Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2025

The sun was shining through scattered clouds. No strong winds. It was around 55 degrees.

Binoculars were used to scan for the individual but it was not seen.

This is my first experience with a Boreal Owl. I have had three seasons of Northern Saw-whet Owl banding, spending more than 100 hours at the station with many birds and have never heard a similar sound. Other birders mentioned Wilson's Snipe as an alternative, but after visiting, they agreed that the small early successional clearing next to the spruce forest on a mountain was not the habitat. I have also heard many Wilson's Snipe winnows and the low toots that I heard are not similar to the tone of a winnow traveling and changing volume as usually observed.

I have attached a photo of the habitat where I made the observation. This location is in the middle of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, which is densely forested, hilly/mountainous topography, with few small logging clearings. The observation site on Canal Road had maples and aspen growing in an early successional clearing next to the road that went back around 200 feet and a dense spruce forest behind it where the owl was heard.

The individual was not seen.

Owl song with around 12 fast (but certainly not a trill) and low toots that got slightly louder while singing. There was around three to four seconds between each time it sang. It sang three times. It was loud and very easily heard.

I was walking very slowly north on Canal Road, and it sang to my right, where a couple maples were in the way of the spruce forest. I then slowly ventured to the edge of the forest, and played its song from Merlin a couple of times around 20 minutes after it sang. I waited around 20 more minutes and then had to leave.

Northern Saw-whet Owl: What I heard was faster, lower tone, and had a slight increase in volume each time it sang.
Eastern Screech-Owl: What I heard was much slower than a Screech-Owl song.