Mark, Just as I was reading your post, my wife yelled that there was owls in the news on channel 11! So, I stopped reading to go take a look at the story on KARE 11. Now I have a faces to go with a couple of names on the list.
It just seemed strange reading your post and seconds later seeing everything on TV! Steve Estebo Lakeville Quoting "Alt, Mark" <[email protected]>: > > What a day. I was sitting at Cargo Rd between the two tunnels this Am at > 7:45 AM, waiting for Dave Cahlander to show, when I noticed a car stop > down the road. It was twilight, halfway to sunup. It was Dave's car. A > movement caught my eye out of the area in the direction of the 4 huge > antennas (?) in array to the east of the FedEx building. It was a large > Snowy in flight, flapping steadily, making good time, I watched as the > bird veered left, dropping altitude over the de-icing tanks and > disappearing from view to the west. The Owl had flown right over Dave's > car, which prevented him from seeing it. We drove to the de-icing plant, > took care to park out of the way of the work area, set up to scan, being > careful to stay off of the large flat concrete tank containment areas. > I spied a large raptor coming from the direction of the main terminal. > It was in direct flight 75 feet off of the ground heading right for me. > I got my binos on it and saw the evenly patterned body, narrow > moustachial stripe and powerful wing stroke of a Gyrfalcon. This was an > immature grey phase bird. It flew right over me. I yelled to Dave who > was 50 yards away, but he wasn't able to find the bird in the dim > lighting. The bird as it passed right over me and then veered right and > did a shallow stoop towards the ground, then flew to the east at about > 30 feet in height and disappeared out of sight. I scanned to where it > had stooped and after 15 minutes of careful study and improved lighting, > there was the Snowy squatting in a snow patch. I doubt I would have > found it if it had not been targeted by the passing Gyr. > The bird was along the runway about 150 yards distant. It was just after > 8:00 am, 10 minutes after sunrise. This was a very active bird. It > bobbed its head and stretched its neck to peer in every direction. The > head bobbing was usually followed by a short flight, sometimes landing > in the same area. Perhaps the owl could see another snowy that we > couldn't? Perhaps this is normal foraging behavior? This bird moved ten > times in 45 minutes, and actively foraged over an area I would estimate > to be about 400 acres. This is a huge territory for a bird and indicates > why birds are not seen in the same spot every day. They each may be > covering the whole airport every day. > Some Northwest workers told us the best place to find Jackrabbits is > along Hwy 494, in front of the large hangar just north of the Mall of > America. It might be interesting to see what viewing can be done there > and from what vantage point. Several airport workers stopped to view the > bird; they each were delighted to get such a good view. They all told > the same story, they see them all the time all over; they also see many > jackrabbits and many red foxes. This bird was most likely a first year > male, with more markings on the back, head, and breast than the bird I > saw yesterday. The tail could be seen clearly and it is not very heavily > marked at all. The white bib is extensive, going down halfway into the > breast of the bird. The crown of the head is lightly marked, yet there > are two prominent spots on the back of the head that resemble eyes, > reminded me of a giant white Pygmy Owl. Ken Speake and a photographer > from KARE 11 news were on the spot to capture some long range shots of > this great bird. I believe it will run on the 5 and 6 pm news this > evening. Good day, great birds. Good birding to you. > > Mark Alt > Brooklyn Center > Hennepin County > > _______________________________________________ > mou-net mailing list > [email protected] > http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net >
