Natural
History
Notes
on the Birds
Owls and Nighthawks
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About the
categories
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Name
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Common name
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Food
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The main food category.
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Feeding Techniques
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How it acquires its food.
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Habitat
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What kind of area does the bird
live?
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Plumage
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Is there similarity between the male
and the female, between winter and spring, young and adult,
or are there variations in the plumage amongst the species.
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Distribution
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Approximately where it is found in the
United States.
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Breeding
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Unique aspects on how the species
breeds.
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About the Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Special notes on the status or natural
history of this bird.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Selections from the Life Histories of
North American Birds, edited by
A. C. Bent.
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Name
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Food
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Primarily small mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Hunts at dark; finds prey primarily by
hearing them first. Probably hears its prey better than it
sees them. Ears are asyncrhonously located on the head so it
can triangulate the sound made by prey, thus giving the owl
a very precise location.
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Habitat
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Wide variety of habitats
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have similar
plumage; no seasonal
differences
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States
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Breeding
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Nests in buildings, burrows, nesting
boxes
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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"The Falcon is a heartless tyrant, and
in this hour of his anxiety, he rejoices in a chance to vent
his spite upon an innocent Barn Owl. Only luck can save the
Owl. Some I have seen smashed in midair, and others merely
bowled over, to rise wrathful but silent, and scramble into
cover before a second bolt should fall."
Dawson is talking about the manner of
the Prairie
Falcon who periodically will
hunt the Barn Owl. He uses the expression "vent his spite"
to give some extra character to the falcon. Vent his spite
basically means "to take his anger out". In this case he is
accusing the falcon of taking his anger out on the Barn Owl
by attacking it while it is in the air. Falcons almost
always attack their prey in the air. Obviously falcons eat a
lot of birds.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Enemies: The barn owl has few enemies
other than its arch enemy, man; it is deplorable that these
interesting and useful birds are so often killed because of
their supposed destruction of game birds or poultry, of
which they are seldom guilty, or because they make
interesting specimens to mount.
The great
horned owl seems to be their
chief natural enemy. These large, fierce, and powerful owls
have been recorded several times as killing and devouring
the gentle and weaker barn owl, which seems to be incapable
of defending itself against such a formidable foe. Dawson
(1923) says of the prairie
falcon: "The Falcon is a
heartless tyrant, and in this hour of his anxiety, he
rejoices in a chance to vent his spite upon an innocent Barn
Owl. Only luck can save the Owl. Some I have seen smashed in
midair, and others merely bowled over, to rise wrathful but
silent, and scramble into cover before a second bolt should
fall."
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Name
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Food
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Small mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Finds prey while flying at night.
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no seasonal
difference
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Distribution
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Throughout most of the US
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Breeding
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Nests on the ground
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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The short-eared owl is one of the most
cosmopolitan of birds, as it is found in every continent
except Australia. In its habits it differs from most owls in
preferring open plains, marshes, and sand dunes to thick
forests, where it is almost never seen, and in the fact that
it frequently hunts by day. Although it sometimes takes
small birds, its feeding habits in general are of great
value to man, for its favorite food consists of rodents.
When field mice or voles increase so as to become veritable
plagues, various owls, especially of this species, have been
known to congregate in the infested region and to have done
great service in destroying the pests. There are several
such records in various counties in England extending back
to the sixteenth century. Such a plague of mice is described
by Hudson (1892) as occurring in South America in 1872 - 73,
when short-eared owls were most important agents in stopping
the plague. Not withstanding their proved value, ignorant
and thoughtless gunners continue to shoot these beneficial
birds, and their numbers are diminishing.
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Name
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Food
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Small mammals and birds
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Feeding
Techniques
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Generally finds prey from a
perch
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Habitat
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Riparian woodlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Scattered throughout the western
states
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Breeding
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Breeds in cavity in tree
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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One of the classic moments of American
ornithology has to be the moment that the American
naturalist John
Burroughs was standing with
Theodore Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park listening to
a Pygmy Owl for the first time.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Voice: The majority of the notes
uttered by this pygmy are decidedly musical and hence not at
all like other owls'. Most hearers have noted the
resemblance of its commonest notes to the cooing of the
mourning dove. My own experience has been that while the
notes are short and repeated like a dove's, and there is at
least a suggestion of the dove's rolling effect, still the
pygmy's notes are somewhat sharper, and each note more
distinct, than the dove's.
