I was crisscrossing NW Humboldt County today. First I'll report what I actually saw. Only thing of note were four Snow Buntings observed with a flock of Longspurs west of Colorado Ave. Which leads me to the other part and the motivation for the above's activities.
I am normally unwilling to post this kind of stuff, as it is more or less third hand and unverified at the moment, however, I believe it may be compelling. This morning a friend of mine sent me a message that a local farmer had observed a large (2 foot in length/height) white owl sitting in a fence line and in a field approximately two miles south of Ottosen on Sunday afternoon, all afternoon. Of course I was gone this weekend, I attempted to look for it (hence why I was crisscrossing NW Humboldt County [approximately between Ottosen Potholes to West Bend]) in hopes of finding it either dead or alive (report suggest the individual was acting 'oddly' although that could mean anything from the fact that it was active in the day time to it being actually ill or injured]). I will continue to search but considering the lack of snow on the ground and the relative lack of cover in the area, I believe if the individual was still around that it would be highly visible. Under most circumstances I am skeptical of non-birder reports about non-normal bird identification, but the previous major irruption(s) of owls has lifted the public knowledge of the Snowy Owl (well that and Harry Potter), and the bird is fairly charismatic and there is little that it can be confused with (at least biologically...lots of plastic bags out there...) with only maybe the sub-arctic Great Horned Owl being similar enough to engender confusion, but the diurnal behavior would suggest against a Great Horned Owl. I am hoping that the farmer took pictures as he was quote 'quite impressed with the bird' but I have yet to hear from my contact. Again I have not yet re-found the individual; nor do I hold much hope of doing so after today's rovings around on gravel roads and stopping at ever white sack and crumpled bit of paper in fields. I am hoping to get some kind of validating materials before moving any further on this. If I get pictures from the farmer I will likely make a field report, if I don't I'm going to drop the whole thing, and I apologize for wasting a lot of people's time and or energy. Jacob Newton Ottosen, Humboldt County, IA --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]. Unsubscribe at http://iowabirds.org/Reporting/Listserv.aspx.
