April 09, 2006

Twelve O'Clock And Owl's Well

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Early April means it's time for the annual nocturnal owl survey, a spring ritual my friend Jason and I have done now for five years as part of a Manitoba Conservation study. Survey volunteers are able to choose any number of predetermined ten-mile routes across the province, and from the get-go we've always selected the most rugged and remote one possible: a dark, often hair-raising, ends-of-the-earth stretch of logging road leading from just north of Pine Falls into the gut of Nopiming Provincial Park – a beautiful wilderness I'd visit more often if it was passable for most vehicles. Washouts, washboarded gravel roads and recent overland flooding have made that a truth.


The trip always begins with a rest at the still-frozen Shoe Lake after the two-and-a-half hour drive from the city. We usually dawdle here while it gets dark (the survey begins a half-hour past sundown), and then head to the start of the route a few kilometers away. The route is broken down into one-mile stations with a two-minute listen at each stop. This year was ideal; no wind, a bright moon, temperature about zero. And it paid off, with no less than 14 owls (two long-eared, two barred, two boreal and eight saw-whet owls) heard over 20 stations – our previous high being four. Also heard in the dark were the wing-thumping courtships of ruffed grouse, the overhead whistling of flying ducks, one unknown ground-pawing creature in the bushes and other odd noises that sounded like empty mustard bottles being squeezed.

I love the owl survey. It's always the first chance of the year I get to really disappear from the city and winter, and out in the park and along the routes we're often literally the only people for miles. I love the quiet and the near-creepiness of the deep boreal woods at night, and that it only takes two hours in these parts to truly "get lost".

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top: a lonely stretch of logging road north of Pine Falls, nearing midnight. above (clockwise from top left): a busted CD player meant we were back to the classics; Jason's new GPS unit shines on a particularily bumpy part of the road; the almost-full moon; the still-frozen Shoe Lake at sunset.

9 comments:

Allan Lorde said...

Beautiful photos, dude.

Jeope said...

The big photo is a lot darker here at work than at home where I post these things. Can everybody see it OK?

kgiff said...

The photos are beautiful. And the trip sounds awesome.

lew! said...

yeah the big photo looks great.
what were your settings?

Jeope said...

With a tripod I used the Rebel's time-value mode (I set the shutter speed, in this case 30 seconds, the max allowed under this mode - and the camera sets the aperture). There was also Photoshoppery involved to sharpen and brighten clouds, stars, etc.

Ian said...

sweet night shot! How's the noise?

That's the cool thingabout digital, that shot would have been impossible 5 years ago.

Ian said...

Oh and Miami Vice soundtrack? Jan Hammer? very cool

Jeope said...

Actually, there's a lot of noise in that shot ... hence the Photoshop surgery. Even still, it's prolly best as a web image or something small.

Mrs. Maria said...

It's like a dream J-man! Great photos! Now about the 'miami vice' lol...