Voices in the Wild: Listening to the forest choir

After the snowfall, Old Man Winter rests. He is warm now, with his long white hair flowing down his shoulders. After conjuring up infinite patterns of snowflakes, each one unique, and gently laying down the soft blanket of opalescence, he tucks his chin into his full beard and dreams. In the mountains, the creatures of the earth begin to stir after the quietness of the last flake falling has been fully appreciated.

The extreme northwest corner of Montana and the panhandle of Idaho include portions of the rugged Whitefish, Purcell, Cabinet, Bitterroot, Salish, and Selkirk mountains. The sub-alpine zone usually begins at 5,000 foot elevation. Here, the forest transitions from lodgepole pine and mixed conifers. Depending on your location, elevation, and aspect, the forest changes to areas of mountain hemlock, sub-alpine fir, sub-alpine larch, Engelmann spruce, and white bark pine. Trees show the effects of their struggle for existence. Above this are the krummholz.

Stirring after the snowstorms in the sub-alpine forest are red-backed voles, and field mice hunted by aggressive, camouflaged, long-tailed weasels, known as “ermine.” Also cloaked in winter concealment are white-tailed ptarmigan and the snowshoe hare. Ptarmigan and hares frequently fall victim to the silent, stealthy hunting techniques of the Canadian lynx, which stalk on large, snowshoe-like paws and quickly pounce on their prey.

Another predator of the high country — an aerial attack master of hunting voles, birds and other small critters — is the boreal owl. Boreal owls range from approximately 3,800 feet to 7,000 feet. From a distance, their heads appear square, and there are no visible ear tufts. Eyes are yellow; the beak is yellowish white. The boreals silently glide down from relatively low perches to grab prey with their talons.

This small owl is about ten inches high and weighs approximately five ounces. It is somewhat snow camouflaged: its facial disk is white surrounded by a black trim. The forehead is delicately spotted with white and the back of the head often has a few larger white spots or patches. The chest is white with brown vertical streaks down the chest, sides and flanks. The back is brown with somewhat larger white blotches.

This little owl is a high-elevation, camouflaged killer. It often dons a seemingly-angry expression. And perhaps it has a reason for this: The boreals are king and queens in their domain. Once thought to migrate, research has shown that they tend to remain in their home territory unless disturbed or prey becomes scarce.

This humble writer was fortunate to be part of this research in the early 90s. We were trained by experts to vocally imitate the series of eight to 20 low, whistled toots that get progressively louder and then drop off. We also utilize recorded calls to find and map out potential mating areas and nesting sites.

For more than a month we worked extremely hard. Conditions were tough. Snowmobiles broke down and the work hours — 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. — were difficult. We snowshoed into the research area through three to four feet of snow, calling the owls, often to no response.

We were successful. The night was clear with a plethora of stars, Venus showing brightly, and shooting stars to the maximum. It was also 20 below zero.

We decided to try one more set of male mating or territorial calls, and far off in the distance we heard a response. Then another. Suddenly, there were groups of owls calling from every angle, almost surrounding us at about a half mile away. The ensemble of owls continued for an hour. The choral performance actually made us laugh with joy. After the crescendo and the return of silence, my buddy and I made our way back to the sleds and headed out, leaving the boreal owls with the spectacular view of a Montana night sky and their peaceful solitude.

Brian Baxter, principal of Silver Cloud Associates in Libby, Montana, is an outdoor educator and wildlife researcher.

Voices in the Wilderness is a monthly column that features memorable personal experiences in wild places. If you have an adventure tale based in untamed country (it doesn’t have to be local), send it to sandy@scotchmanpeaks.org.