Originally published, as part 7 of the Cortes Island Resonance series by the Cortes Community Radio Society.

“The only word I can find to describe that feeling… is gobsmacked,” exclaimed field biologist Sabina Leader Mense. 

She was referring to the moment she heard a Western Screech Owl respond during a call playback survey near Bullock Bluff on Cortes Island. It was nearly midnight, the final station of the night, and her team had conducted over a hundred surveys without a single response. This owl’s call — unmistakable and repeated 12 times — marked the first confirmed sighting since 2017.