It is very possible that it had been "hit" or tumbled by a car. I've seen at least 2 instances of birds being hit and sort of stunned by cars, both involving larger birds (Am. Crow and Ring-billed Gull) where the birds were stunned, but were able to recover after a short while. This can happen with window strikes as well, where a bird is stunned but will fly off after a few minutes. I'd say the Owl was very lucky that you stopped and startled it enough to get it to fly off the road....
Bill Baker --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
