The Saw-whet Owl Population of North Carolina's Southern Great Balsam Mountains

Simpson, Marcus

SUMMARY: An 8-year study of the Saw-whet Owl in the southern Great Balsam Mountains reveals a total of 49 records of the species, with the calling season occurring during the period of early April through mid-June. A total of nine calling stations are present in the range along a 13-mile transect, and comparison with a comparable area in the Great Smoky Mountains indicates that densities of the species may be quite uniform throughout regions of suitable habitat in the southern Appalachians. The data indicate that the bird is actually fairly common in the proper habitat, and it is clearly the most abundant owl in the spruce-fir community. The owl shows a preference for mixed communities of conifer and hardwood and occurs most regularly in the transition zone or edge between the spruce-fir and hardwood forests, where the increased availability of small mammals may account for its presence. The questions of range expansion and vertical migration remain unsettled; but two documented occurrences of juvenile Saw-whet Owls in the southern Appalachians, both records coming at least a month prior to the earliest known migratory movement of the species, give strong evidence in support of a breeding population.