Intro
This is just a catalogue of owl sightings across the world prior to 2011. After that every thing is detailed in owling trip reports on this blog.
Common Barn Owl. Tallentire and Bass Lake (both day time). Hunting on a winter's afternoon, Newton Stewart area of SW Scotland with Dad during February half term, 18th Feb 1990.
American Barn owl August 1994 San Blas fort. Drive towards Cerro Mingus in Ecuador with Shaun, and Pernambuco, Brazil, with Shaun and Torcuil.
Australian masked owl (Tasmanian only) in 1996 I saw a (Tasmanian) masked owl fly in front of my parents VW camper at night.
Australasian grass owl. Seen in March 2002 at dusk at the airfield serving PICOP in eastern Mindanao in the Philippines. It was seen only after several hours of wading through a swamp adjacent to the airport.
Sulawesi masked owl September 2003 I spent a couple of nights looking for this bird. I eventually was taken to a roost site by a guide named Freddie at Tangkoko Nature Reserve. The owl was roosting on a sea cliff. I had to climb from a small boat onto the cliff, and then scale the cliff to a small cave. The cave was guarded by large red ants, who stung me severely before I could get a great close up view of a roosting bird. Having had enough ant bites, I jumped off the cliff and swam back to the boat. I felt quite smug that my companion, an uptight Englishman, didn't see the owl, but was treated to a view of my hairy balls hanging from a hole in my boxer shorts.
Ashy-faced owl, seen in April 2008 in northeastern Dominican Republic. Taken to a nest site in farmland, after dark by a guide working for a local hotel.
Spotted owl seen with tape after dark at Sheelite Canyon. 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. Seen with David near Dawson's Creek, BC.
Barred owl, seem with David near Dawson's Creek BC in May 2006. Seen at the Tacoma Zoo with Tui, Vai and Lena when looking at Christmas lights December 2009. Heard while camping with Tui in Maine in July 2010.
Great gray owl. Yosemite with Tom in September 2000.
Tawny owl. Seen at Brigham quarry. Heard many nights from my bedroom in Brigham. Seen in a small limestone quarry between Brigham and Eagles Field with Mark.
Brown wood owl, seen on Gunung Mulu, Borneo in 1990.
Himalayan wood-owl, seen in Nepal in 1990.
Ural owl. Seen at dusk in Fiby Urskog, Sweden, with Tui and Charlie, March 2012.
Tawny browed owl-taped and day roost birds at Nova Lombardia, Brazil.
Spectacled owl. A guide at El Gavilan Lodge near La Selva, Costa Rica, showed me a pair of day-time roosting spectacled owls in riparian forest.
Black-banded Owl new ant wren and white-winged potoo site, on the east coast of Brazil.
Black and white owl predawn bird spot-lighted in mist at Buenaventura, Ecuador. Also at Cerro Blanco (Chongon Hills, near Guayaquil),in a gully day roost.
Rufous-banded owl, taped at the Colibri Del Sol reserve, spotlighted in open snag by the river, then seen at the brown-banded antpitta reserve at night-taped with Shaun (he missed the first bird). Finally seen in car headlights at final antpitta site in Columbia.
Spotted wood owl. See at Bajo hotel, Puerto Princessa at dusk.
Little Owl. With John Callion in Workington. Also west of the beach at St Bees, Kings Lynn. Yugoslavia, along a dirt road at night (had thought it was a Scops).
Spotted owlet, seen in northern India in 1990.
Burrowing owl. First seen west of Caracas, Venezuela in semi-desert. Near Casa Grande, Yuma (in city at night Jan 1998), and Salton Sea. Seen with Shaun in Ecuador, on the drive up to Cerro Mingus and a whole family seen at the restinga antwren site near Cabo Frio, just NW of Rio, with Shaun and Torcuil.
Boreal Owl. Taped in 2003 Sunrise, Mount Rainer.
Snowy owl. Fetlar in late June 1990 with Greg. At first it looked like a distant lamb.
Rock eagle-owl, seen in India in 1990.
Eagle owl. East of Canton-pair in a forested grave yard. Heard in the south of France with family.
