A catalog of owling sightings from the USA prior to 2011, when I took up owling in earnest.
Barn owl interstate 15 near Prescott.
Great horned owl. First bird at Walnut Canyon. Seen near black-capped gnatcatcher site with Tom.
Spotted owl seen after dark at Sheelite Canyon in May 2000. I returned to the Accord, and had only driven a half a mile when I was pulled over by the military police at Fort Huachuca. The fort is only open to visitors during daylight hours. Bones lunged at the officer, surprising both of us, and making a bad situation worse. Fortunately, I was allowed to leave to fort without a citation. (I had visited Sheelite twice before during the daylight hours and had search extensively for a day roosting bird, to no avail).
Heard at Beattie's with Tom. Also near Flagstaff roosting with Tom.
Barred owl, heard while camping with Tui in Maine. Seen with David near Dawson's Creek, BC.
Great gray owl. Yosemite with Tom in September 2000.
Western Screech first bird was a day roosting bird at the Patton's in June 1999. Also Page Springs fish hatchery in the winter of 2000. Heard about 30 miles south of Flagstaff when camping in Ponderosas.
Eastern screech owl. First bird, a red morph roosting at Key Largo. Also heard near Austin Texas when looking for golden-cheeked warblers.
Whiskered screech owl taped out below the camp site at Madera Canyon in 1998. Subsequently several seen in night drives in SE Arizona.
Flammulated Owl. First bird 10 miles west of Flagstaff.
Saw whet owl, heard at the north rim of the grand canyon September 1998.
Boreal Owl. After many attempts finally seen at Mount Rainier September 2003 at Paradise. By coincidence there was an Audubon group also looking for boreals. The leader, Ruth Sullivan, was quite hostile towards me and chastised me publicly for using tapes. I set off in the opposite direction and soon had a fly by long eared owl at dusk in response to playback. After about an hour and half of taping a heard a screech. Heart pounding I pursued the calling bird into a thicket of lodge pole pines. Another screech. Then unable to resist I turned on my flashlight and just fifteen feet away an angry little Boreal owl stared down at me. Amazing view, and probably my most wanted bird in the world at that time. I remember playing the radio on my boombox (that I was using to tape out the owls), on the walk out, in the hope of further irritating Ruth, but I did not run into her. Previously I had attempted to to find this bird at Broken Top in Oregon. Subsequently I have tried again at Broken Top, multiple times and an all night attempt along Skyline in the Blue Mountains..
Long-eared owl. Taped in bird (to Boreal Owl), Sunrise, Mount Rainer.
Short eared owl, several birds near Sage Grouse lek at Weiser, Idaho.
Northern Pygmy Owl. Seen and heard with Tom and Deb, Westfork at dusk. Double tooting "mountain" birds. Wintering bird at Beaver Creek. Seen in Colorado, N of Silverton.
Elf Owl, seen May 1998 in telephone pole nest site, by Madera Lodge. The previous night I had spent the entire night walking the canyon road hearing elf owls everywhere. Without a tape, I was never able to actually see one..
Burrowing owl. Near Casa Grande, Yuma (in city at night Jan 1998), and in 1998 near the mountain plover site (Casa Grande area) and Salton Sea in 1999.
Northern hawk owl. Sun Valley Idaho, twitched February 2004. Interview and photographed by a Sun Valley journalist.
Owls by state
California
Great-horned, California spotted, great-gray, Pygmy, burrowing
Colorado
Pygmy, Short-eared
Florida
Eastern screech
Texas
Barn (heard only), Great-horned (heard only), McCall's, Eastern screech (heard only), Sutton's screech, Elf
Oregon
Barn, great-horned, snowy, western screech, flammulated, barred, spotted, great-gray, northern hawk, pygmy, saw-whet, boreal, burrowing, long-eared and short-eared
Arizona
Barn, great-horned, western screech, whiskered screech, flammulated, spotted, pygmy (northern and mountain), elf, saw-whet, burrowing
Idaho
Great-horned, Northern hawk, Short-eared owl
New Mexico
Great-horned (heard only)
Washington
Barn, Great-horned, snowy, flammulated, western screech, barred, great-gray, northern hawk, northern pygmy, boreal, saw-whet, burrowing, long-eared, short-eared
Washington
Barn, Great-horned, snowy, flammulated, western screech, barred, great-gray, northern hawk, northern pygmy, boreal, saw-whet, burrowing, long-eared, short-eared
Washington by county
Adams Barn and burrowing
Asotin
Benton burrowing
Chelan
Clallam
Clark great-horned
Cowlitz
Columbia
Douglas
Ferry
Franklin Barn, Great-horned, Saw whet
Garfield
Grant screech
Gray's harbor Snowy
Island short-eared and long-eared
Jefferson
King Barn, great-horned, snowy, Barred
Kititas great-horned
Kitsap
Klickitat
Lewis
Lincoln
Mason
Okanagan Great-horned
Pacific
Pend Oreille
Pierce Barn, Screech, Barred, Boreal, saw-whet Pygmy, Long-eared
San Juan
Skagit short-eared
Skamania Barn, pygmy
Snohomish Snowy, short-eared
Spokane barred, northern hawk
Stevens
Thurston-great-horned
Wahkiakuw-Barn, great-horned
WallaWalla Barn, great-horned, great-gray, saw-whet and long-eared
Whatcom
Whitman
Yakima. Fammulated, great-horned and long-eared
29 7.9.14
31 2.16.15
32 5.9.15
33 5.31.15
35 6.28.15
36 1.11.16
37 4/2/16
38 8/7/17
40 24/9/17
41 27/2018
Canada (all BC)
Barred, great-horned, boreal
