On Thursday & Friday mornings, in between the chatter of flocks of Robins moving around North Campground, I heard some owls. Friday's was easy as it was a faint but familiar "hoot" I had heard many times before: Great Horned Owl. The call I heard Thursday morning was unfamiliar and turned out to be the source of a little frustration. What I heard was a slow "toot" (or "too", I suppose), and the first thing I did was run in and grab my Palm with Handheld Birds installed. I knew from other rangers that Northern Saw Whet Owls were present in the park so that was the first one I pulled up, listened to the recording, and determined that the cadence was too rapid for what I was hearing. I did a quick check of the park checklist and next up was the Northern Pygmy Owl, but it was still wrong. So was Long-eared Owl. Next I went to my computer and checked my Guide to Birds of North America software, still no match for what should be present in the park.

At that point I decided to see what my Sibley guide (the desktop version) had to say about voice and it turned out that Northern Pygmy Owls calls vary regionally. Maybe I should have checked there first or, in hindsight, checked the description with the Handheld Birds software because I would have learned of these differences there also. It does seem odd, however, that in 2 different software programs, they provide recordings of Northern Pygmy Owls from the smallest portion of the species range (southern Arizona). The really odd thing about Handheld Birds is the description:

Primary song is a slow, monotonous series of took notes. "Mountain" form from southeastern Arizona into Mexico gives paired phrases . . .

Seems kind of silly to me that they would include a recording that isn't the "primary" song. The same could be said for the other software which - and this is arguably worse - doesn't even mention the fact that the song is variable. I'm sure it is hard to put every little bit of information one might need and one very good reason I rely on multiple resources. But this issue of voice is kind of critical, I think, and should be clearly pointed out, especially when a field guide, electronic or otherwise, is dealing with a family of birds (owls) that are frequently heard and not seen.

I could rant a little more about it (there are discrepancies between Sibley's "big book" and his western field guide, for example), but won't.

Two days later I still think it is pretty cool that I heard that little owl, even if I didn't see it.