [.] -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
