Sloan's Owl
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Description:
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| Field Guide Reference |
Voice:
Variety
of calls include barks, whinnies, hissing, and a high-pitched whistle. Primary
call is a three-syllable descending hoot repeated often, given by both males
and females during courtship. Female calls are slightly higher pitched. Sloan’s
owls will snap their bills when threatened.
Habitat:
Sloan’s
Owls are only found east of Novasola’s prairie. A forest generalist, they are most
frequently seen in interior deciduous and mixed woodlands, will also use wetter
coastal forests and occasionally forest edge and shrubland. Though rare, they
can sometimes inhabit wooded urban parks.
Discussion:
Uncommon across most of Novasola, Sloan’s Owls are elusive birds of eastern forests. Strictly nocturnal, they roost in hollowed trees or snags in the day and forage late at night, often not returning to roost until just before sunset. As a result, Sloan's Owls are difficult to observe which, coupled with their many unique characteristics and association with indigenous cultures, give them an air of mystique among wildlife enthusiasts.
The Sloan's Owl diet consists mostly of small mammals, amphibians, and bats, and they are
especially adept at catching bats and flying squirrels in flight. Sloan's Owls have short wings and a long, narrow tail which allows them excellent maneuverability in the air. This helps them fly through dense forests in pursuit of airborne prey like bats, much like diurnal accipiter hawks. In fact, another common name for the bird is Bat Owl. In fact, bats and flying squirrels make up the bulk of their summer diet, with one study finding the two groups comprised nearly 80 percent of Sloan Owl pellet contents. This reliance on catching airborne prey is unique among owls found on Novasola. Though they prefer flying
squirrels and bats in the summer, Sloan's Owls transition their diets in the winter to include more varied prey, typically small mammals like mice and
voles. They will occasionally prey on birds, though rare given Sloan’s Owls’ strictly nocturnal activity.
Sloan’s
Owls are also unusual among native owls for their breeding ecology. They are seasonally monogamous, meaning they stick with the same mate year
after year during the breeding season but separate and become solitary during
the winter. They nest in hollow trees, snags, evergreen branches, or other
cavities sometimes including rotted man-made structures like barns, and on
extremely rare occasions they have been observed nesting in caves. Their
numbers have begun to rebound after nest-box building conservation efforts. Uniquely social for owls, Sloan's Owls are colonial breeders, meaning the owls will nest nearby to
other owls and breeding colonies can grow to upwards of 30 pairs. Most owls
return to use the same breeding sites year after year. Breeding pairs are vocal
and will call to each other often, which makes colonies easier to locate, and the breeding season is thus the best time to look for them, as once they separate they become difficult to
observe. Because of their frequent vocalizations and colony densities, Sloan's Owls typically travel far from the colony to forage each night, often greater than 20 kilometers. Late breeders, Sloan’s Owls begin courtship in late June, and leave
the breeding colony in late August. This means there are only about two months each year wherein the owls are colonial. During this time they are loud and conspicuous, but concentrated in fewer areas. Outside the season they are more disperse but quiet and secretive. As a result, most of the information we have gathered on the species come from the breeding months when they can reliably be found.
The owls carry special significance among many native tribes on Novasola and feature prominently in many myths and stories. Probably because the owl’s native range closely mirrors the extent of Na-Dene language peoples, several eastern tribes associate the owl with their people and the owl is often used as a mascot of sorts for eastern indigenous groups. A Kuliquit story states that the Stone Hills were originally a colony of K’akw’eex, (their name for the owls) which became distracted by an argument and forgot to flee from the sun so they were petrified. K’akw’eex have suffered significant population declines since white settlement of Novasola, a fact with which many indigenous peoples empathize. Thankfully, the birds' populations have stabilized in recent years, due mainly to significant conservation efforts. These efforts include the building and placing of nest boxes, the conservation and preservation of mature eastern forests, and stronger conservation of prey populations, particularly bats. Tribes across Novasola have been instrumental in these efforts and the Confederation of Eastern Tribes continues to provide the greatest contributions. It is fitting then, that the K’akw’eex is featured on the Confederation's flag.
Originally described by Richard Reichwald, Sloan’s Owls are named for the Novasolan Research Corps’ entomologist, who was the first of the expedition to find a breeding colony. In recent years there has been an international push to change all eponymous bird names in an attempt to remove "ownership" of species and not to honor problematic historical figures; those who wish to see this bird's common name changed prefer the names Bat Owl, Morning Owl, Novasola Eastern Owl, Stone Hill Owl, or Kakweex. The name "Sloan's Owl" is now predominantly used only in scientific or academic circles, while most common people call them either Bat Owls or Stonehill Owls.
As difficult to find then as now, Richard Reichwald noted only one major encounter with Sloan’s Owls during the NRC expeditions, when the Corps discovered a breeding colony near their camp in the Stone Hills. After the expeditions, Reichwald frequently went looking for more, but only spotted a handful of others before finishing Native Birds in 1912.
“[As
I] supped at the campfire this evening taking in one of Mr. Jackson’s famous
anecdotes he so freely and forcefully gives, I was approached by Dr. Sloan who
had only then returned from setting traps away from camp. He tells me he has
come across a patch of woods, dense with standing dead, which began hooting as
soon as the sun had set. He claims that his return journey was accompanied by
the sounds of, not one pair but many, owls unfamiliar to him. Dr. Sloan
promises to take me back to his location tomorrow.” – Expedition log, August 20
1902
“The
importance of his discovery is perhaps lost on him, as Dr. Sloan met my
excitement with only mild amusement. He has in fact inadvertently stumbled upon
a colony of owls of the strangest nature. My time on Novasola has yet to produce
any comparisons. I alone have counted sixteen owls of eight pairings flying
between the trees, though I submit to the limitations of my night vision. I
have neither seen nor heard any of these birds between sunrise and sunset, but
in the darkness they enliven themselves. The night previous I was fortunate
enough to time my light to see one of the owls catch a bat on the wing. It will
be with most displeasure when we must move on and the expedition continue, as I
could spend an eternity and a decade camped here below the owls and still be
unwise to their secrets, a stranger to their company, and starved of their majesty.”
– Expedition log, August 22 1902.
“Unfamiliar
they may be to the recent settlers of the island, Sloan’s Owls afford a stronger,
and more deserved, respect from the eastern native tribes, who among my sources
are the only ones to have any observations of substance. Though a constant
resident of its range, there are many who are impressed to see the Sloan’s Owl
as only a summertime neighbor. Indeed most of my sources describe the owl as
migratory. Instead the owls remain here, but their twilight habits and deep
forest hermitage prove obstacles to winter observation.” – Native Birds of
Novasola, 1912
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| The Confederation of Eastern Tribes, the largest tribal government in eastern Novasola, uses a flag design featuring a K’akw’eex, or Sloan's Owl, in a traditional art style. |