Hello Everyone, The Christmas Bird Count season is upon us with some counts starting this coming Friday, December 14th. Believe it or not, this flurry of birding activity could contribute some very valuable data to the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II. As many of you know, the Great Horned Owl is the earliest nesting species in the state of Ohio. In fact, the first eggs for this owl typically are laid by late January. Great Horned Owls use vocalizations to maintain territories and there is some evidence that non-territorial birds rarely vocalize. What does this mean for all you CBC owlers out there? ….your CBC owling efforts directly relate to the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II! If you look at the current map of Great Horned Owl observations for OBBA2 (click here<http://bird.atlasing.org/Atlas/OH/Main?cmd=stateSummary&theme=species&edition=current&species=grhowl&species=Go>or see web link at bottom of email), you'll see that current records for the species are sparsely distributed. The CBC can certainly change that! There are 80+ count circles in Ohio and they're pretty evenly distributed across the state. Ned Keller's CBC report in The Ohio Cardinal from last year reveals that 46 count circles reported this owl species! I encourage everyone who actively listens for owls during CBCs to consider taking notes on where they encounter Great Horned Owls so that the data can be incorporated into Ohio's breeding bird atlas. Here are a few steps to help you go about incorporating Great Horned Owl records into the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas: #1 Territorial behavior is key to contributing Great Horned Owl records to the Atlas. This owl is highly territorial and simply detecting a Great Horned vocalizing during this time of year allows you to add a 'T1' code to the appropriate Atlas block of detection. The Birds of North America account says "individual [Great Horned Owls] prevented from establishing a territory live a silent existence as floaters." This bit of information rules out visual observations of flushed or perched birds during a CBC as Atlas data. The key is to keep your ears open! #2 Keep notes on what you hear. That classic deep-toned hooting of a Great Horned Owl with significant "carrying power" constitutes direct territorial behavior. Typically males give this call and pairs often engage in synchronized territorial advertisement, often referred to as "duetting." An example of duetting can be heard on track #20 of the recently released "Owl Sounds" CD put out by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Duetting takes place 1-2 months before the first egg is laid so again, this is prime time to detect this vocal array of territorial advertisement. #3 If you plan on doing some owling for a CBC, we recommend a listening period of 5-7 minutes before using tape playbacks . If birds are advertising their presence without provocation from tape playback, you can easily apply a "T1" breeding code (Probable) to your observation. Use personal judgment about territoriality for owls responding to tape playback. #4 If you have a territorial Great Horned Owl, what additional information should you record?...Location! In my experience with CBC owling, I usually know beforehand where I'll be listening for owls. If so, noting the nearest road intersection will most likely lead you to the correct Atlas block assignment. If you're interested in planning this out before you do your CBC, let me know and I'd be more than happy to help you figure out the block ID of your owling spots. You can also use a variety of block finding tools at the Atlas website (www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/). Or, just email your observations and location info to me and I'll submit everything for you. Good Christmas Counting Everyone! And thanks in advance to everyone for helping to put nesting Great Horned Owls on the map! Aaron Boone Great Horned Owl Atlas Map Link: http://bird.atlasing.org/Atlas/OH/Main?cmd=stateSummary&theme=species&edition=current&species=grhowl&species=Go -- Aaron Boone Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II School of Environment & Natural Resources The Ohio State University 210 Kottman Hall 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, OH 43210-1085 614.247.6458 (office) www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/ ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]