Hello all, I stopped at Rothsay WMA on my way home to Fargo today to look for owls. I was not disappointed! I posted up about 3/4 mile east of the junction of 190th and 280th at about 4:00 p.m. Short-eared owls started flying at about 4:15 and were very active by 4:30. I counted 12 owls in the air at one point. As it got too dark for photography, I drove back west on 190th and then north on 280th and added an additional 6 owls. I think 18 is a conservative count of what's actually there. I did capture a candid photo of an owl perched on a NO TRESPASSING sign.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patsphotos/ Also present: 2 Northern Harriers 4 Rough-legged Hawks (no dark morphs) 3 American Kestrels 2 Greater Prairie-Chickens 1 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 American Tree Sparrow About 100 Red-winged Blackbirds. Some excitement on the prairie this evening. I was wathcing a harrier gliding over the grass when two prairie-chickens flushed up in front of the harrier. The harrier had no sooner made a half-hearted pass at one of the chickens when a short-eared owl came swooping in and harried the harrier for about a 1/4 mile. I love these little nature dramas! Good Birding! Pat Patrick Beauzay Department of Entomology 217 Hultz Hall, Bolley Drive North Dakota State University Fargo, ND 58105 701-231-9491 [email protected] http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/entomology/ http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/beauzay/tigerbeetles/index.htm http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/beauzay/Mounting_Chalcidoidea/Chalcmount.htm
