All of the sightings that I experienced over the years in northern St. Louis County were in summer in either early morning or evening dusk. I don't know much about the species breeding range in the state, but if they breed in Carlton County, then they could very likely be extending hunting hours beyond nocturnal I the interest of feeding young. Your description and seemingly initial impression that it did not look like a great horned owl is probably to be trusted. It's an exciting experience to find one. And it may continue to hunt that same area when there is enough light for you to see it again. On Jun 19, 2016 12:56 AM, "Jason Caddy" <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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 > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