When Theodore Roosevelt and John
Burroughs first heard one of these owls in the Yellowstone
National Park, they could not at first believe that it was
an owl. Roosevelt (1904) says: "We had seen a pygmy owl no
larger than a robin sitting on top of a pine in broad
daylight, and uttering at short intervals a queer,
un-owllike cry." Burroughs (1906) wrote: "It was such a
sound as a boy might make by blowing in the neck of an empty
bottle." Mrs.
Bailey (1928) says the note of
an immature female "was a long whistle followed by a cuckoo
like cuck, cucic, cucic, cucic, cuck."
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Name
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Food
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Primarily mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Looks for prey from perch
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Habitat
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Tundra
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Mostly Canada, Alaska but does come
into the north part of the US as food supplies fluctuate
during the winter time.
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Breeding
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Nests on tundra using a hill for nest
so it has good visibility
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Enemies: As with most birds of prey,
the chief enemy of this owl is man; it is so conspicuous in
the open country that it frequents, while with us in winter,
that it is relentlessly pursued, as a handsome trophy to
have mounted; it is one of the most popular ornaments for
store windows and barrooms. Fortunately it is so shy and so
hard to kill that many escape.
Dr.
Sutton (1932) says: "The
natural enemies of the Snowy Owl are chiefly the Arctic Fox,
which steals eggs and young, whenever it can, and the
Eskimos, who not only shoot Ookpikjuak for food, but who
catch them in traps and gather their eggs in the early
spring. About the Post the Husky dogs broke up several nests
of Snowy Owls. * * *
"On February 8 Jack Ford
witnessed a remarkable combat between a trapped fox and an
owl. The great bird swooped and dashed at the unfortunate
animal and tore its face open with its savage beak and
claws. The fox was nearly dead when Jack reached the
spot."
A. M. Bailey (1926) says that "Mr.
Brower saw two Pomarine
Jaegers kill a Snowy Owl this
season near her nest. The jaegers swooped upon the flying
bird forcing her to the ground and then, with repeated
onslaughts from the wing, finally killed the
owl."
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Name
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Food
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Mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Hunts from a perch at
night.
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Habitat
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Diverse habitats. Lives in forests but
needs clearings to do its hunting.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Throughout the US.
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Breeding
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Breeds in nest in tree
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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I have since learned that my
experience was not unique. I find in the literature reports
of numerous similar attacks on men at the nests. Professor
Keyes (1911) says, of a blow that he received: "It came
absolutely unexpected and was so violent as to leave the
left side of my head quite numb. * * * The slash which began
on the left cheek and ran across the left ear was rather
ugly but not dangerous. * * * Three times on this occasion
one of the birds flew in from a neighboring tree and with
strong stroke of wing came straight at my head. It was not
at all the stoop of hawk or falcon, but rather the onrush of
a heavy projectile with a very fiat trajectory. Like a large
projectile too the flight was visible and so all the more
disconcerting; unlike a projectile it was noiseless as a
flying shadow."
Donald J. Nicholson (1926) received
even rougher treatment when he climbed to within 6 feet of a
nest containing eggs; he writes: "Swiftly the old bird came
straight as an arrow from behind and drove her sharp claws
into my side, causing a deep dull pain and unnerving me, and
no sooner had she done this than the other attacked from the
front and sank his talons deep in my right arm causing blood
to flow freely, and a third attack and my shirt sleeve was
torn to shreds for they had struck me a third terrible blow
on the right arm tearing three long, deep gashes, four
inches long; also one claw went through the sinew of my arm,
which about paralyzed the entire arm."
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Name
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Food
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Small mammals, insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Looks for prey from perch
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Habitat
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Riparian forests
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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The two species cover the United
States
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Breeding
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Uses cavity in tree
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Nesting: He says that the nests are
very rarely found, and that "the eggs are almost invariably
deposited in natural hollows in trees, the only exceptions
being extra big holes made by the Northwestern
Flicker (Colaptes cafer
saluratior). One of these two cases was a hole that had
been excavated to a depth of only about six inches, in a
lone dead fir stub that stood in a vacant lot in the city. A
most unusual nesting site in every way for these owls, as
the cavities used are most often two or three feet in depth
and situated in well wooded localities. The nests that I
have seen were placed from four to twelve feet above the
ground, but it is impossible to say what the average height
may be in this country where trees two hundred feet tall are
the rule rather than the exception."
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Name
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Food
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Insects, small birds and
mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Uses both hearing and vision to locate
prey while perched.
