Since you couldn't see it, could this bird have been a Nighthawk instead? (You didn't mention its size at all, but I know nighthawks have returned to the metro area, and I've seen them hunting that way around light sources elsewhere.) Linda
On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:15 PM, Andrew Birch <[email protected]> wrote: > Tonight at 10:15pm while standing outside my workplace in Pequot Lakes a > large owl caught my eye as it hurled it self off of the cell phone tower in > our parking lot, caught a prey item , and then returned to perch again on > the cross bars of the cell tower. I was able to watch the owl hawking prey > four times. The owl was hunting in this way between the top and second > highest flashing red lights. I would guess the height to be 75-150'. While > I had heard of owls hawking insects I have never seen the behavior firsthand > and I was not aware that they would use a cell tower especially at that > height to aid in their hunting. > > I assume it was hawking large moths and other insects but for the dignity of > the owl I hope it was not hunting those disgusting June Beetles : ) > > As to the identification of the owl - I cannot say definitively. I was > never able to see the bird through my binoculars and the distance was too > great to see field marks with the naked eye as it perched . Oh yeah, and it > was dark - the owl was being lit only by the parking lot lights well below > it. > > Best work break ever! > > Andrew Birch > Blackwater Lake - near Hackensack, MN > -- > MNLEP <http://groups.google.com/group/mnlep> - A list for Butterfly > Enthusiasts in Minnesota > -- > Blackwater Birds <http://blackwaterbirder.blogspot.com/> - My personal > birding / nature blog > -- > "Birding is something that we do for enjoyment; so if you enjoy it, you're a > good birder. If you enjoy it a lot, you're a great birder." - Kenn Kaufman > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
