Owl watching becoming real hoot

Article Date: 2004-08-05   Source: http://www.pantagraph.com   Comments: 0

By Scott Richardson

Normal, Illinois, U.S.A. - Lonnie Landess' parents were avid bird watchers and members of the Audubon Society in their younger years.

''They crawled all over the United States taking pictures of birds,'' Landess said.

But Landess, an optician, wasn't too keen on the hobby himself until screech owls began to visit his back yard on Normal's east side.

He became intrigued when he started to communicate with them using owl hoots he downloaded from the Internet.

Real owls hooted from trees all around him in response to a computer-generated nesting call, he said. He told a 6-year-old neighbor, who witnessed the experiment, the noise was the one owls make "when they want a date."

"It was really something," Landess said. "I was fascinated."

One night, he was able to walk close to an owl and take several pictures before his flash sent the feathered visitor to a different perch. Landess saw two pairs of eyes staring at him as he shined a flashlight to where the first bird had gone.

"There was a pair of them," he said.

Another night, he invited several neighbors over and used the computer again. Owls soon flew all around the yard, he said.

More owls in Twin Cities

Given Harper, a bird expert who leads the Illinois Wesleyan University biology department, said screech owls are showing up more often in the Twin Cities. They are attracted by easy food sources such as bird feeders, which attract the smaller birds owls eat.

Landess noticed the first owl right after he stocked large goldfish in a 14-foot pond he built in his back yard in May. The bird came at dusk after Landess turned off the waterfall and turned on submerged lights.

Landess didn't realize what the owl had in mind until it landed on rocks near the water. Then, its intentions became clear: fish.

Now, Landess turns off the lights unless he's nearby. "They haven't gotten any (goldfish) yet," he said with a laugh.

Landess has downloaded calls of the great horned owl in hopes of attracting one of the larger owls to his yard.

He's had no luck yet, but using the Internet to download avian calls to attract birds apparently is catching on.

"I've got my brother-in-law in Chicago with speakers pointed out his back window," Landess said.

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