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Habitat
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Mixed forests
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Northwest states and northeast
states
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Breeding
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Uses cavity in tree
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Glaucidium is the genus name for the
Pygmy Owl
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Courtship: We common mortals, who
cannot see in the dark, know very little about the courtship
performances of the owls, except what we can learn from
listening to their springtime voices. All owls are more
active and noisy at the approach of the breeding season than
at other times, and the saw-whet owl is particularly so.
Major Bendire (1892) quotes Dr. William L. Ralph as saying:
"Just before and during the mating season these little Owls
are quite lively; their peculiar whistle can be heard in
almost any suitable wood, and one may by imitating it often
decoy them within reach of the hand. Upon one occasion, when
my assistant was imitating one, it alighted on the fur cap
of a friend that stood near him." W.
Leon Dawson (1923)
writes:
During the brief courting season, when
alone the notes are heard, the male is a most devoted
serenader; and his song consists of breathless repetitions
of a single syllable, whoop or kwook, vibrant and
penetrating, but neither untender nor unpleasing. In the
ardor of midnight under a full moon, this suitor whoops it
up at the rate of about three whoops in two seconds, and
this pace he maintains with the unfailing regularity of a
clock. But to prevent his lady love from going to sleep, he
changes the key occasionally. In quality this Nycteline note
is not unlike the more delicate utterance of the
Pygmy
Owl.
* * * There can be no confusion, however, as between the
incessant cadences of the Saw-whet and the xylophone "song"
of Glaucidium.
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Name
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Food
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Small mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Hunts from perch
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Habitat
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Old growth forests
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Coastal part of Pacific coast states;
also a population can be found in New Mexico and Southern
California
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Breeding
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Nests in old growth forest ; sometimes
uses old hawk nest.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: Rats and mice of various species
seem to be the favorite prey of the spotted owl, wood rats
(Ateotoma), white-footed mice (Peromyscue), and the red
tree-mouse (Phenacomys), which forages in the forest trees.
It also, probably, eats some chipmunks and other small
squirrels, other small rodents, and a few birds.
Mr.
Dawson (1923) says:
"Curiously, however, two instances are on record where
remains of Pygmy
Owls, Glaucidium gnoma,
have been found in the stomachs of recently killed Spotted
Owls."
Charles W. Michael (1933) found an
interesting collection of pellets under a perching tree, of
which he says: "Here we got a big surprise, for scattered
through every pellet examined were a number of muskmelon
seeds. Other identified particles contained in the pellets
were egg shells, apparently hen's egg shells, hair from a
ground squirrel, small mammal bones, and other bones that
looked like bits of bone from a pork or mutton chop. As the
owl flies, it is just about half a mile to the bear feeding
platforms where owls could get such things as egg shells,
melon seeds, and mutton chops.
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Name
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Great Gray
Owl
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Lesson
Plan
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Food
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Mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Will hunt by day or night. Uses perch
to find prey.
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Habitat
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Northern forests
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Small populations in various forests
as south as Yosemite
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Breeding
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Quite often uses old nest site of
hawks, owls, or Raven.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Winter: Edward H. Forbush (1927)
writes:
When the northern forests fail to
produce cones for winter food of small arboreal birds; when
deep snows cover the runways of mice, and grasses and weeds
that feed ground-birds and when bush rabbits and ptarmigan
are scarce in the northern wilderness; then we may expect an
unusual invasion of Great Gray Owls. Such a combination of
circumstances probably does not occur often, but in the
winter of 1842: 43, according to Dr. Samuel Abbott, seven of
these birds were taken in Massachusetts, and probably many
more were seen and went unrecorded. In the winter of 1890:
91 such numbers of this species were killed in eastern Maine
that Mr. Grosby, taxidermist of Bangor, received 27
specimens. Some birds from this flight reached eastern
Massachusetts, where a few were taken. * * * The bird is
reported here and there in northern New England nearly every
winter, but is noted seldom in any of the three southern New
England states. Although it is a forest bird, it may be
found almost anywhere in winter outside the cities and very
rarely even within city limits, but it prefers deep woods,
and as it is here chiefly in winter and moves about mainly
at night, it is rarely seen.
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Name
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Food
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Insects, small mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds during day and night
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Habitat
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Open fields; wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Western states. Population is
decreasing rapidly
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Breeding
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Nests in a burrow in the ground.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Behavior: As an exception to the rule,
stated in my opening paragraph on this species, it is
interesting to note that Clinton G. Abbott (1930), when he
came to San Diego in 1921, found burrowing owls living in
well-settled parts of the city. A certain individual roosted
daily in a pepper tree in front of the Central Y.M.C.A.,
almost in the heart of the business district. On El Cajon
Boulevard, which was a well-traveled thoroughfare even in
those days, Burrowing Owls could often be seen perched on
the side-walk curb. They lived in the culvert drains under
the intersecting streets.
