As reported by Ken Pals, the owls were present along Buckeye Road (CR82) this
evening in the same general area as yesterday, although not all that visible
until it was nearly dark. The poles they flew up to at around 5:50pm are on
the south side of the road near the 1599 mailbox (which is 4.2 miles west of
I-25). Myself, Kevin Keirn, Mary & Tom France were all positioned about 0.3
miles east of that location starting at 4pm. Only when we were leaving did
Mary and Tom spot the birds near the 1599 box on the wires.
With a whole two nights experience to go on, I would say the entire stretch
from the turn-off to the Rawhide Power Plant/dam/visitor overlook west to
mailbox 1599 (a span of 1.1 miles) is within the owls activity circle. Other
than perching on the metal fence posts on the north side of the road, the
entirety of their other activity has been south of the road. Intestingly,
north of the road is grazed (by bison), south of the road is tall, unidentified
grass (some kind of wheatgrass?). I guess we know which habitat is favored by
voles.
On calm, sunny days, it appears there isn't much sense looking for the owls
prior to 5:15-5:30pm. On calm, overcast days, maybe the owls get active a bit
earlier. On windy days, regardless of cloud cover, based on my experience with
the Wellington SWA site, the owls don't appear to hunt much.
CR82 is pretty busy in the evening (especially with e to w traffic) and wise
owl hunters are advised to pull off the pavement onto the berm lane (snow not
all that deep).
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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