154 Notes

Barred Owl Mating Behaviour

Chris Robinson

On the evening of 19 March 2004, I more so than the other both in was conducting owl surveys using terms of the frequency and volume calls broadcast from a compact disk of its calls. I presumed that this was at locations along the road within the male of the pair. The commonly Charleston Lake Provincial Park, heard two-phrase hooting sequence which is located in southeastern ("who cooks for you? who cooks Ontario between Kingston and for you all?") and the ascending Brockville in Leeds County. Having hoots ("madam, who cooks for you had no success with my target all?") were given occasionally, but species, Northern Saw-whet Owl the most commonly heard vocaliza­ (Aegolius acadicus), Eastern tions during this encounter consist­ Screech-Owl (Megascops asio), and ed of a large range of calls, includ­ Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), I ing dog-like barks, squawks, and broadcasted Barred Owl (Strix cackles, that did not seem to be in varia) calls to try to obtain a gener­ any pattern that I could discern. al idea of the abundance of the I shone a flashlight on the owls. species in that area of the park. The presumed male exhibited a fair Sometime between 2230 and amount of body posturing, stretch­ 2330h, I heard a loud crashing ing out its neck, lowering its head sound behind me, less than 20 sec­ and body in a horizontal alignment onds after playing the Barred Owl roughly parallel to the ground, rais­ calls. I immediately turned to see a ing its wings forward at the shoul­ large, dark silhouette hastily land ders, opening up its "armpit" areas on a branch of a nearby large and partially opening its wings, and Eastern Cottonwood (Populus del­ fanning open its tail feathers. The toides) tree, seemingly without "male" then moved to another tree, much regard for stealth. This indi­ and was moving about a fair bit, vidual was immediately followed by while the apparent "female" another dark shadow of the same remained on the same branch upon size which landed in a tree very which it had initially landed. close to the first. The two flying sil­ While I shone my light on the houettes were clearly Barred Owls, female, examining the patterns and with the first individual that arrived colouring of the breast barring, being extremely vocal, a great deal belly streaking, and spotting of the ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004 155 wings, the other more vocal individ­ presumed to be monogamous, but ual flew over, and to my amaze­ there have been no genetic studies ment, mounted her, verifying my of young (Mazur and James 2000). speculation that it was indeed the All of the Barred Owl behav­ male. While copulating, the female's iour that I witnessed occurred with neck was outstretched and her head me standing on the road in plain and body were held forward and view, periodically shining a flash­ horizontal, almost parallel to the light on the owls, so I am sure my ground. I cannot confidently say presence was obvious to them. The how long the mating lasted, as I was owl broadcast presumably sparked somewhat taken aback by this the male's elaborate response rarely seen nocturnal encounter, behaviour, possibly because it per­ but I would estimate between 10 ceived the calling to be that of an and 20 seconds. intruder in its territory. I interpreted, rather anthropo­ A number of other Barred morphically, that the male's copula­ Owls are in the general area, some tory behaviour was a blatant signal of which were heard in the distance to me (or rather to the presumed around the same time as the previ­ owl it heard calling) that this female ously described observation. There is "taken". I stopped the owl broad­ may be a high density of Barred cast, as I felt the birds were agitat­ Owls there, with possibly four pairs ed. One of them flew over the road having territories within approxi­ several times during the next two mately a 2.5-km stretch of the park minutes or so, and I lost track of road. Average Barred Owl home which one was the male and which ranges have been reported as being the female. At least one of the owls 273 ha in Minnesota (Nicholls and (perhaps both, I am not sure) was Fuller 1987) and 282 ha in Michigan moving among the trees on both (Elody and Sloan 1985), suggesting sides of the road, repeatedly vocal­ that the owl density in the area in izing from various perches. Finally, I which I observed the copulating left the area, as I did not want to owls may be high. Also, Nicholls disturb them any longer. and Fuller (1987) and Elderkin (1987) reported the presence of Discussion non-breeding "floaters". The male It appears that little has been writ­ that I observed may have been ten on Barred Owl pair bonding, responding to an apparent intrusion but it is likely similar to that of its by a nearby territorial male or a near relative, the Tawny Owl (Strix floater male into its territory. aluco), in which pair bonds are per­ After a territorial intrusion, manent and the permanent territo­ copulations by resident pairs have ries are defended year-round been observed in a wide variety of (Johnsgard 1988). Barred Owls are bird species, from raptors to passer- VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 156

