My wife had an unfortunate experience with what I believe was a Northern Saw-whet Owl on Friday morning. On the entrance ramp to highway 7 east from Mill Road (or Powers Blvd) she spotted a tiny owl sitting on the side of the ramp. Concerned that it was a fledgling or injured owl, she stopped a short distance away and put her flashers on . She stayed away from it and called me to ask what to do, when someone else stopped, so she said she'd call back. Apparently the man stepped out of his car and walked right over to the owl , which spooked and it flew right into a van on the westbound side of hwy 7, killing it. The man apologized and left, and my wife was distraught. I told her even if she would have tried to shoo it away from the road, it may still have flown into traffic. From her very detailed description, and showing her pictures of our local owls, I believe it was a Northern Saw-whet Owl. The section of hwy 7 where it was hit is not easily accessible to pedestrian traffic, so I haven't looked for it yet to confirm.
On a more positive note, I spotted my FOY Song Sparrow at Rice Marsh Lake in Chanhassen yesterday. We also watched a Red-shouldered Hawk devour a small mammal on a deadfall behind our home yesterday. Paul Worwa Chanhassen ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
