Library of The College of St. Scholastica: Home

No. 138

Thanks to the keen eye of Biology Professor Dr. Pam Freeman, the Library was able to add its 138th species The Catalog of Birds. 

SAW-WHET OWL
Cryptoglaux acadica - 2024
This species is similar to the preceding [Richardson’s Owl], but is smaller and more of a brownish color all over. It has no ear tufts. They are very quiet little birds, nocturnal in their habits, and cannot see well in the strong light, a fact that has allowed them to be captured by hand from their roosting places in the trees.

Nest. They will usually select the hole of a woodpecker, in which to lay their four white eggs. Their eggs are laid and the young are hatched and out of the nests before the breeding time for woodpeckers, so that the same home may be occupied later by another family.

Text form Reed, Chester. Birds of Eastern North America, 1895.

Image: "Saw-Whet Owls." Stained glass by Jeffrey Russell, from MN Volunteer Magazine.

No. 137

The Vesper Sparrow seems like the right bird to be seen behind a monastery. Librarian Brad Snelling bagged this liturgical crooner with a combination of old fashioned patience and a new fashioned phone app, Merlin, from the Cornell Ornithology Lab!

"The name Vesper Sparrow is given this bird because of its habit of tuning up along towards evening; it is perhaps more often known as the "Bay-winged Sparrow" or "Grass Finch." they are found chiefly in dry pastures or along dusty roadsides, where they start from the ground in front of us, their white tail feathers showing prominently as they fly, so there will be no mistake as to their identity."

Song. - A clear, ascending series of whistles, given from a fence post or bush top; call, a sharp chip."

Text & image from: Chapman, Frank. Bird Life: A Guide to the Study of our Common Birds. 1919.