Date: 2/16/25 6:53 pm From: Jim Long via groups.io <tagdesjim...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Farren Road Feb. 16
eBird shows one right at the road curve before the tree farm and one
further up on Verada Leyenda, but nothing west from Farren Rd. Also I'm
surprised that eBird doesn't show the one a few years back up the trail
from Tuckers, I think I'm the only one that missed it from the group
several.
Jim Long
Santa Barbara
On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 5:46 PM Florence Sanchez via groups.io
<sanchezucsb11...> wrote:
> I walked the length of the Road this morning but didn't turn up anything
> special. At the top of the road calling in the canyon below the eucalyptus
> grove I heard what sounded very much like a Northern Pygmy Owl.
>
> I have heard Pygmy Owl on Farren Road before, but it was calling from the
> Oak canyon below the EAST side of the road, which I believe is called
> Tecolote Canyon. Brad Hacker verified for me that N. Pygmy Owl has been
> found there.
>
> I couldn't really assess the habitat below the west side of the road at
> the point I heard the call, so I don't know if it is appropriate for Pygmy
> Owl. I have been checking range maps and find I cannot rule out Merriam's
> Chipmunk, which has a very similar call. I don't have Merlin on my iPhone
> and could only compare the call with what is in the Sibley Bird app.
> However, I have also checked the Sibley app's call for Pygmy Owl against an
> on-line call of a Merriam's Chipmunk and found the latter to be HIGHER
> pitched than either the app or my memory of the call. (If I had been
> thinking, I would have recorded the call I heard this morning!)
>
> Any comments or suggestions including past experiences that other birders
> may have had with Pygmy-Owl type calls in the Farren Road region would be
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Florence Sanchez
>
> PS--There was no apparent reaction to the call from the birds in the
> eucalyptus grove, which included Yellow-rumps and American Robins. I
> played the call on the Sibley app for a brief period and I did get some
> alarm response to it from both of those species.
>
>
>
>