The paving of this boulevard has
driven these birds away, and the Y.M.C.A. "Billy" has gone,
yet in spite of San Diego's present 150,000 population
Burrowing Owls still subsist wherever there is any extent of
vacant land. In quiet streets they can sometimes be seen
hawking about the arc-lights at night and settling on the
pavement below: probably in pursuit of moths. On Reynard
Way, which is a short-cut between down town and the Mission
Hills residential district, these Owls are common, because
many of the sloping lots on each side have not yet been
built upon. Even in broad daylight a "Ground Owl" may often
be seen standing upon some advertising sign, apparently
unconcerned at the passing stream of automobiles.
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Name
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Food
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Mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Locates prey while flying
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Habitat
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Forests near open areas.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Throughout the US except the
Southeast
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Breeding
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Doesn't build its own nest but rather
uses old nest of hawk, crow, raven.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Young: The incubation
period is generally considered to be about 21 days. An egg
is laid about every other day, and since incubation begins
when the first egg is laid the young hatch at similar
intervals and show considerable variation in size. It does
not seem to be known whether the male assists in incubation,
but he is always close at hand, while the female is
incubating, during the day at least, and responds quickly to
her cries of distress. Probably he hunts for food at dusk
and during the night and may feed his mate on the nest or
relieve her to hunt for herself.
When between four and five weeks old
the largest young birds begin to leave the nest, crawling
out onto the surrounding branches. All leave the nest long
before they can fly, climbing about or fluttering down to
perch on any low branch or fallen tree. They are carefully
guarded by both parents during this period, who rush to
their defense and attempt to lure an intruder away by
spectacular demonstrations. They are fed by their parents
until they are at least eight or nine weeks old, have gained
the full power of flight, and have learned to hunt for
themselves. The family group keeps more or less together
during summer and fall and perhaps during winter.
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Name
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Food
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Mammals
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Feeding
Techniques
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Locates prey from perches
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Habitat
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Mixed forest
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Eastern states, but moving into the
west
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Breeding
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Nests in tree, usually in a hollow of
a tree, or abandoned nest of hawk or crow.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Enemies: The misguided sportsman and
the farmer with a gun are the owl's worst enemies; any hawk
or owl is shot on sight, as a supposed killer of game or
poultry; many large owls are shot to be mounted as
ornaments, or as trophies of man's prowess. Next to man
crows seem to be the owls' bitterest enemies. I have often
traced the location of an owl by the clamor made by a band
of noisy crows that were pestering him. No sooner does a
crow discover an owl than he calls up all his friends and
the fun begins. I have no evidence to show that the crows
ever inflict any serious injury on the owl, but they make
life miserable for him, darting at and about him and heaping
upon his innocent head all the vile epithets that crow
profanity and insulting language can produce. J. D. Carter
(1925) gives the following interesting account of
this:
No sooner was the bird on the wing
than a party of Crows, idling in the neighborhood, gave
chase with all the choice expletives which are reserved for
the big Owls. When perched in the midst of a cawing mob, the
Owl would duck its head when one of the Crows made a dive at
it, and would often counter by a thrust of the beak. When
the Crows were quiet enough, the snapping of the Owl's beak
could be plainly heard for 100 yards. The Owl did not make
any visible attempt to use its feet as weapons. On two
occasions it dived into a big hollow beech tree, leaving the
watching mob outside. No doubt the Crows would have gone
away in time, but in both cases the Owl came out again
before they had dispersed. When perched in the open, the
Owl's plan, if it had any, was to endure the pestering and
profanity until the Crows one by one lost interest and
drifted away; then by easy stages, approach, and finally
disappear in the nest cavity. It did not approach its nest
so long as a single Crow appeared to be watching. There was
no loud talk near the nursery door.
To see an image of a Crow attacking a
Gt.
Horned Owl.