ines (see Birkhead and Moller Barred Owls. Michael Runtz (pers. 1992). It has been suggested that comm.) has observed Barred Owl resident males copulate repeatedly behaviour that was similar to the with their females following a per­ incident reported here after he imi­ ceived territorial intrusion by tated their vocalizations. another male in an attempt to Perhaps future genetic studies swamp the intruder's sperm with will reveal more about the social their own, should mating have and breeding behaviour of noctur­ occurred. Edinger (1988) reported nalowls. "rapid pair copulation" during song playback experiments with Acknowledgements Baltimore (Icterus galbula) and I would like to thank Michael Bullock's Orioles (1. bullockii), and Runtz for his valuable input into indicated that these songs may have this article, and Ron Tozer for his been perceived by resident males as assistance in obtaining reference territorial intrusions. The same material and comments on an earli­ response apparently occurs In er draft.

Literature Cited Birkhead, T.R. and A.P. Moller. 1992. Sperm Mazur, K.M. and P.C. James. 2000. Barred Competition in Birds. Academic Press, Owl (Strix varia). In The Birds of North London, United Kingdom. America, No. 508 (A. Poole and F. Gill, edi­ Edinger, B.B. 1988. Extra-pair courtship and tors). The Birds of North America, Inc., copulation attempts in Northern Orioles. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Condor 90: 546-554. Nicholls, T.n. and M.R. Fuller. 1987. Elderkin, M.F.1987. The breeding and feed­ Territorial aspects of Barred Owl home ing ecology of a Barred Owl Strix varia range and behavior in Minnesota. Pp. Barton population in Kings County, Nova 121-128 in Biology and Conservation of Scotia. Master's thesis, Acadia University, Northern Forest Owls: Symposium Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Proceedings, 1987 February 3-7, Winnipeg, Elody, B.I. and N.F. Sloan. 1985. Movements Manitoba (RW. Nero, RJ. Clark, RJ. and habitat use of Barred Owls in the Knapton, and RH. Hamre, editors). Huron Mountains of Marquette County, GeneralTechnical Report RM-142, United Michigan, as determined by radioteleme­ States Forest Service, Rocky Mountain try. Jack-Pine Warbler 63: 3-8. Forest and Range Experiment Station, Johnsgard, P.A. 1988. North American Owls: Fort Collins, Colorado. Biology and Natural History. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, nc.

Chris Robinson, 1705 Bur Brook Road, Box 194, Glenburnie, Ontario, KOH ISO

ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004 157 James D. Rising: Distinguished Ornithologist

1. Bruce Falls

This note is based on remarks by Grosbeak and Townsend's Solitaire Bruce Falls at the presentation ofthe in Missouri. Receiving his Bachelor Distinguished Ornithologist Award ofArts in 1964, he continued at U. of to Jim Rising at the 0 FO Annual K. for his Ph.D. under the supervi­ Convention in Oakville, Ontario, on sion ofthe noted systematic ornithol­ 2 October 2004. ogist, Richard F. Johnston. His thesis topic was Systematic and Evolu­ Let me tell you about my friend and tionary Aspects of Interbreeding colleague, Jim Rising, this year's between Baltimore and Bullock's recipient of OFO's Distinguished Orioles. Subsequently, the AOU Ornithologist Award. Jim started combined these two species into young, keeping budgies and inter­ Northern Oriole, a decision not to ested in nature with his older broth­ Jim's liking. Perhaps partly as a result er. Family vacations with Pettingill's of his work, they have been split bird-finding guides and a Peterson again-he got his revenge! field guide started him identifying After receiving his Ph.D. in birds by the time he was 12. He 1968, Jim went on to Cornell thought male and female House University for post-doctoral Sparrows were separate species, an research in ecological physiology. early clue that he was to become a He showed that Bullock's Orioles splitter. He had an early introduc­ were better adapted than Baltimore tion to bird-banding. His parents Orioles to hot dry conditions. He encouraged his growing interest by also studied adaptations of chick­ providing bird books and he was adees to cold. However, in 1969, the inspired by reading Fred "true north" called when an open­ Bodsworth's Last ofthe Curlews. As ing appeared at the University of a teenager, he subscribed to the ToroIito. He arrived for interviews Auk and the Wilson Bulletin. He (one with yours truly) and got the began coordinating Christmas job. At the same time, he became a counts and started a book on Birds Research Associate of the Royal ofthe Kansas City Area. Ontario Museum, a position he still In Junior College and as an holds. It was a lucky day for Jim and undergraduate at the University of for the rest of us, too! Kansas, he began to publish short Jim's scientific interests lie in papers about his bird observations. population and evolutionary biology. His first contribution to the Auk in His particular field is systematics and 1965 concerned observations of Pine phylogeny. Perhaps because of his

