Owl Survey

Last night two of my siblings and I went on an owl survey; a citizen science project connected with Hawk Ridge in Duluth. This is our third year.  The first year we had a route by Lake City. We asked for a closer route.  The next week we got a route in East Bethel which was very close but so busy with traffic noise we wouldn't be able to hear an owl if it was sitting on our shoulders.  So, after much discussion with Hawk Ridge, we got a route in Pierz, MN.  The woman who had the route before us had it for five years.  She moved to Alaska, we were told, and that is why the route is available.  The fact that the previous volunteer had the same route for five years made it seem attractive.  And it is a good route.  We plan on doing it again next year.  However, the map we were given was crap.  Most of the roads were not marked and some were marked incorrectly.  After a long spell of confusion, we decided to start the route from the middle (downtown Pierz) and back track.  Looking at the shapes of the roads and the lay out of the creeks and rivers, we figured out where to start.  We ran our route while it was still daylight.  We saw a turkey run across the road.  And we saw a huge number of purple martin houses out there in the country.  There is a big purple martin fan club out there in Pierz.   We stopped for dinner at a little cafe on the main road of town.  The diner wasn't busy. The fire station was having a fundraiser fish fry and maybe that is why it wasn't busy.  Fish was the special at the diner as well.  I think everyone is trying to unload the fish supply before Lent is over.   The owner came and talked with us for a while.  He was a jolly fellow and he told us stories about the other customers.  He told us where he had seen owls and he seemed to be indicating the area to the north and west which is where our route began.  As soon as it got dark we went to the first stop.  On this, our third owl survey, we heard owls.  The owls we heard were very faint and far in the distance.  We heard great horned owls and barred owls at several stops.  We tried really hard to listen. At each stop we got out of the car and waited a couple minutes for the sound of the car to quiet down.  There was a slight breeze blowing so we would turn our heads so the wind wouldn't whistle in our ears.  We had some traffic noise.  Robins were terribly noisy at one spot along a river.  We heard sand hill cranes and geese and frogs and cows and machinery and dogs and tractors.  The dogs and the cows seemed to be adding extra o's to their moo's and their woof's.  They were trying to confuse us.  One cow was bellowing an extra lower octave Mooo that I thought sounded like a great gray owl but I decided it might have been one of the buffalo we saw driving into town.  When you are listening carefully for owls, almost anything can sound like an owl. I was excited to actually hear owls on our route.  We're told that the documentation of no owls calling is as important as hearing them.  But you know, when you spend time memorizing the sounds of owls, it's gratifying to put your skills to use.