Home About Archives RSS Feed

Owls for Turkeys

Nichole Dupont

The screech owl is the smallest (and clumsiest) of Northeastern owls. (These stuffed fellows at the cobble were easier to get close to.)

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — The Friday after Thanksgiving was not a day marked by a manic shopping frenzy and a food hangover; at least not for me. I did some of my shopping on Wednesday; enjoyed a late lunch, navigated the packed aisles of the grocery store for pecans and corn syrup. I had other plans, more adventurous plans for Friday (night): owl hunting.

Mind you, I did not literally go hunting for owls with a rifle. I’m pretty sure that’s very illegal and very not in keeping with my preservationist, nature-is-god sort of approach to life. The “Owl Prowl,” which is an annual, nocturnal event held at Bartholomew's Cobble in Ashley Falls, is a two-hour excursion into the fields and woods of the cobble in search of the regions known owl species, namely the great horned, the bard and the screech.

For starters, and I did know this going in, it was darn cold without the sun on my back. Even the moon was shy as we (a group of about 10) wandered through the dark with only our dim flashlights to part the way through the dark woods.

And very quiet excluding the irritating swishing noise of Nylon pants and the one guy with very loud, owl-unfriendly gas.

Rene, our guide, brought along his tape deck (yes, they still exist) and at specific locations he would stop the group and play the different calls of each owl. He was careful not to play all three calls in the same location, the fear being that if a screech owl (the smallest of the three) decided to investigate our group that there would be the possibility of the great horned swooping in and eating the little guy. I giggled uncontrollably at the thought of this. Apparently no one else found it funny.

The bard owl is the most common around Bart's Cobble.

So we first tried to lure the screech owl in for a quick look, to no avail. Next came the bard owl, which apparently is the most commonly seen owl in the area. Again, nothing. We did, however, hear the eerie call of a lone coyote and then the irritated chatter of geese in the distance. I assume the coyote was directly related to the geese upset.

The prowl was yielding very little except cold fingers and cold toes and some irritated sighs from the three kids whose parents seemingly dragged them there from their warm homes. At the last stop on the unprotected windy plain of Hurlburt's Hill, after several replays of the bard owl call and several long, frosty pauses of human movement, we heard it — the low, mysterious call of the great horned owl.

Twice he called out and twice we answered him. And that was it. Somewhere in the pine grove surrounding the Ashley House, the great silent bird must’ve felt bad for us and decided to give us some hope.

Or he was laughing at how ridiculous it was that we thought we could “lure” him in with a tape recorder, all reeking of turkey and humanness.

The great horned owl finally gave us a break by calling out twice.



 

Tags: owls, Bartholomews Cobble      

Support Local News

We show up at hurricanes, budget meetings, high school games, accidents, fires and community events. We show up at celebrations and tragedies and everything in between. We show up so our readers can learn about pivotal events that affect their communities and their lives.

How important is local news to you? You can support independent, unbiased journalism and help iBerkshires grow for as a little as the cost of a cup of coffee a week.

News Headlines
Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council
WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'
BCC Wins Grant for New Automatic External Defibrillator
Clark Art Screens 'Adaptation'
Drury High School to Host End-of-Year Showcase
Clarksburg Gets 3 Years of Free Cash Certified
Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests
MCLA Men's Lacrosse Falls in League Opener
Letter: Vote for Someone Other Than Trump
Berkshire Art Center's Dance Party Returns


Categories:
Culture (10)
History (3)
Museums (1)
Nature (5)
Real Estate (4)
Shopping (6)
Archives:
Tags:
Karen Town Clerk Pctv Lenox Archives Fire Station Celebrities Bird Count Mountain Birds Salt Clothing Berkshire Lee Vacation Year's Contest Bakery Barrington Richmond Great Art Show Great Barrington Darryl's Pittsfield Brother Consignment School Ideas Survey Closing Projectnorman New Buildings Other
Popular Entries:
Town Accepting Bids for Old Fire Station
Could New Neighbors Be Wall Street Journal Heirs?
The Last of the Insects
African-American Festival Coming to the Berkshires
Christmas Bird Count Bright and Early
Norman Rockwell Archive Goes Live Online
Late-Night Host Fallon Skis Butternut
Back to the Basics: Holiday Toy Shopping Done Right
Owls for Turkeys
A Place for Us: Re-Wear Brings Style to Sheffield
Recent Entries:
Schooled in Passion: Packer's "Women of Will" at Shake & Co.
A Place for Us: Re-Wear Brings Style to Sheffield
Richmond Still Looking For Town Clerk
The Last of the Insects
Is Verizon Making Good on Its Word?
Building Collapses in Great Barrington
Could New Neighbors Be Wall Street Journal Heirs?
Mother Nature is No Match for Cheese
Construct Running Out of Emergency Funds
Winter Breakdown at Ben's in Lee