I am excited to find Western Screech Owl habitat just across the lake from my home. The first thing to discover is if Screech Owls are present. So, the easiest method is to use a speaker to broadcast Screech Owl calls along a set path and consistent distances apart to see and monitor any Screech Owls that respond.
I forget that I’m 40 years away from the technology I used in my first study. I used a cassette tape player to broadcast calls in 1981. After reviewing several recent published studies, it appears that predator call speakers are used these days, and the sound level produced should be 90 to 100 decibels. Unfortunately, the predator calls these days use their own proprietary calls and users cannot upload their own calls as in the past.
But, through Internet “research” I found a YouTube post where a guy made his own predator call speaker system for only 50 dollars, five plus years ago. I built the system above and it was a little more expensive, around 120 dollars: the speaker was 25 instead of his 5, the blue tooth amplifier as 30 instead of 15, and I bought the 25 dollar battery pack instead of the 5 dollar AA battery pack used by the YouTube author (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdljQDBJ58Y).
Unfortunately, my system is not very loud. So, I figured I had to end up purchasing an off brand predator call, one that would allow me to upload Screech Owl Calls.
And then technology found me. The speaker above is under $100, produces 105 dB, and is waterproof, perfect for field studies. So, I have ordered one of these, and now have a DIY speaker system, useless to me, to go along with it.
Evidently, I’m not such a good Internet researcher as I thought.
Yay!?
Tight Lines