Art by Jackie Blurton
Nature Note by the late Dr. Roland Shook
Owls are divided into "typical" owls which include all our species except the Barn Owl. Barn Owls are characteristically different from the others. Hence biologists have put these two groups into separate families.
Flammulated Owls derive their name from the Latin for "a small, bright, flaming red thing". This description is an allusion to the rufous color in some color phases of this species.
Flammulated Owls are a bird of the West occupying a summer range from British Columbia south into Mexico. It winters from central Mexico to Guatemala. Flammulated Owls are smaller than Screech Owls and are largely gray with dark eyes, tawny shoulders, and inconspicuous ear tufts. The individuals in the southernmost part of their range are more reddish than the northern birds. Strictly nocturnal, this species nests and roosts in tree cavities.
I was fortunate to go with a local physician at night and search for Flammulated Owls on the Signal Peak Road. If one is quiet and listens carefully, a low mellow hoot repeated every 2-3 seconds can be heard. Since this is a small owl, if you hear the vocalizations, you can be assured that the owl is close at hand. We heard at least three owls calling and perhaps as many as five or six. With the use of a light, we were able to observe a small, dark bird perched in a Ponderosa Pine fly into the night.
Most of us are creatures of the day, but journeys into the out-of-doors in the evening or night can reveal a marvelous side of nature unknown to those who are transfixed by a blaring television.
