I didn't see anyone with a camera out during the aerial show, and I didn't check out the other bird as closely as I should have. I did note that it appeared uniformly dark, but while flying I could see stripes under the tail. The breast may have been dark too. I don't recall noting a contrast. The bird had a slender look and was about the size of a peregrine, but that's a rough guess.
I'd better correct my original note: The towers are radio towers, not ratio towers. When the hawk few away, it was the owl, not the hawk, that flew to the north-most light pole. The show happened a little after noon... maybe from about 12:15 to 12:45. Alt, Mark wrote: >Can you ID the hawk? Did anyone take pictures? > >________________________________ > >From: [email protected] on behalf of John Kaplan >Sent: Sat 1/7/2006 2:23 PM >To: mou >Subject: [mou] MSP Snowy Owl > > > >A male snowy put on a spectacular show for a few of us on Cargo Road >just north of the glycol station and across from the 4 ratio antenna >tower. He stayed near or on the perimeter fence west of the road. A >hawk, that no one there identified, was on the fence nearby. Every few >minutes, the owl would chase the hawk away with the two going through >beautiful maneuvers. Then the owl would return to the fence with the >hawk following. They landed fairly close together ready to repeat the >chase. It looked like a game of tag. > >Eventually the hawk few away to the west. That time the hawk landed on >top of the north-most light post, where Cargo Road makes a right turn. > >A passing aircraft may have spooked the owl. He flew to the ground near >where the show began. He stayed near the intersection of the perimeter >fence and the glycol station's fence. > >Not seeming to like the company of a photographer who approached him, >the owl few south. He appeared to have landed in a depression parallel >to the runway and out of our sight. I expect to see some good photos on >the web. The photographer, with his rather long lens, must have gotten >as close as 20' from the owl. > >During the show, two police cars stopped. One of the officers had >binoculars; I lent mine to the other. They were as excited as the rest >of us. > > >John > >_______________________________________________ >mou-net mailing list >[email protected] >http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net > > > > > > >
