Owliday

I had an amazing "owliday" yesterday.  I saw three owls!

There had been reports of a short-eared owl in the area and so I thought I'd see if I could catch a glance.  As I arrived at the entrance to the site, I asked a woman with a big camera lens walking along the road if she'd seen the owl.  She pointed right in front of us, in the upper limbs of a tall tree!  I immediately pulled over and hopped out of the car, but as I turned around, it had flown off.  But I had seen it!  Inspired, I pulled into the park, where about 10 other birders cum cameras were.  And sure enough, the owl was hunting all along the meadows, back and forth.  Beautiful.  I watched for a long time, not even pulling out Mama's camera, which she had sent with me when I said I was going owling. I did finally pull out her fancy digital SLR but wasn't sure if I were getting any good pics.  Using what my dad calls the "shotgun approach," I took many and a few are even in focus!  It was amazing to see her (the others called it a her, though no one was sure) swoop and soar back and forth. A life bird!  (Meaning it's my first time to see one.)

I love this photo, even though it's out of focus.

The other photographers told me that there was a Snowy visible from the parking lot in a nearby park.  So, when the Short-eared Owl seemed to find lunch and disappear into the grasses, I left to look for the Snowy.

She wasn't in a tree near the parking lot, but she was out on the ice, indicated by the 10+ people with cameras and scopes looking in one direction.  There was even a film crew.

Can you see her?

We're pretty sure it's a "she" based on the amount of flecking, though young males have flecking too.

Can you see her now?  Yep, Snowy's camoflauge works well.

She sat on that ice shelf for quite awhile because she knew her lunch was under there.  The other birders told me that there was a clapper rail under the ledge and that she'd already tried once to get it. Now she was waiting it out.

And waiting.  And waiting.

And we were waiting.

Utnil she swooped down from the ledge and lunged into the crevice.  We even heard her cry out a few times!

And she got it!  Everyone was amazed.  The longtime and professional birders said it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight.  And the film crew captured it for their documentary (they said they'll put the footage out soon.)  It really was amazing, even if it was a bit sobering to think the clapper rail had been alive a minute before.  The cycle of life is not always beautiful, even if it still looks pretty in these photos.

Eating her lunch.

One of the birders let me take some photos through his great Swarovski monoscope with my cellphone. Wow.
(I laughed that I put that scope on my Christmas list but I must not have been a good enough girl!)

We stood and watched a long time, hoping she'd actually finish and fly off.  But she waited . . . and outwaited me.

There was actually another Snowy--more white, probably a male--about a mile off and visible only with that lovely Swarovski scope.  Three owls.  I saw three owls yesterday!

I smiled the whole rest of the day, especially once Mama helped me see the photos I took and when I could tell the kids and Gommie and Pop about it.

OWLS!!!!

The Owl and the Pussycat: A Tale of Two Animals

As you know, it is owling season for me here along the Connecticut coast, especially now since a Snowy was spotted nearby.  Last week, I went to a state park to look for the Snowy, walking up and down the boardwalk, checking the marshes where it had been photographed the day before.  No luck. And then I spotted a group of photographers in a distant parking lot, so I hightailed it across the beach, past a display of Kindness Rocks and several rock art formations ("Hi," "God," and a heart.)  There were four or five photographers and birders with binoculars, some standing on the bed of a pickup; they were all focused not on the beach but on the brush behind.

I whispered, "Good morning!  What are we looking at?  The Snowy?"

No, and they pointed into the brush.  It was an animal.  They were so excited.

I looked; I saw it.  "That animal at 11 o'clock?" I asked.  Yep.

"It's a bobcat," they said.

I raised my binoculars again and studied it again.  "Um, that's a marmalade tabby cat.  Not a bobcat."  They continued to stare, partly in disbelief, until one of the other photographers confirmed:  housecat.

I guess birders don't know bobcats.  I laughed all the way home.

I try not to get disappointed when I go looking, unsuccessfully, for the Snowy.  To paraphrase my dad, "A bad day birding is better than a good day doing chores and errands."  I try to think of it as a nice walk outside, but I can't help but be a little disappointed when I don't spot one, especially when it has been in the area.

And so, yesterday, when I saw that someone had posted about the Snowy being spotted that very morning, I headed out.  Mama was home with a head cold but decided to go with me.  And brought her camera.

I know you know from the pictures already posted how this turns out, but let me tell you the whole story.

We wandered for more than an hour.  First where the bird had been spotted; we checked with a gentleman who was also birding but he hadn't seen it.  Then we checked along the beaches, heading to the nearby point.  We talked to another birder there who hadn't seen Snowy either.  Sigh.  And so we decided to go home the way we came, via the marsh, for one last look.

