Ten Owls
For now, ten owls appear on the TMBC Birds Of The Tehachapis checklist, nine of which could winter here. Records reveal, however, only seven owl species have been recorded over the winter months in the TMBC listing area with Long-eared and Short-eared Owls absent. The tenth owl, heard twice one summer, a Flammulated, is migratory and therefore not expected here in winter (this bird was recorded on tape).
When the eleventh check list edition is published in the fall it is likely that these three species will no longer appear on the checklist. In each case, one observation in twenty years should not deserve even a vagrant label. There are also several non-owl species that should be dropped from any consideration that they may be seen in the Tehachapis.
Seven Owls
Barn, Great Horned, Burrowing, and Western Screech were seen, while Northern Pygmy, Northern Saw-whett, and Southern Spotted were heard on the TMBC CBC’s. Generally the counts are the only time of the year there are “owlers” out there “owling.” Thus, seven species and thirty-nine individual owls were found on the CBC’s.
Although most all these birds were observed on the Tehachapi count, a few were seen during daylight hours on the BVS/CV CBC. We are anticipating that during the ‘06/’07 counts we will have a cadre of “owlers” out there owling on both CBC’s. However, there was one member “owler” working both counts – Alison (Ali) Sheehey. This is her story.
Nine Owls
Ali had been off her Kern County leash and was returning in the evening by way of State Hwy 223 which passes through the western portion of the BVS/CV CBC circle. She saw three Barn Owls – owl one. If no other BAOW’s were seen on this CBC, then at least it would be one for the count week.
Owl two, a Great Horned at the Keene exit. Before settling into her campsite in Mountain Park, Alison, of course, did some owl hooting and called up a Northern Saw-whet – number three. Getting up at 0130 hours, Ali tried barking up a Spotted Owl and was successful, enticing a juvenile to respond – the fourth owl.
Before first light, working her way down the mountain, both Northern Pygmy and Western Screech were heard – species five and six! The next day, on the BVS/CV count, working the Arvin/Edison ponds, Ali located and photographed a lone Burrowing Owl, her seventh Kern County owl in two days – and a first sighting for a BVS/CV CBC.
Heading for home (Kern River Valley), along Caliente/Bodfish Road, there on a post was a Short-eared Owl! Owl number eight. Remarkable! One owl to go! But where? Alison was determined to find the elusive ninth Kern County winter owl. Arriving home, she flipped on the computer to email her count data to us at “Bird Central” for she had an outstanding list of sightings for the day.
Before routing an email to bvsbird, she checked her messages. “14 Long-eared Owls seen on the China Lake CBC!” A chance to list nine Kern County owls in winter within a week! At sunrise, Alison and three other birders are off to the Ridgecrest Cemetery.
Jean and I have birded a dozen or so cemeteries including one next door to us in Santa Ana, home for two members of the psittacidae (parrots) family, a number of National Cemeteries on hallowed ground, a neglected peaceful cemetery full of, for us, rarities in the mountains near Jackson Hole, and always, as Alison said, “Trying to be respectful.”
Birding the memorial park, Ali and her team spotted a “skinny guy” jogging. Surprise, surprise, it is Bob Barnes! The finder of the owls! Following, according to Ali, a bit of twitcher bantering, Bob agrees to take them on a journey to find her ninth Kern County owl in just a matter of days. Soon, posing, her ninth owl! But Ali’s quest is not over.
Twenty Owls!
Leading on, Bob points out a tree with whitewash nearby. To quote Alison, “Suddenly I am in a Dr. Seuss book, one owl, two owl, green owl, blue owl – no, maybe I’m on Sesame Street, one, two, three, four, five, I see five owls, no wait, more, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve owls, but seven have already flown out - nineteen Long-eared Owls in one tree! At least twenty Long-eared’s are wintering here!”
The quest, the hunt, the discovery, that’s what it’s all about.
Good twitching, gone twitching.
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