On Monday morning, I saw a bird fly at full speed into the nest box in our yard, outracing an adrenaline-pumped Blue Jay by a fraction of a second. A few hours later, a familiar face at the box window confirmed my hopes - a gray-morph EASTERN SCREECH-OWL had returned, apparently for the first time in six days.
While the owl retired inside the box this afternoon, I searched under its tree and collected 12 pellets. They contained almost all fur and bones from small rodents. I found evidence of only one bird - the upper mandible of what I think was a Dark-eyed Junco. https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114049026073343451957/albums/529196326235 0115713/6126942642927719346?pid=6126942642927719346 <https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114049026073343451957/albums/52919632623 50115713/6126942642927719346?pid=6126942642927719346&oid=1140490260733434519 57> &oid=114049026073343451957 The owl left the box at 7:25 PM. It alternated flaps and short glides to a spruce tree favored all winter as its first evening staging point, about twenty feet from where I stood on our deck. The owl spent several minutes framed by densely needled branches, obscure but entirely in view. At first it seemed mostly intent on preening its feet, or maybe using its talons to comb its face, or both. It then proceeded to groom the rest of itself - belly, back, tail, wings - pausing once for a long trill. It snapped its head and looked around a few times in mid-vocalization. This was the first time I'd ever seen an owl with its mind evidently on something else while calling. In conclusion, the owl clamped its bill onto each wing at the shoulder and, with a deft twisting flourish, swiped the wing's entire leading edge through the bill, like a knife through a grooved sharpener. I suppose that the owl did this to stand up and separate the tiny barbs on each forewing, in preparation for optimally silent flight. After another minute, I barely noticed a silhouette speeding from the tree and dissolving into the darkness without a sound. Mark Chao --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com -- 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/ --
