Northern Saw-whet Owls in Georgia: Research and Speculation
Compiled by Ken Blankenship
Manuscript in progress (final draft due Spring 2008)

The Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is the smallest owl species found in eastern North America. It is a short-bodied, short-tailed, and large-headed owl that appears tiny when perched, but may seem larger in flight profile thanks to proportionally long, broad wings. Their plumage is brownish overall, with some white spotting and white braces on the back. Their breast and belly have a light background covered by thick solid brown streaks. The facial disc appears gray to light buff overall, with white around the eyes and distinct dark markings between the inside "corner" of the eye and a black bill. The outer edge of the facial disc is finely streaked with brown and white, which gives way to the rest of the head which is brown or grayish-brown and densely covered with fine, thin white streaks. There are permanent resident breeding populations both in the eastern and western United States and Canada, extending into parts of Mexico, as well as an isolated population in the Queen Charlotte Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern coast of British Columbia. There is also an isolated southern breeding population in the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

Northern and eastern Saw-whet Owls are highly migratory. In summer, their range expands across the northern reaches of the continent from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. The majority of birds in the eastern population breed in New England and eastern Canada. During the winter, their range may expand southward but generally no further than Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Northern Saw-whet Owls primarily prey on small mammals, which they capture by hunting from perches near the ground. They may also take insects (especially moths), small birds, and even an occasional amphibian. By far, their diet consists mainly of woodland mice and voles. When the conifers and hardwoods up north produce a massive, successful crop of pine cones and other seeds there is plenty to eat for these small mammals; a population explosion results, which in turn provides an abundant food source for the owls and ensures a very successful breeding season. However, when there is a poor tree crop, the rodent populations crash. This can produce an uncommon cyclical event known as an "irruption" or "invasion," in which thousands of Saw-whets migrate well south of their typical wintering range in search of an available food source. This phenomenon was well-documented in 1995 and 1999, and possibly in 2003 (see notes below from Saw-whet expert Scott Weidensaul). For the first time in Georgia, significant numbers of this species were detected on Burrell's Ford Road in the extreme northeast corner of the state during the winter invasion of 1999-2000, with only sporadic isolated reports in the state before that time. The invasion of winter 2007-2008 has proved to be another major event, with dramatically higher numbers of Saw-whets banded at Scott's research facility in Pennsylvania (the Ned Smith Center), at all other facilities across SE Canada and New England, as well as numerous bandings, birds brought to rehab facilities, and even some sight records across the southeastern US. This includes one remarkable banding effort outside Birmingham, Alabama which has successfully banded and released eight birds as of February 24, 2008 with an additional eight sight records at the same location!

The extent of the Northern Saw-whet Owl's distribution, habits, and habitat preferences in Georgia during invasion years is virtually unknown. For all the records in the SE United States during this winter's invasion, there is only one record in Georgia - a banding on December 2, 2007. Many birders have made nocturnal field trips to the North Georgia mountains looking for them, often to Rabun County, the only place where the species has been detected to any degree of reliability. But all these attempts have turned up empty. I have driven numerous routes performing mobile surveys in different parts of the northern third of the state - mainly in the mountains (Cohutta Wilderness, Chattahoochee National Forest), but also at Pine Log WMA, Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center, Carter's Lake area, etc. Charlie Muise, the same Georgia bander who was successful in December, has opened up nets and played an audio lure on several other occasions, even at two remote locations, but has not captured any more birds. Though some CBC circles were aware of the invasion, only a small number of teams attempted to detect these owls. But all of these efforts represent what only a handful of people have been able to do. Surely, if a larger force was mobilized and instructed in appropriate surveying techniques, we might detect just a few of these little dynamos! What follows is a compilation of research and speculation on the Northern Saw-whet Owl in Georgia, and how one might aspire to detect one during a major invasion year such as the one that is wrapping up now in late February 2008.


ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF GEORGIA BIRDS (Beaton et al., 2003)

Rare winter visitor north of Fall Line and on Coast, 13 published records, 14 Oct (1952) – 14 March (1948). Significant numbers found recently on Burrell’s Ford Road (Rabun County), up to four birds 8 Jan-4 March 2000 (Beaton 2001c, GCRC 2000-02A/B) and singles 9 and 17 Dec 2001 (O 67:29). Accidental in late spring, 26 April 1995 in Rabun County (Chaffin 1995, GCRC 1997-3), and a report from 15 May 2000 at Brasstown Bald (O: 65:66) without details. Sp: GMNH 3385


SE UNITED STATES BANDING AND OTHER REPORTS, WINTER 2007-2008

Bandings in Alabama: December 8, 9, 27, 2007; January 7, February 3, 11, 24, 2008
Master Bander and hummingbird expert Bob Sargent of Clay, Alabama has had a remarkable season for banding Northern Saw-whet Owls on his property during the invasion of 2007-2008. His property is in an area northeast of Birmingham in the Piedmont region, at a latitude very similar to Atlanta. He has banded eight separate individuals (with one re-capture) and has visually observed at least eight others that were drawn to the area by his audio lure but were not banded. He offers the following comments on his experiences:

"All birds were netted on our property within 60 yards of our home. The loop tape we used contains the standard "toot-toot" calls and was given to me by Mr. Scott Weidensaul. Our normal banding hours here are 17:30 to 21:00 on most nights, and 04:00 to 06:00 each morning. The Saw-whets that we banded were all aged as adults and we were unable to sex any of these four birds by weight and wing chord.

I have heard or seen owls that I did not capture near my net. Five were outright visual sightings. Two of these were within 10 feet of the tape player. The other two were immediate responses to the "toot" call the instant that I started playing the tape.

This is the third winter that we have tried to document Saw-whets at our place.  Back in 1990 I found one roosting in the top of a pine in my yard on a cold December day.

I live in a rural, but rapidly changing bit of habitat (ten acres of mixed large trees and a small pasture). I am in Jefferson County in the small new city of Clay, Alabama. My place seems an unlikely spot since there is not a lot of dense cover. My nets are in old established net lanes near a row of Photenia (sp), Viburnum and Wax Myrtle.  All other trees in the area are quite tall.  An Alabama Power Company right-of-way borders one corner of the property."

December 2, 2007
A bird was captured and banded in Lamar County, in the Piedmont region of Georgia, by master bander Charlie Muise. Charlie also used an audio lure and mist nets to attract and capture the bird. This represents the only record of the species in Georgia during the winter of 2007-2008, though in this major invasion year there were probably scores if not even hundreds of individuals in the state at any given time from November through early March.

Photo courtesy of Tracey Muise

November 22, 2007
A colleague and I attempted to capture Saw-whets Monday and Tuesday nights in northeast Alabama on conservation lands (Walls of Jericho Forever Wild Tract; Jackson County) near the Tennessee state line. This was our first attempt this season. Although weather was clear and cool with a waxing moon, we were able to capture and band one female early this morning (0340 Hrs CST; 11/21/2007) on a two-net array using an audio-lure positioned at the center pole. The female was captured on an old woods road along a steep slope within mature mixed-mesophytic [mixed pine and deciduous] forest at an elevation of 820 feet.

November 19, 2007
The only place that I have ever got a good, daytime look at a saw-whet owl in the Carolinas was about 15 years ago in Harbison State Forest, in the piedmont near Columbia, SC. The habitat was mixed loblolly pine – hardwood forest – very typical of many piedmont forests. I would not say that Harbison SF is a good spot for saw-whet owls, but the point is that during an invasion year the owls could be just about anywhere. Good luck.

November 18, 2007
Just wanted to let you know that this is an irruption year for saw-whets. We have gotten 2 in for rehab already. One was found in Wake Co (North Carolina) and the other in Union Co. (NC), so keep your eyes and ears open!

November 17, 2007
[617 ft. elevation] On November 8 a Northern Saw-whet Owl was banded at the Warner Park Nature Center in Nashville, TN (Southwest Davidson Co.).  This bird not only marks the first banding record of a saw-whet in the Warner Parks but was the first sighting of this bird.  The only other N. Saw-whet Owl banded in Nashville was by Amelia Laskey in 1940.  To say that we were thrilled is an understatement! Staff and  volunteer banders have attempted to lure these birds into mist nets on two other evenings--Nov 4 and Nov. 12--with no success.

November 4, 2007
Yesterday I found a banded, road-killed Northern Saw-whet Owl in DeKalb County (east-central TN).  I submitted the band number to the Bird Banding Lab via the
BBL's online band reporting site. The owl I found yesterday had been banded in Wisconsin Oct. 20, 2004.

September 30, 2007
[An early-season report by author and NSWO expert Scott Weidensaul. Read more about his research effort here: http://www.nedsmithcenter.org/06sawwhet.html]

Tomorrow night, we launch our 11th season of Saw-whet Owl migration research through the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, at sites in Schuylkill, Dauphin and Cumberland counties. We'll be mist-netting and banding nightly through the end of November, as well as continuing our radio-telemetry and genetics work.

