Who says that's not a Screen Owl?

The other day I was musing on a couple of incidents in which titmice appeared to be mobbing something but I could not make out what it was. Various theories were offered but the issue was never settled. I've also noticed that the local Blue Jays set up a racket every evening in the same spot near the house: a patch of woods just behind an old Red Cedar, some oaks and a tangle of vines. Sometimes the titmice and chickadees join in. But when I duck behind the cedar to see what's causing the commotion, the Blue Jays all take off; the other birds linger a bit but then they also leave and I never can see what caused the row. On reflection however, it occurs to me that there is a big ball of leaves in the crotch of of oak, perhaps an old squirrel nest that has outlasted its use. Every time I see it, I raise up the binoculars just to make sure that it isn't an owl. Now this routine goes on night after night. Could it be that the birds have mistaken this ball of leaves for an owl and they feel duty-bound to come in every evening and try to chase it away or at least make it feel uncomfortable. In the past, there have certainly been Screech Owls in this area; I have heard them calling many nights and their trills often seem to come from this spot. But this nightly gathering seems almost ritualistic as if the birds feel obligated to go through the motions.

Can this really be the case? Let me additionally offer the behavior of my dog, Rimsky. Rimsky is a feisty Wheaten Terrier and his ambition in life is to chase deer. He never actually gets to do this but his interest in the deer never wanes. There are two females with two fairly well-grown fauns and at least one male that cruise through the woods that encircle the house and occasionally even venture out into the open, most notably in the evening. Rimsky, who is not allowed out at this time of day, is very keen to look for these animals and he goes out every evening onto the screen porch which offers a 180-degree view of the surroundings. Rimsky is on high alert. He stares, growls and sometimes starts to make a huge fuss, barking and whining as if he has actually spotted (smelled? seen? heard?) something. Sometimes there are deer. But much of the time I can see nothing. But that doesn't deter Rimsky the dog. He is convinced that there are deer or, at any rate, that there ought to be deer! If Rimsky can see, hear, smell deer when there are none around, why can't Blue Jays and Tufted Titmice feel the same way about a Screech Owl which may actually only be a ball of leaves that looks like a Screech Owl?

Overcast, light mist, almost no wind, a few birds. The usual flocks of titmice and chickadees active with at lest two Pine Warblers and a Red-eyed Vireo in the mix.

Eric Salzman