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Name
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Food
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Insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds from the ground
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Habitat
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Open areas, arid habitat
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Western states
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Breeding
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Nests on the ground but does not creat
any nest structure. Young are precocial.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
The only species of bird known to
hibernate.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
In some of its habits it differs
considerably from the preceding species of this family which
are almost entirely confined to the denser woodlands; the
Poor-will, however, although frequently found in similar
localities, is apparently equally as much at home on the
open prairie and the almost barren and arid regions of the
interior, which are covered only here and there with stunted
patches of sage (Artemisia) and other desert plants. The
climate does not seem to affect it much, as it inhabits some
of the hottest regions of the continent, like Death Valley,
in southeastern California, as well as the slopes of the
Rocky and Blue mountains, in Oregon, where it reaches
altitudes of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. I have heard the
Poorwill in Bear Valley, Oregon, in a locality where frost
could be found every month in the year.
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Name
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Food
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Insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Catches insects while on the wing;
usually feeds at dusk
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Habitat
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Open areas - sometimes can be found
around small towns
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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Throughout the US
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Breeding
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Nests on the ground.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Long before the white man came to
America the nighthawk was well known to the indians, and we
find it taking a prominent place in their myths and
traditions. Apparently the notes of this bird appealed most,
since the names chosen by the various tribes were usually
graphic allusions to the calls or to the characteristic
booming noise heard during the courtship season. To the
tribes along the Connecticut River this booming was the
sound of the Shad Spirit announcing to the shoals of shad,
about to ascend the river, of their impending fate. The
nighthawk was known to the Seminoles of Florida as
"Ho-pil-car." In the Milicite Indian Natural History there
is the name "Pik-teis-k wes," and according to W. W. Cooke
(1884) the Chippewas not only had the name "Besh-que" for
the nighthawk but recognized it as a species distinct from
the whippoorwill, to which they gave the name
"Gwen-go-wi-a." That the Chippewa Indians differentiated
these two species is all the more remarkable when we recall
that this distinction was confused by Catesby and the
American ornithologists of the next 50 years who followed
him. It was Alexander Wilson who first noted that they were
distinct species.
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Name
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Food
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Insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Catches insects while on the wing;
usually feeds at dusk
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Habitat
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Open areas
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
no difference between
sexes
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Distribution
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The southwest deserts
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Breeding
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Nests on the ground.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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The Texas nighthawk is a large, pale
race of the species Chordeiles acutipennis, which is divided
into additional races in Central and South America. Our 1931
Check-list states that it "breeds in the Lower Austral Zone
from north-central California, southern Nevada, southern
Utah, and central Texas south to about lat. 300 in Lower
California, and to south-central Mexico."
The Texas nighthawk is a common summer
resident in the warmer portions of the Southwestern United
States; we found it generally distributed throughout the
arid desert regions of Arizona, along the river bottoms and
dry washes, and, in the more fertile regions, about the
sloughs and coursing over the alfalfa fields. H. S. Swarth
(1920) writes: "In all the valley towns of southern Arizona
the Texas nighthawk is a familiar sight. It has not, as yet,
acquired the habit of its eastern relative of nesting upon
the flat roofs of buildings, but throughout the summer the
birds may be seen in numbers at dusk, hawking about, low
over the houses. In walking about on the desert one is sure
to flush Texas nighthawks from their resting places under
the bushes, where they usually remain during the
daytime."
In Texas Dr. J. C. Merrill (1878)
found it most plentiful just outside of Brownsville, and he
discovered several sets of eggs within the fort. In the San
Bernardino Mountains, Calif., according to Dr. Grinnell
(1908), "the Texas nighthawk is a characteristic breeding
bird of the Lower Sonoran zone, but like several other
species of the same zone wanders up even into Transition
during the late summer." And farther north, "in the Yosemite
section it was observed only at our lowest stations, west of
the foothills" (Grinnell and Storer, 1924).
Courtship: Mr. Swarth (1920) says:
"The male Texas nighthawk performs no such spectacular
evolutions as the eastern nighthawk does in the breeding
season, but he has a comparable, though lesser performance,
usually given when in pursuit of the female. Both birds
flying low over the bushes, the male repeatedly utters a
low, chuckling sound, 'tuc-tuc-tuc-a-tuc-tuc: c-r-rooo,' a
rolling note, the finale very dove-like in effect. 'While
uttering this call the wings are held stiffly extended
downward. Then, in ordinary flight, there is repeatedly
given a long drawn, nasal 'w-a-ng.'" Grinnell and Storer
(1924) give the following account of it:
It was the height of the nesting
season [May 5] and the birds were courting actively.
A male, distinguished by the larger and whiter bands on his
wings and the more conspicuously white chin patch, was
pursuing a female. The male always followed, but at close
range, rarely more than two lengths behind the female.