That's when I saw her (probably her, or a juvenile, because of all the black flecks.)  By happenstance, I looked over the passenger's side at just the right moment and saw the owl on the ground.  Mama saw a blur and we rushed to find a place to turn around.  I figure I made more than a few moving violations, but there were few people around at midday.  We pulled up across from where I saw the owl and I encouraged Mama with the big camera to hop out; she insisted I get out, and so I did, running across the still-empty road.  And I just stood there, watching it.

The bird was about 20 feet away, on the ground in the brush near a canal--and a no trespassing sign!  It sat there--all thick and fluffy--just looking around, at me, at some of the passing cars, at who knows what.  I didn't want to stress or flush the owl, and so I didn't go any closer, stood still on my spot.  She was very white with many contrasting flecks.  Very puffy, too.  So still, except for moving her head (easily more than 180 degrees, but not the mythic 360) and squinting and then opening her eyes.

And before Mama could get back to our spot, the gentleman birder from the beach drove by!  He parked (illegally--I wasn't the only one making questionable maneuvers) and stood still watching and photographing, too.  We were just amazed at her beauty and quiet.

Mama returned and parked in front of him, deciding it was worth the cost of a parking ticket.  And then she took those gorgeous photos with her fancy camera.  The other birder left and Mama and I stayed to marvel.  The owl just kept her place.  And while we would have loved to stay until she flew off, we a). didn't want to scare her, b). had to get Mama to her doctor's appointment, and c). didn't want to cause traffic problems.

This is my favorite of Mama's photos.

I was in awe and joyful the rest of the day.  WE SAW A SNOWY OWL IN THE WILD!!!!  No binoculars necessary.  Complete luck.  I've been looking for a Snowy off and on for three years--and yes, we did see one last year (the kids and I) about 300 yards off in the marsh.  But this sighting was so much more amazing.  And I was glad Mama was with me (she hadn't seen it last year.)

Just a little bit of magic on a wintry day.

My Bird List--UPDATED

My Selected Checklist of Raptors et al I've Seen in the Wild (does not, therefore, include falconry shows, raptor rescue organizations, etc.) 

2018
1/11/18, point: Short-eared owl; marsh: 2 Snowy Owls (one attacking clapper rail), Iceland Gull
1/8/18, hospice: Bald eagle (eating lunch on ice)

2017
12/22/17, point:  Northern Harrier
12/6/17, airport: Snowy Owl
12/3/17, beach:  SNOWY OWL!!!!
11/28/17, highway: 1 bald eagle overhead
week of 8/13:  Hog Island, Muscungus Bay, Maine:  bald eagle, loon, cormorant, eider, surf scoter, white-winged scoter black guillemot, common tern, ruby-crested kinglet, American goldfinch, chickadee, puffin, sand piper, laughing gull, herring gull, ruby-throated hummingbird, blue jay.

2016
12/14/16, marsh:  SNOWY OWL!!!!!
12/4/16:  river:  Bald Eagle diving in river and rising out again
9/16/16, park:  5 turkey vultures, osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Monk Parakeets
9/15/16, park:  juvenile Bald Eagle, osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Monk Parakeets, European starlings
9/12/16, park:  ospreys (one with a fish!), accipiters, Red-tailed Hawk, Monk Parakeets
9/10/16, park:  5 turkey vultures, ospreys, accipiters, Monk Parakeets
8/28/16, Greenwich hawk watch:  turkey vultures, accipiters playing with vultures,
4/21/16, historic house:  Northern Harrier
4/16/16, Canton CT "owl prowl":  Barred Owl in a tree; heard lots of calls later
2/29/16, point:  Snow Buntings, 2 American Tree Sparrows
2/29/16, marsh:  Mute Swan
2/22/16, marsh:  Snowy Owl on a log about 300 yards out


2015
10/2/15, backyard:  accipiter going after squirrel
2/16/15, river:  Bald Eagle
2/3/15, tree near sidewalk: Red-Tail Hawk


Before 2015
11/15/14, BI:  3 Saw Whet Owls (Nature Conservancy tagging); Northern Harrier along the beach
10/14/09, side of the road in Texas at night:  Barn Owl

MNEMONICS

Northern Cardinal--birdie-birdie-birdie or cheer-cheer-cheer

White throated sparrow--Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody

Nashville Warbler--see-bit-see-bit-see-bit-see-see-see-see

Common Loon--who-who-ha-ha-ha

Blue Jay--jeer

RWBB--kon-ka-ree

Song sparrow--note, note, trillllllll, note  (field sparrow also has trillllll--bouncing ball coming to a stop)

American Robin--cheerily, cheerily, cheer up

Chipping Sparrow--trill

Mountain chickadee--chick-a-dee dee dee

Common Yellowthroat--whichety-whichety-whichety

Blue-winged warbler--bee buzz

Indigo Bunting--what? what? where? where? see it? see it?

