BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
AN 'OWLY' SORT OF OWL
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
It sat 25 feet up in a fir tree, very close to the trunk. From up there it could look over to Comstock Avenue and beyond that, to Manley Field House, where the Syracuse Orangemen played basketball back in the 1970s. As a grad student at S.U., I was in Oakwood Cemetery, taking a shortcut home from classes and incidentally looking for birds as I always do.

I'm not sure what prompted me to look above me. Certainly the bird never uttered a sound nor even moved, yet there it was, staring down at me, perhaps wondering if I was the sort of human who would try to hurt it. I had been studying birds for a quarter of a century and this was my first Long-eared Owl. It was like my heart stopped beating for a moment as I focused my binoculars, quickly eliminating the possibility of the more common, Great Horned Owl. The fact that it took me so long to actually see one of these owls says a lot about the secrecy of all owls and this one in particular.

There are over 200 species of owls in the world and they are broken into two families, barn owls and 'true' owls. Both the Long-eared and the Great Horned are 'true' owls. It's possible to see five species of owls here on Nantucket and four of them have been known to nest here. The two most common owls on the mainland, Great Horned and Screech, never occur here.

Owls vary enormously in size, from the Least Pygmy Owl, smaller than a sparrow, to the Eurasian Eagle Owl, bigger than a Red-tailed Hawk. They all have forward facing eyes, giving them a human-like appearance and supporting their reputation for wisdom. This also gives them excellent depth perception and along with their hearing, allows them to hunt effectively in total darkness.

The word 'owl' has an interesting history, being thought to be onomatopoeic for their calls but also going back to the same origin as 'hallelujah' from the Hebrew.

Let's work our way back to the specific owl of this week's column, the Long-eared. The visible 'ears' on owls are not ears at all, but tufts of feathers. Their actual ears are hidden on the sides of their head, the left slightly higher than the right, helping to locate prey. Long-eared Owls appear crow-sized. They are among the most nocturnal of owl species. Only some disturbance would make them fly during the daylight. So it requires a sharp eye to find them, motionless, often close to the trunk of an evergreen tree. They are brown patterned, have a cat-like face, and vertical streaks in the front. The similar but larger Great Horned Owl has horizontal barring and a distinctive white throat. Longeared's ear tufts can be flattened but are often held almost vertical, with their eyes closed, making them look like a tree stump.

This species exists all around the northern hemisphere but originally our Long-ears were thought to be different with their own scientific name, Asio wilsonianus,

for Alexander Wilson. Now they are

lumped in with the Eurasian species, all

known as Asio otus, a rather redundant name

meaning a horned, eared owl.

Long-eared Owls like to do the home makeover thing. If they find an old crow or

hawk nest that gives them a fine platform on

which to add their personal touches, strips of

bark, pine needles, and their own feathers.

They lay four or five eggs and begin incubating

immediately as they are laid, consequently

the chicks hatch from one to ten

days apart and are different sizes. After a

month the chicks are anxious to leave the

nest but are still not airborne. They

spend the next month hopping from branch to branch, carefully guarded by

their parents. Family groups stay together through the ensuing winter.

From now through April is the best

time to find Long-eared Owls on

Nantucket. One year a hunter looking for antler 'shed' found as many as 20 Longears roosting silently in one of the hundreds of stands of pine out on the moors.

The next day they had gone elsewhere.

Over the years just a single nest has been found, but as secretive as they are that's not surprising.

Too often when owl and human meet, the result is death for the owl. For that reason, birders are often very close-mouthed when owls are found, particularly Long-ears that seem to present too irresistible a target for many.

If you want to get familiar with one of these 'owly' owls, visit the Edith Andrews Bird Collection at the Maria Mitchell Association. Over the years, 11 Long-ears have been brought in and preserved for scientific viewing.

If you are out walking in the woods, watch for owl chalk, their white droppings that decorate a roost tree. Also look for their regurgitated pellets underneath containing the hair and bones of the mice they eat. Finally look up and near the tree trunk and watch for something

that looks like bark, but is really feathers. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228- 1693 for more information. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 781-259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net.