February 24, 2025

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure to join a Denver Field Ornithologists on an owling field trip! We met up at 4:15 am in Jefferson County and set out to see if we could find Northern Saw-whet Owls in the dark. Our small group made several stops, and we had great success both hearing and seeing these owls! Although I didn’t get a chance to get any photos, I did enjoy getting a recording of their calls and watching their flight antics in the very pale dawn light. One of our group members happened to get a very quick video of one of the flyovers too! Please see below for the audio and video.

Turn your sound way up for this one to hear a Northern Saw-whet owl scream!

Turn your sound way up for this one to hear a Northern Saw-whet owl’s classic “toot”!

A VERY quick glimpse of a Northern Saw-whet Owl in the dim dawn light. They are extremely fast, agile fliers. This particular individual kept calling, the flying over our group or swooping around us, putting on quite a territorial display! Thrilling!

Now, a little bit about Northern Saw-whet Owls…

These tiny predators (only 7” tall) are typically found in conifer forests from the southern end of Alaska down into the northern part of Arizona and New Mexico, and east to the Carolinas. They do find refuge in a variety of habitats, though, and the Northern Saw-whet Owls we were after were seen in thick willow areas along water. The Northern Saw-whet Owl has a diet made up of mostly small rodents (mice, voles, squirrels) and sometimes other birds and large insects. They hunt at night by sight and sound. During the breeding season, the males will make the “toot” noise incessantly to both attract a mate and defend territory. They will nest in tree cavities, often those abandoned by woodpeckers, but they don’t typically use the same nest site year after year. The female is responsible for staying on the nest and the male will bring food throughout the incubation period. A typical nesting season will have 5 to 6 eggs!

See below for a few pre-dawn images of our outing, click on photos to enlarge.