But last night, I opened mist nets and turned on the audio lure on our property here in western Schuylkill County, mostly because we had a guest from out of town, one of Amy's former interns. Dan had never seen a Saw-whet, and while I was a bit dubious -- I've never caught one in September, even when flight conditions were perfect, as they were last night -- I was game to try.

I'm glad we did -- the very first time we checked the nets, we had a lovely young-of-the-year female, followed 90 minutes later by two more. Dan, a Ph.D. candidate in herpetology, was so entranced it looked as though he might abandon salamanders for owls.

As many of you know, Saw-whet migration is a cyclical phenomenon, tied to rodent populations in Canada and New England, where the bulk of the eastern population breeds. We had massive irruptions into the mid-Atlantic region in 1995 and 1999, and a bit of an upwards bump in 2003 (some suspect that West Nile virus, which hit many raptors hard that year, may have depressed the population and short-circuited the expected peak).

After two very poor seasons, it appears that the cards are right for another major irruption of Saw-whets into this area this fall. Last year saw a remarkable crop of tree mast, from both conifers and hardwoods, across eastern Canada. That produced a bumper crop of woodland mouse and red-backed voles, and a great breeding season for owls -- few of which had to leave Canada, much to our dismay. This year the trees bore little food, the rodent population is crashing, and the owls appear to be heading south -- the numbers of Saw-whets reported the last week or two from southern Canadian banding stations has been eye-popping. Some stations have caught more owls in a night than they usually catch in a season.

I'll post periodic reports on the season. If you've always wanted to see a Saw-whet, this may be the fall/winter for you, especially as we get into the peak of the flight around Halloween. Any tape, CD or MP3 player with the "toot" call, played repeatedly and at volume in the woods, should lure a few in. Pick a chilly, calm, moonless night after the passage of a cold front, and be patient -- let the tape play for half an hour or more. Don't expect the saw-whet to respond with toots of its own; they are far more likely to make quiet mewing or wailing calls (Cornell's new "Voices of North American Owls" CD set is the only one I know of with these vocalizations; Track 64).


HABITAT AND HABITS

Scott Weidensaul (pers. comm.) –   NSWOs are fairly easily detectable using tapes at night, if one knows what to listen for, and understands that they aren't going to respond like Great Horned Owl or Eastern Screech-Owls. Trouble is, until recently very few people realized that most of the time, a calling Saw-whet in winter doesn't “toot,” and the vocalizations don't fit the mold for what birders expect. "I tried to call in Saw-whets, but all I heard was a cat," is something I've heard more than once. The most common vocalizations in fall/winter in response to a tape are going to be whine or catlike mew calls – track 64 on the Cornell CD “Voice of North American Owls” (which is a medley of vocalizations I recorded here in Pennsylvania at our banding site) is exactly what I'm talking about.

People need to remember that NSWOs, being the smallest owl in the East and susceptible to predation by everything from screech-owls on up, are shy and cautious. Pick dense cover, be very patient (I'd give them at least 20 minutes at a spot before moving on) and don't expect to hear a toot – just whines, wails and mews, sometimes very softly. The longer you can give it at a spot, the better.

Also, the owls often don't make a sound until they're disturbed in some way. Don't be afraid to turn on a light (not necessarily shining it up in the trees; just turn it on) once in a while. Often when I'm sitting quietly for hours at our banding site, with my audio-recording gear at the ready, the only vocalizations I hear are during my crew's hourly net-checks, when someone walks up with a headlamp.

As for habitat, I think NWSOs are much more focused on structure than species composition. The notion that they're conifer specialists is bunk, but well-ingrained bunk among birders. We've been radio-tracking them from October-February for the past eight years, and find that before leaf-fall in autumn, they almost always roost in deciduous trees; after leaf-fall, they pick evergreen cover, which can range from a clump of mountain laurel or rhododendron three or four feet off the ground, to a thicket of greenbrier or honeysuckle, to a pine or hemlock 60 feet up, or a dense blowdown – anything thick, and the thicker the better. In areas overrun with Japanese honeysuckle they seem to like getting back under the mats of vines, and along the Eastern Shore they use bayberry, greenbrier or American holly, all of which can be dense. Frankly, I think they're much more concerned with finding a forested area with lots of rodents, rather than something that fits our narrow preconception of “correct” Saw-whet habitat.

