wNfe rflitu veticfe 



At first, the road seems 

 quiet and empty. The only 

 sounds are the crunching 

 of gravel and humming of 

 insects. 



But as soon as Kathy 

 Whaley, the refuge's deputy 

 manager, hops out of the vehicle and plays a tape recording 

 of a screech owl, the forest comes alive with a night chorus. 



First, a red wolf howls. Then the whine of the eastern 

 screech owl echoes through the forest. 



"Owls sound off because they are territorial," says 

 Whaley. "I have seen them take over a bald eagle nest. They 

 are very adaptive to nighttime and have large eyes. Their 

 vision is good in thin lighting." 



For almost three hours, Whaley leads visitors down 

 moonlit roads. At one stop, the great homed owl hoots 

 several times. 



"It is fascinating hearing the sounds of the owls," says 

 George Wisneskey of Oriental. "I have heard the screech owl 

 before, but not known what it is." 



OWL LESSON 



To give the group an understanding of owls' eating 

 habits, Whaley shows the tour group a pellet from a great 

 homed owl that is leftover food that an owl can't digest. 

 The pellet looks like a round or oval ball of fur with white 

 bones sticking out. 



"You can see teeth, scull and a foot," says Whaley. 

 "Owls are 100 percent meat eaters. They eat moles and 

 mice." 



One of the last stops is Milltail Lake where the stars 

 reflect on the lake. "The last stop was the best because 

 it was such a beautiful night to see stars," says Barbara 

 Carmen, a visitor from Chapel Hill. 



The owl prowl is one of several field trips to the 

 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) refuge during 

 the 2003 Wings Over Water, a celebration of wildlife and 

 wildlands on the Outer Banks. 



"Normally, the refuge isn't open at night" says 

 Whaley. "This is a unique experience. You get to see and 

 hear things never seen in the daytime. Besides the eastern 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 7 



