I have gotten several responses from my request for the owl ID help and I thank everyone for their input. It seems that most people think that a Long-eared Owl is possible in this situation and some have seen them in nearby areas. I did some research into it myself and here is what I came up with:
The Long-eared Owl is usually a strictly nocturnal hunter that needs areas of dense woods and, usually, some sort of open area nearby for hunting. I checked Google maps and found the area to be suitable habitat for this species since there is ample woodlands and several open areas nearby, including very near where I saw the bird. There are some circumstances where Long-eared Owls will hunt in the day, such as Finland in the summertime. I saw this bird relatively late at night during the time of year with the least darkness so it is possible a Long-eared Owl could hunt under these circumstances although they hunt more like a Short-eared Owl and not the sit-and-wait approach that is taken by the Great Horned Owl. >From a visual identification standpoint I would lean towards a Long-eared Owl. >This bird looked small and slender with ear tufts near the top of the head. I >initially thought it was a crow and then it turned its head and I saw the >obvious ear tufts and the owl-like head. I have seen Great Horned Owls several >times under similar circumstances and I think I would have identified this >bird right away as a Great Horned Owl had the dimensions and profile been >right. The problem is that I only saw a silhouette and I suppose your eyes may >play tricks on you in that situation. I checked silhouette images of both >Great Horned and Long-eared Owls and, generally, the Great Horned Owl looks >more bulky and has ear tufts that are flopped to the side of the head. Windy >conditions could make the ear tufts of a Great Horned Owl appear more upright >but I know that last night it was still in this area. Even with all of these signs that seem to point to Long-eared Owl I cannot be completely sure of the identification with such a brief view. With the Great Horned Owl being more typical in such a circumstance and probably somewhat more common in the area I can only give this sighting a 60%ish likelihood of being a Long-eared Owl. Either way it was cool to see! Good Birding, 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