It may be true that NSWOs are most often heard calling in spruce/fir forest in the Smokies in spring, but that's the southern breeding population. I suspect that the vast majority of Saw-whets in the Southeast [during major invasions] are migrants down from Canada and New England, just looking for a place with trees and mice. They could be anywhere, and the nesting preferences of local breeders aren’t going to matter to them.

I wouldn't assume that high elevations are the best or only place to look for them – we know that they follow the Coastal Plain in large numbers at least to Virginia and northern Carolinas. This is a species that simply isn't going to be detected unless someone makes a special effort to find them, and the lack of Coastal and Piedmont records is most likely due to a lack of effort, not a lack of owls. However, they will certainly be in the mountains, too. My advice is, try anywhere you can.

Giff Beaton (pers. comm.) – Giff has located Saw-whets in more northerly locations (Maryland, etc.) especially in riparian (creek/stream) habitats where there are stands of deciduous trees and a brushy understory. NSWO’s may prefer to hunt along edges of woods with open areas such as farmlands or fields. When first looking for NSWO in GA in 2000, he and a group of other birders focused on areas around Dillard, GA where there is farmland and forests together like this. Only after using up most of the night with no owls did the group finally decide to head to Burrell’s Ford Rd at 3:30am in a “why not?” scenario. Low and behold, that’s where they were detected. [Burrell’s Ford is now synonymous with NSWO because it is the only place in Georgia where they have been found "regularly," and they have shown up there in more than one winter, even in non-invasion years (Jan 2006).] Surely, there must be other locations in the state where they winter in invasion years. While elevation may not be a major factor at more northerly latitudes, it may be more important in Georgia due to this being the extreme southern limit of their range. They may be more likely at higher elevations, and if possible combined with a riparian-type environment with some adjacent open areas.

Dan Vickers (pers. comm.) – Dan’s experience with a NSWO up north supports observations of birds preferring dense conifers to roost in. A bird he went to see spent the winter on someone’s property. Every day the bird roosted deep inside the same stand of evergreens (see photo at the top of this page).

Excerpts from various websites:

http://www.owling.com/Saw-whet_nh.htm
The Saw-whet Owl is a forest or woodland inhabitant of varied elevation and vegetation. The eastern birds are often found (at least in the winter) at lower elevations... Lower habitats may be used in the winter months. The birds seem to avoid large unbroken stands of pine and prefer a mix with deciduous trees. It is said to be quite tame and approachable in the daytime where it will often perch quite low (maybe as low as 5 feet off the ground). Winter roosts can take a lot of searching to find, since it disperses widely, although they may be used year after year and may show large concentrations of pellets and white wash.

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Aegolius&species=acadicus
Northern Saw-whet Owls inhabit coniferous and deciduous forests, with thickets of second-growth or shrubs. They occur mainly in forests with deciduous trees, where woodpeckers create cavities for nest sites. Breeding habitat is usually swampy or wet, rather than dry. Riparian habitat is often preferred.

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Aegolius&species=acadicus
They winter generally throughout much of the breeding range, but part of the population migrates south regularly to the central United States and irregularly to more southern areas along the Gulf coast and central Florida. The Northern Saw-whet Owl is highly migratory in northern and eastern areas. Two major migration corridors in eastern North America are along the Atlantic coastline and down the Ohio River valley. Juveniles are more likely to migrate than adults and tend to move further south. Migration in the fall often occurs during the passage of a cold front and during westerly winds. Southern populations move down slope during winter rather than migrating south.

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/pub/ifwis/birds/northern-saw-whet-owl.html
…remaining concealed in thick evergreen stands by day.


OPINION, FEBRUARY 2008

In Georgia, birders have zeroed in on Burrell’s Ford Road and nearby sections of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Rabun County for Northern Saw-whet Owl because it is the only place where they have been found in Georgia to any dependable degree. Therefore, we tend to focus on special aspects of that habitat when they are present elsewhere, because it seems to stand to reason that the birds would be found in the same type of habitat. With this in mind, birders often consider areas of older, thick white pine, hemlock, and other evergreens at higher elevations (2500+ ft.) to “look good” for NSWO.

However, there are other sections of Burrell’s Ford Road, particularly the first two or three miles east of Highway 28, where the forest is primarily deciduous with scattered young hemlocks and other conifers; the species has been detected in these areas as well, and may actually prefer them to the conifer-dominated zone farther down the road.

