As someone who suffers from frequent insomnia, I often wonder why I chose a hobby that requires waking up so early in the morning. While going out at 4 or 4:30 am in search of owls is a not-infrequent occurrence, my excursion to find the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl at 1:30 am, makes those other owl-seeking adventures pale in comparison.
How We Got Here
A few months ago I noticed a comment on one of my educational TikTok videos from someone named Pablo Siles inviting me to go looking for the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl with him. I’ve been fortunate to receive many such offers in response to my educational videos, and I really appreciate them. Usually, they don’t work out for a variety of reasons, but this caught my attention. Once I chatted with Pablo, I realized how fortuitous of an invitation it was. Pablo is one of the founding members of the “Unspotted Saw-whet Owl Project“. Pablo, together with biologists Ernesto Carman and Paz Irola, monitor the population of the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl in Costa Rica by banding the birds and monitoring their nesting behavior.
USWO
Often referred to as the USWO for brevity’s sake, the Unspotted Saw-Whet Owl is perhaps the most unusual of Costa Rica’s 15-18 owl species (three of the eighteen species are considered accidental). It was first described from a specimen taken in Costa Rica in 1903. One of the greatest challenges in finding it is that it only lives on the highest of mountain peaks, above 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). That limits its range in Costa Rica, and across its entire sporadic range in Central America, to a few isolated mountainous areas. Note its elevational distribution on this chart, as the rightmost entry:
The USWO is one of only three owls, together with the endemic Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl and Bare-Shanked Screech-Owl, to be found at over 3,000 meters (9,900 feet) of elevation. And unlike the other two, it doesn’t venture lower down the mountains. Another peculiarity of the USWO is that it doesn’t have a matching species at lower elevations. For example, the Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl is replaced by the Central American (Caribbean side) and Ferruginous (Pacific side) Pygmy-Owls. Likewise, there are at least four other species of Screech Owls in Costa Rica that can be found at different elevations.
Alarm: 1:30 am
In defense of my sanity (not that there is much of one) we originally were planning to go out around 6 pm on Saturday to look for the USWO. I had worked it into a larger five-day trip through the highlands with my visiting grandfather. Then came a hitch. Pablo had to travel for work and wouldn’t be returning to Costa Rica until Saturday afternoon. So in an effort to not cancel on me, he said how about if we go out around 2 am after I rest up a bit? I’m always game for unusual adventures (there goes the sanity defense) and surprisingly my wife Nancy was also begrudgingly up for it on the basis that the owl is “so cute”.
On Saturday afternoon, we got checked in to our lodging thirty minutes downslope from the entrance to Irazú National Park and attempted to get a bit of shut-eye before our alarms went off for a 1:45 am departure to go looking for the USWO.
The Search
The crisp, dry air at 1:30 am was a refreshing way to wake up. We were treated to a great view of Cartago and San José from outside the hotel while we waited to meet up with Pablo.
Our first stop was on a private farm that collaborates with the USWO project. That’s also where the optimism for finding the owls took its first hit. Pablo explained that the owls really seem to hate fog. They don’t mind the rain so much, but they hate fog. Combined with some wind and they prefer to just sit tight. As we trekked along the farm’s access road the only sound to be heard (besides the wind) was the occasional whistle from Pablo.
The mountains here in Costa Rica have their own micro-climates that vary dramatically over short distances. When we arrived at the entrance to Irazú National Park, our spirits were bolstered by the better weather. And our optimism was promptly rewarded when an Unspotted Saw-whet Owl started calling nearby! We attempted to hone in on it but it apparently was not up for an encore.
As we descended the volcano through another farm that collaborates with the USWO project the weather started to take a turn for the worse again. Although before it did I was able to grab a few shots of the volcano. I figured at least if I didn’t get to photograph any owls I could at least have a few good photos from the excursion.
Hiking at over 11,000 feet above sea level is taxing. We worked our way up and down the slope, at times in freshly tilled soil. The cool, dry air combined with the pliant soil underfoot made me feel almost like I was on a snow-covered mountain. Almost as if reading my mind, Pablo said out loud that he imagined this is what walking on snow must feel like. At about that same time Nancy and I think we heard another USWO. I was glad about that as I didn’t really hear it the first time as I was busy setting up my camera for the video version documenting the adventure.
Calling it a Morning
As we were returning to the car we spotted our first diurnal bird, an early-rising Sooty Thrush. Right after we were finally able to see our first nocturnal bird. We had heard two or three Dusky Nightjars, but this was the first (and only) we managed to spot.
We gave it one more go heading back down the volcano to see if the weather had changed down below. It hadn’t. So we ended our quest for the owl and departed from Pablo. If you’re already awake at 5:30 am, why not take advantage and go out to catch the best birding of the day? So off we went again, wandering after more birds.
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