[obol] Albany Western Screech Owl / Brown Bat "show"

[Jeff Fleischer]

Obolers,

Beings that a couple of folks expressed interest in
the current situation with this unique predator / prey
story, I figured I would visit the site this evening
and try to get a feel for what was going on this
summer.

As a bit of background, in the past a pair of Western
Screech Owls had used a colony of Big Brown Bats that
resided in the old Costume Loft building at the corner
of Water and Montgomery Sts in downtown Albany as a
temporary food source during the first half of July
each summer.  I should mention here that the Costume
Loft business no longer occupies this building.  The
current business in the building is Camas Creek
Antiques.  

A typical evenings hunt consisted of usually one adult
owl using a small powerline adjacent to the south
(Willamette River) side of the building as a perch. 
Bats departing from the roofline flashing of the
building about 4 to 6 feet away from this powerline
were preyed on by the owl in a fairly unique manner. 
As the bats slipped down from behind the flashing the
owl would launch itself against the edge of the
flashing and capture bats before they could reach full
flight.  The Owl would then transport its prey to the
treeline along the rivers edge about a 100 feet away
from the building and feed them to young owlets that
hid amongst the tree limbs and shrubbery along the
river.

I monitored this activity for at least three summers
during 2001 through 2003 and provided Obolers with
updates during July of each year.  In 2004, I
monitored the bat flyout activity during July but had
absolutely zero sightings of owls hunting the bats.  I
chalked it up to a probable failed nesting attempt,
ie, without youngin's to feed the bats to, the adult
owls had no need to hunt the bats, settling no doubt
for their normal table fare.  I again monitored the
situation several times in early July 2005 and again
found no evidence of owls using the bats so I figured
the "show" had run its course.  I made no attempts to
check the situation out in July 2006.

So, when Bill Clemons inquired about the "show" the
other night on OBOL, I thought it best that I give it
a shot this year to see what the situation was.  It
should be mentioned here that the landscape of the
area has changed drastically recently.  In an attempt
to encourage more folks to reside in the downtown area
of Albany, our city fathers had recently approved
construction of a condominium complex in the vacant
lot immediately adjacent to the east side of the
building that supports the bat colony.  The two story
tall condos are completely enclosed now and the west
edge of the complex sits about 6 feet away from the
east edge of the building.  When these units are
eventually filled with people, I suspect that the
activity will increase dramatically immediately around
this area.  

I arrived at the location this evening at 9:20 while
it was still light out.  I observed the first bat
leave the building at 9:24.  By 9:25 a total of 13
bats had left.  By 9:30, 30 bats had left.  By 9:35,
52 bats had left.  By 9:40, 59 bats had left.  As the
exodus of bats dropped off (it should be noted here
that the size of the bat flyout was about half of what
it used to be in previous years), I was beginning to
think about leaving.  At 9:41 an adult Screech Owl
flew from the trees along the river and flew around
the east side of the building towards the south side! 
I was shocked to say the least but really shouldn't
have been as the river area is the natural home for
these birds.  I watched the owl fly between the two
buildings which itself was impressive to see.  Because
the owl chose to not use the typical hunting perch
(the powerline) on the north side of the building, I
walked around to the south side of the building to see
if the owl was going to use the tall tree that is
immediately adjacent to the south side of the building
as a hunting perch.  I watched the owl move around in
this tree for about 5 minutes but at no time did it
make any attempts to capture the few bats that left
the building while the owl and I were present on this
south side of the building.  I then saw it fly back
around the east side of the building so I rushed
around to the north side of the building to see if it
was going to use the powerline as its hunting perch. 
It did not and I lost the bird at that point.  

I should also mention here that there is a lot more
construction activity going on on the south side of
the building as well and there is a nighttime security
guard that is patrolling this construction site.  I
talked with him briefly to let him know what I was
doing and he seemed okay with it but I felt that he
really didn't want me being there too long. He told me
to be careful and then left.  I took that as a gentle
hint to stay out by the road surface of Montgomery St
which I did.  

For the next 15 minutes I walked back and forth from
the north to the south side of the building to see if
the owl might return.  I finally left the area at
10:15 to return home and never did see the owl again.

Soooooo, I can for sure say that there is at least one
adult Western Screech Owl present in the neighborhood
of the corner of Water and Montgomery Sts in downtown
Albany but I would hate to commit to saying that it is
hunting the colony of bats flying out of the building
at night based on what I observed tonight.  The
viewing circumstances are definitely not the same as
in past years.  Those of you who have witnessed this
event in the past would be pretty shocked at the lay
of the land right now.  If any of you wish to spend a
part of your evening watching the bats fly out of the
building, it still remains an interesting thing to
see.  And, if you do come to watch, please let all of
us on OBOL know the results of your observations,
especially if you observe the owl actively hunting the
bats as in the past.  I will mostlikely make a couple
more attempts myself to see what develops and will
report what I see.

Jeff Fleischer
Albany    


       
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