Maeve,
I've done most of my owling for Christmas Bird Counts.  When listening for
screech owls I let the tape cycle through three repetitions of the birds
call before stopping to listen.  The amount of listening versus playing that
I do depends somewhat on my gut feeling about whether a particular habitat
will have owls in it or not.  I do try to play the tapes from somewhere near
a conceivable perch, but I don't know how important that is.  I've had the
most success closer to dawn (haven't tried dusk much), but have heard owls
through the night.
I also have to agree with Rich, they're pretty unpredictable.  This past CBC
I was playing the tape for a screech owl with no success.  When I went to do
a three point turn, my headlights hit upon a saw-whet in a tangle of grape
vines.  Apparently the bird had flown in silently to check out the noise.

Mike Winslow
Vergennes

Date:    Tue, 18 Jan 2005 08:12:46 EST
From:    -  Maeve Kim <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: help needed with VBBA owls

Hi, all - I can't believe there aren't owls in my VBBA block, which has a
nicely diverse mixture of small town, developed rural areas, woods,
wetlands,
fields and meadows -   but several trips at various times of year with the
VBBA
tape have yielded nothing in the way of response. I've gone out at night in
March and April and once in December. (The December trip wasn't in the prime
owl-hooting time, but I decided to give it a try.) I've followed the VBBA
protocol
but I'm wondering if the owls need more time between humans walking around
and the beginning of the taped noises. Do successful owl prowlers hide in
blinds? crouch in the undergrowth? Are the owls more likely to   respond at
either
end of the night rather than at the darkest times, or vice versa?

I did get a surprising and exciting screech owl response right from a tree
in
my own back yard,   by the way,   when I was testing the tape levels before
leaving for one of my trips!

Thanks in advance for any advice - Maeve Kim, Jericho Center