NORTHEAST:

American goldfinch--potato chip, tee-yee

American robin--cheerily, cheer up, cheer up

Blue Jay--jeer!

Eastern Phoebe--fee-be

Gray Catbird--chek chek (but doesn't usually repeat)

Indigo Bunting--what? what? where? where? see it? see it?

Mourning Dove--coo-OO-oo

Red-bellied Woodpecker--kwirr, kwirr or cha cha

White-throated sparrow--Old Sam Peabody or Oh sweet Canada

Yellow Warbler--sweet sweet sweet I'm so sweet


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FIELD MARKS--Common Easter birds:

• American Crow: all black
• American Goldfinch:  black and yellow bird; short bill and black cap
• American Robin: grey-brown with orange underparts and dark head
• American Tree Sparrow:  rusty cap and eyeline; overall, rusty brown
• Baltimore Oriole: dark head, orange underparts, white stripe on wing
• Black-capped Chickadee: white cheeks with black cap and nape, grey wings
• Blue Jay: strikingly blue, black and white with crest
• Brewer's blackbird: yellow eye but all black otherwise
• Brown-headed cowbird: females are all brown; males have black bodies
• Carolina chickadee: black cap and nib with white cheek
• Carolina Wren:  tail cocks upwards
• Chipping Sparrow: black line through the eye with rusty crown
• Common Grackle: iridescent head and long beak
• Common Ground Dove: sandy brown doves with round wings
• Common Raven:  massive and entirely black
• Common Redpoll:  streaky brown feathers, black feathers around yellow bill, red forehead patch
• Cooper's Hawk: 
• Dark-eyed junco: pink bill, black body and white underbelly
• Downy woodpecker: only small red patch on males, small beaks comparatively
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• European starling: splotches, yellow beaks, black or iridescent
• Evening Grosbeak: yellow and black with white wing patch, dark head with yellow eyebrow
• Field Sparrow: white eyering, reddish cap and reddish line from eye
• Fox Sparrow: overall rust with splotchy chest, some grey on head
• Hairy Woodpecker: checkerboard wings, two white stripes on head, male red patch on head
• House Finch: streaky brown and black body and tail, red face and breast for male
• House Sparrow: chunky shape
• Mourning Dove: small head, pointed tail, black mark on cheek
• Northern Cardinal
• Northern Flicker:  brownish with white rump patch
• Pileated Woodpecker: big red crest, large birds, black and white striped face
• Pine Siskin: streaky birds with subtle yellow tails (notched)
• Pine Warblers: yellowish birds with olive backs, two white wingbars
• Purple Finch: male has pink-red head and breast; streaky breasts, dark throat line
• Red-bellied Woodpecker: red cap, pale-ish overall
• Red-breasted nuthatch: black cap and stripe with strong white eyebrow; rusty bellies
• Red-headed Woodpecker: red head, white breast and wing patch
• Red-winged blackbird: red patch on males; females are strikingly striped
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak: males have red chevron; females are brown streaked with white eyebrow
• Sharp-shinned Hawk:  rounded wings
• Song sparrow: streaky brown and white, some grey on heads
• Tufted Titmouse: grey crest and stout bill, peach on flanks, black forehead
• White-breasted nuthatch: black cap and frosty face and underparts
• White-crowned sparrow:  very bold black and white head stripes, otherwise pale grey
• White-throated sparrow: striking head pattern with yellow patch
• White-winged dove--black "comma" on cheek and white wing patch
• Yellow-bellied sapsucker:  red crest and throat, white stripe on wings

Hawk Watch

I've been continuing my own hawk watch and bird identification process.  There's a nearby park on a hill with a good view of the landscape so that I can more easily scan the skies.  Both Saturday and yesterday, I went looking for raptors and had a great time.

