Last week I received some astounding news! A Boreal Owl was spotted and photographed at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains! I viewed the photo and it is indeed an adult Boreal Owl. This observation is very significant as I’ll explain.
In all of the owl surveys I, and others have done in south central Colorado and New Mexico, the Colorado Sangres have been a gap in our data. Dan Bridges looked for them in the mountains near San Luis but was unsuccessful in finding them. Years ago, Dale Stahlecker and I documented the first Boreals in the Wheeler Peak Wilderness, which is in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. Well, with owls there, we have postulated for decades now that they should be present, and likely breeders, in the Sangres of Colorado, from near San Luis (Culebra Range) to Poncha Pass. My own attempts to find them in the Sangres on a number of surveys have been unsuccessful. Deep snows, remoteness, and dangers of stumbling around there at night were all the obstacles. So this bird may suggest that they breed in the Sangres. Boreal Owls are known to migrate elevationally in some years. This bird may have done just that and came out of the high spruce forests of the Sangres. If so, then the next step is to find them during breeding season, which starts now, or somehow find young later in the year. The bird is no longer being seen where it was found. Overall though, exciting news for owl enthusiasts and another piece of the puzzle! John Rawinski Monte Vista, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