There is a southern breeding population of Northern Saw-whet Owls that has been well-documented and studied in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, not far at all “as the owl flies” from Rabun County in the northeast corner of Georgia. During winter, these birds move down-slope from their breeding areas during the coldest part of the winter. Down-slope in this section of the Blue Ridge Mountains would, in fact, include NE Georgia with elevations ranging from 4,000+ feet to under 1500 feet, much lower than the 6,000+ feet peaks of the Smokies to the north. For these birds, it may be more important to consider the species’ preference of a thick area of coniferous trees to roost in during the day, as expressed in an opinion in a 11/4/2007 CarolinaBirds post that “Saw-whets are most likely to be heard in spruce/fir forests and adjacent hardwood tracts during their calling season [April-May] in the Smokies.” At least a few of these birds may be present in Georgia every winter, even in non-invasion years. A birder wishing to detect the species in those years might, in fact, be more successful by focusing on the "traditional" areas where the birds are sought such as Burrell's Ford Road, Overflow Creek Road, Billingsley Creek Road, and Hale Ridge Roads in Rabun County, as well as other forested public roads in Towns, Union, or Fannin Counties. Some possibilities might include Forest Service 90, 64, and 68 in the Cohutta Wilderness Area, Ivy Log Gap Road north of Blairsville, or Forest Service 42, 58 and adjacent forest roads in the Springer Mountain, Rock Creek, and Noontootla Creek areas.

There simply is not enough data on the birds in Georgia to say to any degree of certainty that higher elevations and conifer-dominated habitat is what all of them present in a given winter would prefer, or that one should only concentrate search efforts in such areas. Yet, at the same time, there is nothing to point potential surveyors in any other specific direction in a major invasion year aside from observations and data on their typical habits further north. They may have a completely different set of preferences during invasion years at this extreme edge of their range, are likely to be much less discriminating, and are more concerned with an available food source and thick cover (of any kind) to roost in. This winter’s low-elevation bandings in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, the deceased specimen and injured bird at low elevation in TN, and a large number of low-elevation bandings in the Piedmont of South Carolina in the major 1999-2000 invasion may point to the fact that elevation plays less of a role with this species in the South than commonly thought. So we’re down to mixed forests with some open areas, preferably with areas of dense conifers and/or other low, dense areas of cover – which effectively describes 90% of rural Georgia!

Importantly, though the opinions expressed here are based on research and communication with experts, it is still essentially just conjecture. In the words of the Ned Smith Center’s special page about their NSWO banding and migration project, “there is still much to learn about saw-whet owl migration and ecology. No one knows if they follow mountain ridges, as do hawks, or if they simply fly north and south across the landscape like migrating songbirds and waterfowl. We do not understand their habitat needs, or how far individual owls travel.” The reality is that the chance of stumbling across (and then successfully detecting) a Northern Saw-whet Owl in Georgia is a proverbial needle in a haystack… but it is exciting! One is just as likely to detect a NSWO by surveying in your own backyard in the Piedmont region as you are driving 100’s of miles around the mountains playing the audio lure from a vehicle or boombox. With this in mind – and with a lack of an established, regularly monitored nocturnal banding station in Georgia – the only likely way to detect birds in order to obtain information about their movements and status in the state during invasions is through a large-scale survey effort by birders.

For this purpose, a Northern Saw-whet Owl Survey protocol and Reporting Form have been developed, which instructs birders in surveying techniques and provides them with a means of reporting their results. Obviously, these surveys can be done in any given winter, but they are intended to be used during established invasion years (otherwise, you may be effectively wasting your time anywhere outside of the mountains). Even if one detects no birds, it is important to understand that even “no data” is valuable information. It is also very important to follow the guidelines that are detailed on the form. One of the most critical factors to remember is that the welfare and health of the birds is the top priority. Once owls of any species have been detected and/or identified, do not continue to play any audio recordings which could potentially cause harm or stress to the birds. Additionally, do not create a negative or dangerous human interaction, either… the last thing we want is to have neighbors or strangers upset because they or their dogs are alarmed by an owl recording, or to have a car parked on the shoulder of a busy road with people standing outside. Use your common sense and good birding ethics if you decide to conduct a survey. Finally, aside from the observational strategies outlined in the reporting form, it is important to try to avoid the natural temptation to transform any squeak or peep into a Saw-whet Owl response; strange things happen to the human ear after listening to hours of incessant “toot” calls and you must remain focused so as not to fabricate a response from thin air!

           DOWNLOAD NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL SURVEY REPORTING FORM

This article would not have been possible without the invaluable information provided by author and Northern Saw-whet Owl expert Scott Weidensaul and his study group at the Ned Smith Center.


Ken Blankenship, 3774 Tulip Tree Rd, Marietta, GA 30066
kenhblankenship@comcast.net