Hooting into oblivion

Wow, how did we get from the Cascades to northeastern Idaho? Loyal Nissan, you continue to serve me well! This night, we were hoping to redeem some owling failure on a road which ebird had promised Boreal Owls and, a bird that constantly mocks us in our dreams…the Great Gray himself. It was off to a good start. Just before dark, a Boreal responded to the tape. Then two!!! Then three……wait a minute. So apparently Wilson’s Snipes displaying sound identical to a territorial call of a boreal owl…will have to remember that. We owled until about 11 o’clock. None of our targets, but a surprise one or maybe three Long-eared Owls responded to the Great Gray call…they made several passes over our heads! 3 am, I turn off my alarm. So dark. Cold. Alone. We began. In order to conserve energy, we took turns being the one go get out of the car about every half kilometer and play the owl calls. By morning’s light, all we had heard was one stubborn Saw-whet Owl. Now 6:30, it was time to retreat out of the forest. We turned off the music and lowered the windows to hear the sounds of the sage.