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 158 early experience, he has a special Ornithological Society and, as elect­ interest in the hybrid zone in the ed second Vice-President of the Great Plains. When he arrived in Wilson Society, is in line to become Toronto, he looked for an appropri­ its President. Closer to home, he ate and convenient research subject supports many natural history and hit upon geographic variation in organizations, including Bird Studies the Savannah Sparrow, which he pur­ Canada, the Canadian Nature sued for many years throughout the Federation, Ontario Nature, and the species' range. A major publication Nature Conservancy of Canada in 2001 dealt with this subject. He has which represents one of his major resisted splitting the Savannah concerns-habitat preservation; and Sparrow but recently turned his of course, OFO and others. attention to sharp-tailed sparrows, When I visit Jim's office, I usual­ which have been split. ly find him at his computer. It is hard Jim's teaching at U. of T. has to know if he is talking to Bird Chat, included courses in systematics, which he often does, writing a new phylogeny and evolution, several book or playing a computer game. field courses in subarctic, temperate He is a gifted writer with 62 publica­ and tropical venues, and recently, a tions in scientific journals to his course in avian biology (ornitholo­ credit as well as 24 books or chapters gy). He has for several years been in books, and other articles. His the Undergraduate Secretary in the papers reflect his early observations Department of Zoology, responsi­ in Kansas as well as publications on ble for counseling students and orioles, Savannah and other spar­ overseeing the curriculum. Jim has rows, and more general topics. supervised the research of 14 grad­ He contributed 10 species uate students for Master's and accounts to the Atlas of the Doctoral degrees on a variety of Breeding Birds of Ontario, six co­ organisms-juncos, frogs, orioles authored accounts to the Birds of (of course), bumblebees, squirrels, North America and two chapters to Lark Buntings, Iceland Gulls and the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and cowbirds, including a wide range of Behavior. He has also written for topics. several high school biology texts. Jim Rising is a joiner, belonging His books on birds include to more ornithology societies than I Canadian Songbirds and Their can remember. He is a fellow of the Ways (1982) and two excellent field AOU and serves on the committee guides to sparrows with Dave on Classification and Nomenclature. Beadle (1996, 2002). They have This august body of splitters pro­ straddled the fence on the question duces the ever-growing check-list of whether paintings or photo­ that is music to birders. Jim has been graphs are best for field guides, on the council of the Cooper publishing one of each. Jim tells me ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004 159

Figure 1: Jim Rising (right) receives the Distinguished Ornithologist Award, pre­ sented by Jean Iron and Bruce Falls during the OFO Annual Convention in Oakville, Ontario, on 2 October 2004. Photo by Ron Pittaway. that a new photographic guide is in ing trips and keeps track of birds at the works on tanagers, grosbeaks his cottage that contribute to my and finches. No wonder he is Atlas square. Tropical field courses regarded as an authority on spar­ don't hurt his life list! rows and their allies! It is an honour for me to pres­ Jim is a keen birder. I remem­ ent the 2004 OFO Distinguished ber with pleasure how we played Ornithologist Award to my friend, hooky from a Wilson Meeting in Jim Rising, a man who has not only Corpus Christi to tour south Texas made important contributions to and pick up lots of goodies. Here in avian science, but also keeps bird­ Ontario, Jim takes students on bird- watchers happy.

Representative Publications Rising, J.D. 1969. A comparison of metabo­ Emlen, S.T., J.D. Rising, and W.L. lism and evaporative water loss of Thompson. 1975. A behavioral and mor­ Baltimore and Bullock's orioles. phological study of sympatry in the Indigo Comparative Biochemistry and and Lazuli buntings of the Great Plains. Physiology 31: 915-925. Wilson Bulletin 87: 145-179. Rising, J.D. 1970. Morphological variation Rising, T.L. and J.D. Rising. 1982. Canadian and evolution in some North American Songbirds and Their Ways. Tundra orioles. Systematic Zoology 19: 315-351. Publications, Montreal. VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 160

