I live in Lake Oswego Oregon with my wife Tui, my sons Charlie (12) and George (9) and sassy pitbull Maile. This post is about the owls I find in Oregon this year.
Jan 4th. Returning from a night walk with Maile I heard a barn owl screeching as it flew over our yard.
Jan 7th. While walking Maile after dark, I heard a barn owl screeching in the neighborhood.
Jan 14th. Charlie, Maile and I were walking at Luscher Farms when we found a dark roosting barn owl in a Doug fir.
Jan 21st. Maile and I got up before dawn and headed down to Browns Ferry. The trail was covered in icy slush and it drizzled slightly. Despite this I heard a great horned owl singing, and eventually saw it fly over the Tualatin river. A few minutes later I found a barred owl perched low in an alder tree at first light.
Jan 27th. I heard a great-horned owl singing through my bedroom window. Sure enough I found the owl perched high in a cedar tree in the back yard.
Feb 3rd. While at Iron Mountain, Tui and I heard a whole gang of agitated robins, jays and chickadees. After a lot of searching, I eventually found a pygmy owl high in a maple tree.
Feb 4th. I walked Maile along Bount Swale at first light on a lovely frosty morning. I was hoping to find a barn owl, but instead heard a distant great-horned owl.
Feb 9th. I visited Coffee Creek Wetlands before dawn to look for owls. I heard an dog like 3 note call from high in some fir trees. I was eventually able to track down the owl-a great horned. This is the first time I have heard this three note call.
Feb 23rd. Maile and I walked Iron Mountain (Lake Oswego), and heard a great-horned owl singing nearby.
March 2nd. Around dawn I heard and then saw a barred owl at Brown's Ferry.
March 3rd.Charlie, Maile and I went to Powell Butte at dusk in search of a long eared owl reported last week. We didn't see it, but did find both a singing pygmy owl, and a hunting great-horned owl.
March 15th. I got up early and went to Elk Rock, where I found a screech owl near the entrance to the park.
March 26th-28th. A few days before, Charlie and I had attempted to head out to the John Day River. East of Government Camp we got a flat. Our car has run flat tires, so we had no spare. We tried to use a can of goo on the tire, but it only slowed the leak. It was a miserable day, with sleet and heavy rain, and reluctantly we decided to return to Portland.
Equipped with new tires, we headed out East again. Just North of Clarno we found a great-horned owl nesting in Cottonwoods. We found a beautiful place to camp in a grove of mature juniper trees. Once we had set up camp and eaten, we hiked up the slope towards Chinaman Hat. Our goal was Tule Lake, which I imagined would be a haven for owls in this desiccated land.
View about 1/2 mile above camp
It was a beautiful bright afternoon.
Maile intrepidly ventures past the No Trespassing sign.
We eventually reach Tule lake, just as it gets dark. From there we descend, stopping to listen at the denser groves of junipers and creek-side willows. We hear 5 screech owls, and a brief, oh so distant long-eared owl. Tired and happy we make it back to camp around 10pm. We make a fire and cook up cocoa and ramen to replenish.
That night I hear a screech owl calling from the junipers and a great-horned calling from the badlands above the tent.
I wake early and walk around the juniper stand looking for roosting owls and drinking coffee. After breakfast we walk down to the John Day and start looking for owls in the riparian corridor. It isn't long before some fresh whitewash alerts me, and moments later a long eared owl flushes. The bird perches for a minute, then drops out of sight further in the thicket.
I am thrilled, last night's calling bird was my first in Wasco County, but it's immeasurably better to see one! We explore a bit more, and run into a flock of wild turkeys. I hike back up the side of the valley hoping for more roosting owls, but find none. I decide to head out via Condon to the Heppner area in search of short eared owl. Leaving Clarno it starts to pour, and for a couple of hours the rain is remarkable. We consider returning home, but once we have reception, the phone promises a dry evening. Between Condon and Heppner we find many rough-legged hawks and another great-horned on a roadside nest. Best of all the curlews are back, and we delight, watching them float in the wind as they sing.
Our first stop is just East of Heppner. The valley is saturated with pheasants, chucka and gray partridge. Despite a long cold walk we find no owls. We then follow Sand Hollow Road to the pass. From our windswept perch atop of the pass we park and cook dinner on the stove. Two wonderful short eared owls emerge from the grassland and start hunting the golden hillsides. I'm enthralled watching the owls catch the wind and float like kestrels in the wind. Beyond us the Blues are dusted in snow. It's just a perfect place.
Looking South from Sand Hollow Road
This was my first short eared owl sighting in Morrow County. We follow Sand Hollow road North, finding a pair of Great-horned owls nesting by the road. At Hermiston we charge the car, then we follow the interstate East to Quesna County Park on the Columbia. We see a roadside barn owl in the headlights as we pull into the park. The park is in a beautiful setting, but the transcontinental freight trains, and a couple of cars creepily driving up to our tent make for a interrupted night's sleep.
April 2nd, Charlie and I went for a warm evening walk around Mary S Young park. We heard three great-horned owls, including a begging juvenile and saw one adult flying around in the canopy.
April 12th. While driving along Cesar Chavez at night with my friend Mark, I saw a barred owl near Reed Canyon.
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