Around 9:50-10:00pm as I was driving south on I-35 in southern Carlton county I saw a bird perched on a snag on the side of the freeway. I could only make out a black silhouette because of the lighting but it appeared to be a crow-sized bird that was relatively slender and had obvious ear tufts. From the brief view I had it appeared that the tufts were closer together on the head than they would be on a Great Horned Owl. If both the Long Eared Owl and the Great Horned Owl were common birds in that county I would certainly chalk the sighting up as a Long Eared Owl because the shape, size, and ear tufts would point me in that direction but of course Long-eared Owls are exceedingly difficult to find in Minnesota in the summer so I want to get ideas on the possibility of that species. Great Horned Owls have been reported twice in the general vicinity in the past on eBird, the last report coming from 2012.
The location was due east of Moosehead Lake, just before the CR-137 exit on the west side of the road in what I guess is Moose Lake State Park. Any thoughts? (I know most people will lean GH Owl but is there even the slightest chance this could be a LE Owl?) Jason Caddy Minneapolis [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