Great horned owl. First bird at Walnut Canyon. Seen near black-capped gnatcatcher site with Tom.
Grayish Eagle-owl. Paid a forest guard in Gambia to show us a pair of roosting birds in gallery forest.
Verreaux's eagle owl. Seen near Lake Naivasha in Kenya.
Spot-bellied eagle owl. Seen at Gunung Kerinci in Sumatra and Doi Inthanon in Thailand.
Barred eagle-owl, seen in 1990 in Sabah and peninsular Malaysia.
Buffy Fishing owl, seen at near caves at Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak. Flushed in day time. Late afternoon after a recent thunderstorm. Seen minutes after a wonderful Garnet Pitta.
Northern white-faced owl. Spotlighted on Gambian coast.
Mindanao Eagle-owl. See near the "lodge" on Mount Katinglad, Mindanao, after dark.
Mountain scops owl. Seen at Frasier's Hill, Malaysia with Andrew Lawson.
Eurasian scops owl. South of France.
Indian scops owl. Shown a roosting bird at Bharatpur.
Sunda scops. Seen from taxi in farmland in south Sumatra. Later seen at Gunung Gede with guide who claimed it as a Javan scops.
Wallace's scops. See at dawn at a mountain lake in central west Flores.
Sulawesi scops. Taped at night at Tangkoko Nature Reserve in north Sulawesi.
Moluccan scops owl. Taped in at Halmahara.
Madagascan scops, easily taped it at Helmeted Vanga site. (Attempted to tape in a bird, which remained hidden in vines at the nuthatch vanga site). Also was shown a day roosting bird at the main site east of Tana.
Torotoroka scops owl, seen in west Madagascar.
Philippine scops owl. Seen at the site 50 miles south of Manila at night.
Palawan scops owl. Taped in at night, with guide at Penal farm.
Mantanani scops owl. Seen with Shawn and a guide, near Puerto Princessa, on a small Island at night after playing a tape extensively.
Flammulated Owl. First bird 10 miles west of Flagstaff. Seen at nightfall without a tape or flashlight.
Western Screech owl at the Patton's. Also Page Springs fish hatchery.
Eastern screech owl. First bird, a red morph roosting at Key Largo, April 1998 at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
Pacific screech owl. Seen in Oaxaca in August 2005. After 20 minutes of taping, I started to give up. Dawn was rapidly approaching, and I was unable to climb the bank to get closer to the owl. I eventually started to pick up small rocks from the road side and throw them near the calling owl, in an attempt to flush to bird into view. In the dawn's gloam, I saw a larger white stone and reached for it. "Ahh", the white stone was a wet puddle of toilet paper! Undeterred I continued to throw small stones at the lone tree, until the owl flew from the tree.
Whiskered screech owl, taped in just below the bridge at Madera. My first illegally taped bird? Seen well in the Maglite.
Tropical screech owl seen before dawn after taping at Sooretama reserve, Brazil.
Variable screech owl seen before dawn after taping at Sooretama reserve, Brazil.
Guatemalan (Choco) screech owl, shaken from a tree (after very extensive taping) at Canande' (banded ground-cuckoo) reserve, Ecuador.
Tumbes screech owl, at Quebrada Frejolillo, Limon, Peru. Taped at night with George Wagner. Striped owls heard in the distance.
Colombian screech owl shown by a guide at Arrietrito Antioqueno Reserve, Anori, Antioquia, Colombia.
Santa Marta screech owl taped with difficulty above the lodge at Santa Marta. Subsequently spotlighted twice a little higher up the road.
Madagascar hawk-owl. Seen in southwest Madagascar, after a long night hike. Lots of spear carrying men surrounded the car that had given me a ride for the final few miles.
Philippine hawk owl. Seen at Rajah National park, Bohol at night near cabins.
Chocolate boobook. Seen in the daytime at Siburan Penal colony, Mindoro with Shawn. Roosting on a telephone wire!
Southern boobook. Seen east of Kupang, Timor, while camping in limestone foothills.
