FromUniversity of Montana Bird Ecology Lab
UMBEL is involved in so many amazing research projects it can be hard to highlight them all! Here is an example of an exciting project we don't talk about nearly enough.
In an effort to understand ecological impacts of forest thinning and fuels management techniques, UMBEL has been conducting long-term monitoring in the Meadow Smith study area near Condon, MT. This has mainly consisted of morning point counts pre- and post -treatment across years. But, after a 2024 pilot season of playback surveys (broadcasting "hoots" from a speaker to elicit a response) revealed the presence of Flammulated Owls on the landscape, UMBEL launched collaborative project with the @charismaticminifaunalab.
Flammulated Owls are North America's second smallest owl (do you know the smallest??). They are migratory, nocturnal, and mainly insectivorous! Previous studies suggest that they prefer mature forest stands with large diameter trees and fairly open understory for breeding. As a species of special concern, it's important to understand how Flammulated Owl are affected by our management strategies.
We deployed 69 ARUs (autonomous recording units) in forest stands with different treatment types to investigate occupancy of Flammulated Owls. These ARUs recorded 5 hours of audio each night, throughout the summer of 2025, they've now all been collected and the massive amount of files generated (over 12,000 hrs!) is being processed and run through an initial Al classifier by Charismatic Minifauna Lab superstar undergrad Anna Derossi. Will we detect any Flams? Will they show a preference for forest treatment type? We'll keep you updated here!!
That’s a lot of audio to go through! I wonder if the AI works similarly to that raspberry pi I have.
Also, is Saw Whet the smallest?
Yes, your BirdNet Pi was exactly what I thought of when I saw this. I'd still like to do one of those sometime. I haven't heard my GHO in a bit, and I wonder if it's just because I'm inside more due to the cold of if they haven't been hanging around as much. I got my feeders up now as well, so it'd be fun to see who all shows up when I'm not around.
As to the smallest, I don't think they're right Flammy is 2nd smallest. Saw Whet is about 2cm taller and 15g heavier than a Flammulated. Elf Owl is out there for at least part of the year and is the smallest anywhere, but I think some of the Pygmy Owls are also out there (Northern and Ferruginous come to mind, possibly more) and I'm pretty sure they are smaller as well, so I'm not sure what technicalities they are including/excluding.
I forgot about Elf and Pygmy owls.
I was excited the other day because Eastern Screech Owl showed up on the report, but I listened to the audio and it was a siren again! I guess it’s not fixed after all. I haven’t heard my GHO in a year or so now. 😢
That's another one! I wonder every now and then if the Screech I released is still around and/or doing well.
Sometimes my GHO goes quiet for an extended time, but I always hear them eventually. Maybe they just found a nice roosting spot a little out of earshot.
I had a ton of my bluejays show up last weekend, though 2 ravens followed them to my peanut stash, which they didn't like. I'm also thinking at least some of the 3 squirrels I released are doing well, as there were 5 or 6 running around also chasing the ravens. They'd grab a nut, which they usually take back to the tree line to eat, but they'd charge the ravens while they were headed for cover anyway. It was very entertaining.