Long-eared Owls continue to be seen in Central Park.  Two were visible on Saturday in a tree south of their last location.  It was great to see them again.

On Saturday, a group of bird watchers stood carefully across the road from the roost and observed the park’s Eastern Screech-Owl.  The group was wonderfully handled by a NYC Urban Park Ranger.  They kept their distance from the owl, were quiet and didn’t disturb her in the least.  Her ears stayed flat the whole time the group watched them.

A few hearty souls quietly followed her after fly out and were rewarded by getting to see her preen and call. 

The North Woods Eastern Screech-Owl continued her calling this evening.  She ventured up to the Great Lawn to advertise her availability.

Before fly out she did some grooming, and there were a few frames of video that clearly showed she is banded.

While she is doing all of this calling, I certainly hope Dr. Robert DeCandido does not lead an “Owl Tour” and play his Screech-Owl tapes.  She certainly doesn’t need to be confused by Birding Bob as she looks for a mate.

First, apologies for anthropomorphizing in my last post and saying the owl in the North Woods was lonely.  She’s clearly just advertising her availability.  Calling her lonely is just me projecting my concern that she won’t be able to find a mate.

Last night she called at least three hours.  I gave up watching her at that point, as my feet were near frozen!  She called constantly pausing between calls from 15 seconds to 3 minutes.  She’s clearly making sure any nearby male will find her!

For those who don’t know the history of Eastern Screech-Owls in Central Park, they were reintroduced into the park about ten years ago.  The program didn’t result in reestablishing a self sustaining population.  Deaths due to car traffic may have tipped that balance against the owls, but there were other factors as well, poisons, geographic isolation, cavity contention with squirrels and other birds, etc.

So, Central Park now has an owl who has a low chance of finding a mate.  Moving her would be politically difficult and introducing a mate would just perpetuate an unproductive situation even longer.

That said, I will miss watching owls raise their offspring in the park.

Tonight was bitter sweet.  The park’s resident Screech-Owl was back in a spot she has used more frequently in the fall.   She looked great and I was happy to see her in good health.  (Screech-owls generally switch between a few cavities to roost, and I haven’t been able to find her alternative locations over the past few weeks.)

After fly out, she called almost immediately and continued to call for over an hour.  When I left she was still calling.  Now is the time she would normally be starting to brood, but without a mate she was just calling and calling.

The three Long-eared Owls are continuing to roost in Central Park.  Tonight after a very warm day, high winds at dusk made owl watching and photography difficult.  Most of my exposures at fly out are about half a second long, so I had blurry picture after blurry picture!  Lucky some made the cut.