After years of searching, I finally discovered the secret to finding a northern pygmy-owl in Colorado: I stopped looking for it. While loading up the car today at 9 a.m. after a nice visit with friends near Salida, I heard poot-ing, then saw the bird, atop a Ponderosa in a snowy gully at 8,000 feet filled with a mix of aspen, spruce, and pines.
Over the years, I have tried but failed to see a non-staked-out northern pygmy-owl near Dolores, Pagosa Springs, Montrose, Aspen, and Fraser. The northern pygmy-owl now joins the white-tailed ptarmigan atop my list of Colorado birds that are easiest to find when I'm not specifically looking for them. Next time I want to find a northern pygmy-owl, I will throw a suitcase into the car, slam shut the trunk, and wait for the bird to call back. If anyone wants to see the limits of a Canon SX-50 at 1200mm on a backlit subject with about a 1/32 crop, a pic is linked below. This bird is so magical that it displays a vivid blue halo. http://s873.photobucket.com/user/mobmascik/media/Moab%20scan/Northernpygmy-owlbest1of1_zpse51cade0.jpg.html?filters[user]=107152405&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1 Good birding, Mark Obmascik Denver, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/1392673976.64289.YahooMailNeo%40web142805.mail.bf1.yahoo.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.