Sumba boobook. On a wonderful full moon in September 2003, I went with a guide Freddy Hambuwali, by his quite fast scooter from Waingapu to Lewa. We had tapes and soon were able to lure a Sumba boobook. Continued....Freddie left me in the clearing that night. He warned me that the local people feared foreigners, because of the days when the dutch came to Sumba to catch slaves. Despite this, the night was so beautiful, and the owling so perfect that it was impossible to remain anxious. I camped conspicuously atop of a small grassy hill under the splendid moon.
Little Sumba hawk-owl. After another 30 minutes of owling Freddy and I were able to tape out the recently discovered Little Sumba Hawk-Owl.
Brown hawk owl- found day-time roosting on Mount Kinabalu along Mempening Trail.
Southern boobook (include morepork), seen in mainland southeastern Australia and Tasmania in 1985. Also seen in limestone hills about 100km east of Kupang, Timor in 2003.
Barking owl, seen in New south wales in 1985 and the Northern Territory in 1988.
Northern hawk owl. Sun Valley Idaho, twitched February 2004.Interview and photographed by a Sun Valley journalist.
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 out in the blue mountains.
Northern saw whet owl. I heard a bird, while camping in September 1999 at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I returned the following year with a tape, but didn't get a response. Then in February 2002 I taped in a screeching bird at Tryon Creek State park.
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.
Eurasian pygmy-owl seen at Fiby Urskog, Sweden in response to a tape. March 2012.
Northern Pygmy Owl. Seen and heard with Tom and Deb, Westfork at dusk, June 1994. Double tooting "mountain" birds. Wintering bird at Beaver Creek. Seen in Colorado, N of Silverton.
Peruvian pygmy-owl.both edge of mangroves near Guayaquil, just north of Loja at high elevation (on a wire, in a small village), at Siniscap, Peru (lifer) seen on a wire in late afternoon), above Santa Eulalia also on wire.
Colima pygmy-owl-Seen July 2002 near San Blas, Nayarit. The bird was originally heard in large canopy trees in a shade grown coffee plantation. It's song is to repeated call a series of whistles, each series is one longer than the rest, five whistles, six whistles, seven whistles etc. I imitated the bird clumsily and by the sixteenth whistle I was getting very out of breath. I was surprised and thrilled to see Colima pygmy owl fly between to large trees with it's distinct undulating flight.
Ferruginous pygmy owl, first seen in March 1991in Henri Pittier National Park, Venezuela. Also seen high in the canopy, being mobbed in Brazil at the pink-legged graveteiro site, in Bahia Brazil.
Ridgeway's pygmy owl. Seen in Mexico.
Collared owlet, seen in SE Asia i 1990.
Jungle owlet, seen in Goa, India in 1990.
Spotted owlet, seen in Nepal in 1990.
Pearl-spotted owlet, seen in Gambia in 1991.
Crested owl, Shawn showed me a day roosting bird in bamboo at Canande' (banded ground-cuckoo) reserve. We had heard birds singing the previous night, but had been unable to lure them in by tape.
Jamaican owl, seen at an upland blackbird site. Taped, then spotlighted in an old roadside quarry after being seen flying by in the Echo's headlights.
Short-eared owl. Day-time migrants on the north Norfolk coast. Siddick-first bird with Mark. Loch Lomand area with Parents. Orkney with Greg. Several birds near Sage Grouse lek at Weiser, Idaho. Evening bird hunting over saltmarsh, Mull of Kintyre with Tui.
Long-eared owl. Day time migrants on North Norfolk coast. Probable heard bird 20 miles SW of Flagstaff. Taped in bird (to Boreal Owl), Sunrise, Mount Rainer. Also taped in a bird on Labor day weekend 2008 to a boreal owl tape at Broken Top, Oregon.
Madagascar long-eared owl. Flew by in response to tape at main birding site east of Tana.
African marsh owl. perched on a light at Tana airport. First bird of the trip. September 2004.
Stygian Owl. In April 2008 I found pellets at a water tank in SW Dominican republic, near Haiti. I waited in the car until dusk, when I heard a low deep hoot. Thankfully I had brought with me a recording of Stygian Owl. i played a tape once, and the bird immediately flew into a pine tree. I was able to spotlight this magnificent owl for a few seconds before it flew away. best bird of the trip.
