Hi Elijah, If you head to my site under "New Images" you will see I captured some of the fighting. My wife and I had observed at least 4 separate instances.
Ron Green http://www.greensphotoimages.com/gallery ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elijah Parker" <[email protected]> To: "MOU Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 1:57 PM Subject: [mou] 3/9 Aitkin Co -- interesting owl behavior -- 2nd try > I have no idea why the first came through empty -- but here it is again... > > I took my first trip to Aitkin Co yesterday. It was very fulfilling -- while > I missed all the good Great Gray photos I was hoping for, I found the Boreal > Owl where previously mentioned -- the north side of 210 in the jack pines > just west of 62. I found it actively hunting at 2:30 and continued hunting > until about 3, when I left it. A good place to park it off to the right just > after turning on to 62. When I came back to check on it after warming up > (around 3:30, I think), there were several cars parked by it and as I was > leaving, a hwy patrol pulled up along them with his lights on. Does anyone > who was there know what the problem was? Parking on 210 (no shoulders) > maybe? I'm curious to know what to avoid! > > One of the hightlights was observing some very interesting GGOW behavior. In > what I assume was "owl field" (a field on the south side of CR 4 with lots of > owls), I was watching one particular owl (there were 5 present), when another > came and perched about 20 feet away and began making soft yet authoritative > cooing sounds. After some time, it left with no further interaction. Later, > I observed an owl make a catch in the field. While I was watching it in my > camera (too far away for a good shot), suddenly without warning another > great gray attacked it! The first (the one with the vole), met the attacker > mid-air upside-down! The first fared well, and the attacker left it. > Unfortunately, my pictures of this event are very poor, small and out of > focus, but I'm attaching them anyway. I assume that this is not common > behavior. Has anyone else witnessed such a thing? > > Here are the photos: > http://www.elijahparker.com/temp/owls1.jpg > http://www.elijahparker.com/temp/owls2.jpg > http://www.elijahparker.com/temp/owls3.jpg > > Also, it's a late report, but I went to Sax-Zim last Sat, and had an > impressive list of 27 species, including the Northern Three-toed (in the > woodpecker spot on McDavitt) and a Magpie. Also of note were Red Crossbills > and Evening Grosbeaks. > > I'll post again when I have the photos online. I got some great ones of the > Three-toed! > > Elijah Parker > St Paul, MN > http://www.elijahparker.com > _______________________________________________ > mou-net mailing list > [email protected] > http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net >