Rising, J.D. 1987. Eastern Wood-Pewee (pp. Rising, J.D. 1996. A Guide to the 252-253), Indigo Bunting (pp. 434-435), Identification and Natural History of The Vesper Sparrow (pp. 446-447), Savannah Sparrows of the United States and Sparrow (pp. 448-449), Grasshopper Canada. Academic Press, London, United Sparrow (pp. 45Q-451), Song Sparrow (pp. Kingdom. 460-461), Dark-eyed Junco (pp. 464-465), Rising, J.D. and N.J. Flood. 1998. Baltimore Sharp-tailed Sparrow (p. 554) Fox Oriole (Icterus galbula). In The Birds of Sparrow (p. 555), and White-crowned North America, No. 384 (A. Poole and F. Sparrow (p. 556) in Atlas of the Breeding Gill, editors). The Birds of North Birds of Ontario (M. D. Cadman, PEl America Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eagles, and EM. Helleiner, compilers). Rising, J. 1998. Nelson's Sharp-tailed University of Waterloo Press, Waterloo, Sparrow in The Birds of North America. Ontario. OFO News 15: 3-4. Wheelwright, N.T. and J.D. Rising. 1993. Rising, J.D. 2001. Geographic variation in Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sand­ size and shape of Savannah Sparrows wichensis). In The Birds of North (Passerculus sandwichensis). Studies in America, No. 45 (A. Poole, P Stettenbeim, Avian Biology (Cooper Ornithological and E Gill, editors). Academy of Natural Society), No. 23. Sciences, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and Beadle, D.D. and J.D. Rising. 2002. Sparrows American Ornithologists' Union, of the United States and Canada: The Washington, D.C. Photographic Guide. Princeton University Rising, J.D. 1996. The stability of the oriole Press Princeton New Jersey. (Icterus) hybrid zone in western Kansas. Condor 98: 658-663. 1. Bruce Falls, 14 Tottenham Road, Toronto, Ontario M3C 2J4 EAGLE~ OPTICS.CX Eagle Optics Rangers Platinum Class See the binoculars that Bird Studies Canada says: "provides exceptional quality and value" starting at just $489 Visit Eagle Optics.ca for all your optics needs. Shop on-line for: Audubon, Bushnell, Eagle Optics, Nikon, Pentax, SWift, Swarovski, Vortex www.eagleoptics.ca1-800-710-4185 3-951 Gordon St. Guelph Eagle Optics brand products are also available at Wild Birds UnlimitedStores: Burlington (905-634-7700) * Guelph (519-821-2473) London (519-657-0745) * Newmarket Gust opening!) Ottawa (613-521-7333) Thornhill (905-709-3775) * Toronto (416-233-3558)

ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004 161 Thunder Bay Fire 21 Revisited

Nicholas G. Escott

Fire 21 consumed a large area of debris from an old railway con­ boreal forest straddling Highway struction camp. 527, north of the city ofThunder Bay, House Wrens are known to in the spring and summer of 1998. nest in open burned areas (Johnson This burn was the winter home for a 1998) and it remains to be seen major concentration of Black­ whether this species is a regular backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcti­ inhabitant of forest fire burns in cus) in 1998-99 (Escott 2001). northwestern Ontario, or whether I had the opportunity to revisit the sightings reported here were an this area in the summer of 2003, anomaly. If the former, there are where I did some point counts for lots of suitable breeding areas the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. across the north, and surveys of Five years after the fire, the under­ such regenerating burns might story has regenerated in deciduous extend the breeding range of this shrubs, such as poplar (Populus sp.), species in Ontario. willow (Salix sp.), and alder (Alnus sp.), to a height of about 4 metres. The dead trees from the original The forest rise up above this shrub layer (Figure 1). The point counts tallied DovetaD in Table 1 are from this fairly homo­ geneous part of the regenerating Directory burn, north of Kabitotikwia Lake. I did 23 point counts on 19 and 24 June, and the numbers of individu­ als for each species recorded are listed in Table 1. The most surprising species was the House Wren (Troglodytes The world's largest catalogue aedon), which is uncommon and ofcomplete birding and local in Thunder Bay District, and nature tour itineraries usually found in towns and suburbs in the southern parts of the district. Forty-five independent operators There is, however, a breeding Several hundred itineraries record from the northeast corner of Truly, your one-stop shop! Lake Nipigon in 1924 (Snyder 1928): a pair was nesting in the www.dovetaildirectorv.com VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 162

The part of the burn south of Kabitotikwia Lake was salvage-cut after the fire, i.e., it was logged to salvage the standing dead timber, and then scarified, or scraped, leaving little vegetation on the sandy ground over some areas. No House Wrens were found there, but that area was home to an unusually large num­ ber of two other species that are quite uncommon in the Thunder Bay area: Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) and Vesper Sparrow (Pooe­ cetes gramineus). I esti­ mated at least 11 singing Vesper Sparrows, and at least 10 Common Night­ hawks, in a fairly small area of about 20 hectares, on the evening of 23 June. Figure 1: Regenerating burn, north of Kabitotikwia Lake, Thunder Bay District, June 2003. Photo by Nicholas G. Escott.

