Smoky Mountain Owl-ology

Thank you to the Great Smoky Mountains Association 

for inviting me to host an evening class on Owl-ology at the Sugarlands Visitor Center only a few miles from 

where I grew up in Gatlinburg.  

Indoors we learned about an owl's heightened senses, owl nest-boxes, the different species of owls that are found in the Great Smoky Mountains, their calls, and dissected owl pellets provided by a great horned owl. 

We also looked at barred owls. Their preferred habitat is woods near water. They actually eat a lot of cold-blooded stream-loving animals like crawdads, salamanders and frogs. After the indoor workshop, we walked along Fighting Creek to Cataract Falls in the dark. It was most pleasant. 

The young ones in the group got an opportunity to call an owl and we learned that one of our guests named Dan spoke excellent barred owl. So he attempted to initiate a dialogue. Some of our group heard a barred owl on the ridge behind the falls but not everyone did. Dan thinks he saw it fly from one tree to another. But ultimately, we think that the owl became suspicious that we were not, indeed, other owls cloistered in the dark.

It was a fun adventure in the dark.

Thank you Dana, Ruth Anne and "Barred Owl Dan."