The Stroud Preserve, 6 December 2012
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Burrr. Yesterday the starting temperature was 50, today it was 23 degrees cooler! The lower temperature also seemed to lower the bird activity as it was very quiet. It seemed like I had to work extra hard to find each species today. I didn’t think that I broke 30 species, however when I got home and tallied it all up, I ended up with one more than yesterday. Go figure. Still, while I might have had more species, there were definitely fewer individuals.
One surprise did pop out of the woodwork. Since bird activity was lower I spent more time spishing, and I would occasionally play a recording of an Eastern Screech-Owl to try and bring birds into view. While I was play the owl call in the north side of the preserve, a real Eastern Screech-Owl called back at me. This is in the same general area that I found one in October. The trees here are thick with vines and undergrowth, which is perfect habitat for a screech-owl (photo above is the location where I heard it). Plus, it is sure better than the one I came across a few days ago. That one was in two dimensions in the side of the road!