OFO Annual Convention and Banquet Point Pelee National Park 10 and 11 September 2005

Mark your calendar now to attend the 2005 OFO Annual Convention in Leamington, Ontario. Another fun weekend of birding and presentations is being planned. On both Saturday and Sunday, experts will lead groups of convention par­ ticipants to several of the great early fall birding locations in Point Pelee National Park and nearby areas. Saturday's events will include Ron Scovell's popular book sale, and an evening banquet and special featured speaker at the Roma Club. Watch for further details and registration information in the coming months.

ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004 163

Table 1. Numbers ofbirds recorded at 23 point counts in naturally regenerated burn, five years after the fire.

White-throated Sparrow 85 Veery 4 (Zonotrichia albicollis) (Catharus fuscescens) Mourning Warbler 34 House Wren 4 (Oporornis philadelphia) (Troglodytes aedon) Alder Flycatcher 34 Red-breasted Nuthatch 3 (Empidonax alnorum) (Sitta canadensis) Least Flycatcher 24 Nashville Warbler 2 (Empidonax minimus) (Vermivora ruficapilla) Hermit Thrush 23 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 (Catharus guttatus) (Melospiza lincolnii) Red-eyed/Philadelphia Vireo * 23 American Kestrel ** 2 (Vireo olivaceuslphiladelphicus) (Falco sparverius) Chestnut-sided Warbler 19 Hairy Woodpecker 2 (Dendroica pensylvanica) (Picoides villosus) Northern Flicker 11 Black-capped Chickadee 1 (Colaptes auratus) (Poecile atricapillus) Chipping Sparrow** 10 Blue Jay 1 (Spizella passerina) (Cyanocitta cristata) American Robin 7 Gray Jay 1 (Turdus migratorius) (Perisoreus canadensis) Downy Woodpecker 5 Song Sparrow 1 (Picoides pubescens) (Melospiza melodia) American Redstart 4 (Setophaga ruticilla)

* Both species were present, but songs are similar. Of eight that were seen, two were Philadelphia and six were Red-eyed. ** Restricted to the edges of the highway or main logging road

Literature Cited Escott, N.G. 2001. A concentration of Black­ Snyder L.L. 1928. The summer birds of Lake backed Woodpeckers in Thunder Bay Nipigon. Transactions of the Royal District. Ontario Birds 19: 119-129. Canadian Institute 16: 251-277. Johnson, L.S. 1998. House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). In The Birds of North America, No. 380 (A. Poole and F. Gill, edi­ tors). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Nicholas G. Escott, 650 Alice Avenue, R.R. 14, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 5E5

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 164 OFO Board of Directors and Committees

Directors

President: Chris Escott Past President: Jean Iron Vice President: Bob Falconer Secretary: Carol Horner Treasurer: Eileen Beagan Director: Maris Apse Director: Eleanor Beagan Director: Sandra Eadie Director: Chester Gryski Director: Dave Milsom

Committees

Advertising: Chester Gryski Annual Convention 2005: Maris Apse, Chris Escott, Bob Falconer Archivist: Diane Henderson Birdathon: Chris Escott Bylaws: Chris Escott Certificates of Appreciation: Bob Falconer, Chris Escott Distinguished Ornithologist Award: Bill Crins, Ron Pittaway, Ron Tozer Field Trips: Dave Milsom Mailbox: Eleanor Beagan Mailing: Eleanor Beagan, Jean Iron Memberships: Eleanor Beagan OFO News Editors: Jean Iron, Ron Pittaway OFO Rep., Carden Alvar: Don Barnett OFO Rep., Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas: Bill Crins, Jean Iron OFO Rep., Partners in Flight Ontario Landbirds Conservation Plan: Jean Iron OFO Sales: Maris Apse OFO Website Coordinator: Sandra Eadie Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC) 2004: Margaret Bain, Bill Crins (Secretary), Bob Curry, Dave Elder, Chris Escott, Kevin McLaughlin, Mark Peck (ROM Liaison), Kayo Roy (Assistant to the Secretary), Ron Tozer (Chair), Alan Wormington. Ontario Birds Editors: Bill Crins, Ron Pittaway, Ron Tozer ONTBIRDS Listserv Coordinator: Mark Cranford Publicity: Dave Milsom

ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2004