Occasionally a second male joined in the pursuit, but
evidently with only partial interest, for he frequently
circled off by himself. Less often the two male birds
pursued one another, weaving an irregular course up and
down, in and out, but never rising much if any over 50 feet
above the ground. The progress through the air was easy yet
swift, a few strokes of the long wings sufficing to carry
the birds through a long glide. Often as they passed close
over the observer the barred pattern of the under surface
was clearly visible, as was also the broad subterminal baud
of white on the lower side of the tail. While the males were
on the wing their low crooning trills were heard almost
continually, swelling and diminishing as the birds
approached or departed. When they rested on the ground
between flights they gave the same notes, prolonged but also
with longer intervals of quiet. One trill lasted 25 seconds
and another fully a minute. These notes remind one of the
quavering call of the Screech Owl save that they are longer
continued, on one key, and uttered in almost the same
cadence throughout.
Alden H. Miller (1937) adds the
following observation: "The contrast in degree of whiteness
in wing and throat patches of males and females was at once
evident. That this sexual difference apparently was
recognized by the birds and that it was specifically
accentuated by the actions of the male were facts new to me.
As a male swung into line behind a female, his white throat
was displayed so that, as the pair flew toward me, the
brownish white throat of the female was scarcely noticeable,
whereas that of the male was a conspicuous white beard. The
impression was gained that the feathers of the throat of the
male were lifted and that the whole throat area was
expanded. Usually, perhaps always, this 'flashing' of the
throat patch was accompanied by vocal notes."
Nesting: The nesting habits of the
Texas nighthawk are no more elaborate than are those of its
relatives in the minor group; the eggs are laid on the bare
ground, without any attempt at nest building or even
scooping out a hollow, in some open sandy or gravelly spot,
and usually with little or no cover to shade them from the
full glare of the sun. We were too early for eggs while I
was in Arizona, but. after I left, my companion, Frank
Willard, found two nests in Pima County on June 10, 1922;
each was on the ground at the foot of a greasewood bush; he
says that after the female had been flushed from one of the
nests the male attempted to drive her back onto the
eggs.
Bendire (1895) says that he has "found
its eggs on the parched gravelly mesas of southern Arizona,
miles from the nearest water. Their favorite breeding
resorts here are dry, barren table-lands, the sides of
canyons, and the crests of rocky hills." Dr. Merrill (1878)
says that in Texas the eggs "are usually deposited in
exposed situations, among sparse chaparral, on ground baked
almost as hard as brick by the intense heat of the sun. One
set of eggs was placed on a small piece of tin, within a
foot or two of a frequented path. The female sits close, and
when flushed flies a few feet and speedily returns to its
eggs. They make no attempt to decoy an intruder away. I have
ridden up to within five feet of a female on her eggs,
dismounted, tied my horse, and put my hand on the bird
before she would move."
Robert S. Woods has sent me some
photographs (pls. 38, 89) of a nest that he found on April
27, 1923, in the San Gabriel Wash, in Los Angeles County,
Calif., where he says this nighthawk is a common summer
resident; the eggs, he says (Woods, 1924b): were deposited
in a gravelly area covered with low second growth, mostly
deer-weed or wild broom (Syrmatium glabrum). It may be
observed In the photograph that the gravel, which was here
loose because of previous leveling of the ground, bad been
smoothed by the removal of the larger pebbles over a space
such as would be covered by the body of the nighthawk. The
few stones scattered over it were probably rolled there by
the movements of the bird in rising or alighting after the
eggs had been laid. * * * On one hot day the eggs were moved
back several Inches Into the partial shade of the nearest
shrub, being restored to the original position after the
warm weather had passed. The mother would remain on her eggs
until approached within perhaps ten feet, but after being
once disturbed she would not return as long as any person or
suspicious object remained anywhere In the vicinity. The
other parent, if present in the neighborhood, showed no
Interest in the family affairs.
In the Fresno district, according to
John G. Tyler (1913), the great majority of the Texas
nighthawks nest in the vineyards; four of the five nests
observed by him were in vineyards, either at the base of a
vine or on bare ground between the vines; the fifth was "on
soft ground at base of a sunflower growing in a field of
melons."
Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that "at
Brownsville, Texas, hundreds of Texas Nighthawks are said to
be found in the city nearly throughout the year nesting on
the fiat roofs of the adobe houses."
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Name
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Food
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Feeding
Techniques
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Habitat
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Plumage
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Distribution
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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