Since I had previously looked for (and failed to find) Snowy Owls that Ron Erpelding had reported 3-4 weeks ago, I followed up on Herb Dingmann's recent report (see below) of finding Snowy Owls (two of which were in locations where Ron had found them).
In Pope County I found an adult on the north side of 110th St 0.5mile east of CR33 (same spot where Ron and Herb reported birds). As I was leaving the area I headed south on CR33 and found a second bird (immature) on a power pole right across from a poultry farm. Seeing 2 made up for whiffing on them the last time I was in the area. In Chippewa County I was able to re-find the owl in the same place Herb had it (so far away it was barely noticeable with binoculars -great spotting Herb). I searched long and hard for the owl at the spot in Yellow Medicine where Ron and then Herb had found it. It was 6pm and getting fairly dark and I was about ready to leave the area but decided to make one more loop to the west of the original sightings. I was rewarded with a great close-up look at an adult Snowy Owl on 480th St 0.5mile south of 260th St. It was on the power poles right next to a small bridge. I was not able to re-find the owl in Swift County in spite of a long search. I plan to revisit the area again tomorrow. Thanks to Ron and Herb for great sightings and for the reports posted to MOUnet/MOUdatabase. Bob Ekblad Olmsted County in SE Minnesota http://www.Birding-Minnesota.com Subject: Snowy Owls in Pope, Swift, Chippewa, & Yellow Medicine Date: Sun Feb 9 2014 20:32 pm From: herbdingmann AT charter.net To re-use a phrase I used a month or so ago, I had a fairly successful day searching for Snowy Owls today. Early this afternoon, I relocated the Snowy that Ron Erpelding had reported on February 2nd from NE Pope County. The owl was in exactly the same location as it had been when Ron found it - on 110th St. 1/2 mile east of CR33 about 50 yards off the road on the south side. Around 3:20 in the afternoon, I found a Snowy Owl in Swift County along 110th Ave SE (CR85) which is north of Murdock. It was 0.2 miles south of 30th St SE (CR16), and on the ground about 300 yards to the west. While I was writing down the location, the owl departed and I did not see in what direction it went. Shortly after 5:00, I found a Snowy Owl in western Chippewa County 0.6 miles east of CR6 along 10 St. NW. This owl was sitting alongside of a drainage ditch about 300 yards to the north side of the road. Please note that there is a 10 St. SW two miles to the south, and the street signs on both simply say 10 St., so check your maps. Finally, at 6:00 I relocated a Snowy Owl in Yellow Medicine County that Ron Erpelding had reported a month ago. This is on 260th Ave. 0.3 miles west of 500th St. The Owl was on the ground about 200 yards to the south. Herb Dingmann St. Cloud ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
