Short-eared owls: I hadn’t seen this species since the 90s when it was regularly seen at a field near the Triangle diner in King Ferry, so I took the drive up to Scofield and was rewarded with great, almost too-good-to-be-true looks, yesterday at two different individuals. I approached from 34B, then headed east on Buck rd. As I got close to the T-intersection with Scofield, I didn’t see anything flying though I did see two other cars parked on the shoulder. As I turned onto and headed south on Scofield, I noticed a smallish bird perched atop a bush just off the east shoulder. Surely this couldn’t be one I figured – it seemed to be smaller than a crow and more in line with the size of a large cardinal or bluejay but it didn’t resolve into either. As I slowly drove by so as not to spook, I got face-to-face looks at the bird – obviously an SE Owl. It had noticeably dark face disks per the Peterson guide. Remarkable. At the same time, another bird came swooping by from out of nowhere and began to fly at about the same speed and parallel with my car – its flight was a bit wobbly or undulating, so I could see it’s light underside. Wow – and I thought I got there too late. It was about 5:20.
good birding, Dave ------------------------------- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
