Sounds

I plan to survey the Unity Plantation / Unity / Burnham / Clinton MOMP owl route early Tuesday morning 1 APR 2008. This is MOMP route 21-4-B. Previous surveys on this route reported northern saw-whet owls (intermediate numbers), barred owls (highest numbers), and great-horned owls (fewest). One year during Maine Cooperative Owl Survey an active great-horned owl nest was located near one survey point, but great-horned owls were not heard at that stop during three surveys.

I stopped late Thursday at the location where I saw the barred owl with crow as prey early Thursday. The crow was not on the ground; I assume the owl recovered the crow.

This morning on my route to work just before 0700 hours a barred owl flew upward and across the road a short distance ahead of the car. The owl carried a large black prey item. I first thought the prey might be a black kitten. But when the owl perched in a roadside tree and I stopped for better view, I realized the prey was an American crow. The crow appeared to be stiff rather than loose and floppy. Perhaps the owl made the kill hours earlier; perhaps the crow was roadkill that the owl scavenged as prey?

Barred owls are still seen frequently during daylight hours all this winter and now early spring (2008). My sense is that more local observers have seen owls during daylight hours than have heard owls vocalizing at night in recent months. None of the four local Maine Owl Monitoring Program routes have been completed yet this season, but barred olws have been seen during daylight hours along each route at least once during or since the 2007-2008 Christmas Bird Count.