The Dark

   I don't like the dark. Never have. I have just never outgrown the horror movie mentality that the dark holds all manner of rotten things. Consequently, looking for owls in the early morning before sunrise is especially stressful since every creaking limb or rustling leaf freaks me out. So this morning I thought I would head out to my favorite owl spot in Lake County, Lyons Woods, to look for my favorite owl, the saw-whet. I packed myself with iPod, iPhone, flashlight and headlamp and headed into the forest preserve about 5:30am. There was actually a fair amount of moonlight so it wasn't too bad. Yesterday there were some NW winds before they turned south last night, but the early morning this morning was one of the few times that it hasn't been windy in the past 2 weeks, so I figured I had a decent shot at hearing an owl.
   I found my first spot and leaned up against a large spruce tree to the side of the trail. I played the barking calls and cat whine calls from my iPod and waited. 2 minutes. 5 minutes. Nothing. I played the toots, and some more whine calls. More waiting......and more nothing. Then I hear a very clear bark...right in front of me. I scan with the flashlight but couldn't see anything. Branches were too dense. No doubt it was a saw-whet. It was too brief a call for me, though. I needed something more diagnostic, so I kept trying. I walked farther down the trail to another spruce stand and played the bark and whine calls again. After waiting a few minutes, I thought I heard some sounds coming from farther ahead on the trail so I walked down further and moved off trail under another spruce. I played the combo of calls again and waited. The next sound I heard nearly gave me a heart attack. It was a PERSON walking along the trail! What the heck is a person doing here in the darkness? There can't be another crazy owl-watcher out here.....can there? Two thoughts immediately went through my head. Either this guy is some creep looking for an innocent victim or coming back from some drug party somewhere OR he's going to see me and freak cuz he thinks I'M some kind of lunatic. In either case, I don't want to be seen, so I scrunch up next to the tree and hope he walks right by. As it turns out, there are 2 guys who are out walking their dogs. NOW I'm hoping that the dogs don't sniff me out and start barking or anything. I rotate around the tree as the four of them walk by me. No sound from the dogs. I wait until they're out of hearing distance and let out a deep sigh. That was close! I then play the calls 1 more time. Almost immediately I hear a loud whine come from right above my head!
whine

I look up with my flashlight and see nothing. I move to a different angle and try again. This time, about 15-20ft up I see a white form with a roundish head. The brightness of my flashlight and the large number of branches made it tough to see, but I saw the owl look down at me and move his head a couple of times before flying off. A NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL! #255. Very cool.