Yesterday was especially nice because I met a fellow birdwatcher, a veteran with 30+ years of experience.  He had lots of information and experience he was willing to share.  He was looking for broadwing hawks, who migrate through the area about one week every year.  Sometimes, he says you can see a whole kettle of hundreds of hawks streaming out of the clouds.  But there was not enough wind and no clouds for contrast, so he only saw a couple in the distance.  I had already seen an osprey carrying a fish in the telltale parallel formation that makes the fish more aerodynamic.  He helped me with more signs of ospreys--the M-silhouette of the wings, the black "wrists", the "fingers" at the tips of the wings.  In contrast, red tails have a black belly band and no "M." To differentiate ospreys from similarly M-shaped gulls at a distance, you look for a sheen of white when the bird turns--white is a gull; dark is an osprey.  I called out a few osprey on my own (probably the same one coming back and forth a few times)--I'm getting really good at those.  He also heard a red tail hawk screech, though we never saw it, and so I think I can now recognize that sound.  He was very kind and complementary, praising my "young eyes" (he was probably in his 80s.)  So, I would spot the flash of a bird in the distance and he'd site them with his binoculars and ID them quickly.  He even saw an eagle and a broadwing that I never could find.  I asked him about the accipiter I'd seen attacking turkey vultures.  He said it was probably a juvie sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk just playing; he says they practice that way.  I also told him my monk parakeet story.

See, when I'd sat on my bench, I knew I was between two of the tall spruces in which the resident monk parakeets nest.  There were no droppings on the bench, though, so I figured I was safe; I also had my hat on.  Soon, those bright, little, green birds started their abrasive squawking . . . . and started dropping twigs on me!  The twigs never actually hit me, but five or six fell nearby and the noise grew louder.  My birdwatcher friend said that those parakeets were jerks!  I'll remember never to walk under their trees!

A few other things I've picked up in the last few outings:

• Binoculars take practice!  I can't always see well out of them, especially if my arms or hands are moving even a bit.  But I'm getting better with focusing them and seeing the one circle through them, bracing my arms against my sides.
• Lingo and technique:  the sighting of birds is identified by landforms (though I tend to use the clock, with "12" dead ahead) and by how many glasses (i.e. binocular circles) above the landform it is.  So, you might say, "Red tail at 12, two glasses above the maple." You might also try to indicate how far out it is.  To search for birds, you scan back and forth, raising up a glass each pass.  I tend to spot them with my bare eyes and then pull my binoculars up to where I'm looking; sometimes I lose them in the process.
• Birdwatchers tend to be friendly and generous with information.  I've talked to a few now, beginning with those searching for the Snowy Owl last winter.  They are dedicated and kind.
• As my interest in raptors grows (from Ren Faire falconry shows to historic falconry and our own lesson to Harry Potter's Hedwig to real Snowy Owls to raptors in general and now the Hawk Watch), so does my interest in nature in general--identifying plants, trees, noticing butterflies, watching the weather, worrying about the environment.  It can all start with birds.
• I like talking birds with Pop.  It's less stressful than our usual discussion of politics!  And he knows so much.  I'm not into ducks as much as he is.  Yet!
• I haven't started a life list or bird log yet.  But I've taken some notes below.  And I have checklists on eBird.

I'll be going back as often as I can, especially when the wind and clouds are right.

And soon it will be Snowy Owl season.

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My Selected Checklist of Raptors et al I've Seen in the Wild
9/12/16, park:  ospreys (one with a fish!), accipiters, Red-tailed Hawk, Monk Parakeets
9/10/16, park:  5 turkey vultures, ospreys, accipiters, Monk Parakeets
8/28/16, Greenwich hawk watch:  turkey vultures, accipiters playing with vultures,
4/21/16, historic house:  Northern Harrier
4/16/16, Canton CT "owl prowl":  Barred Owl in a tree; heard lots of calls later
2/29/16, point:  Snow Buntings, 2 American Tree Sparrows
2/29/16, marsh:  Mute Swan
2/22/16, marsh:  Snowy Owl on a log about 300 yards out
10/2/15, backyard:  accipiter going after squirrel
2/16/15, river:  Bald Eagle
2/3/15, tree near sidewalk: Red-Tail Hawk
11/15/14, BI:  3 Saw Whet Owls (Nature Conservancy tagging); Northern Harrier along the beach
10/14/09, side of the road in Texas at night:  Barn Owl

OWL!!!!!

The kids were home sick today, more a result of being out late at Lincoln Center than actual full illness.  Sis's fever hasn't come back and Bud didn't have one, but both were listless with no appetite. By mid-afternoon, though, they had perked up and so I made them an offer:  come owling with me on the last nice day til the weekend and I will buy us lunch out.  Always game for take out, they agreed.

See, the snowy owl has been spotted in town again, even by very amateur or casual birders, not just the very dedicated ones.  And I wanted to try my hand at seeing him (most reports are that it's a male) before the rain drove him away.

So we headed down to the right beach, and even as we drove I swore I saw an owl fly over a few houses, the big chunky white body (compared to a gull), the distinctive flight.  I almost had a one-person car accident trying to keep my eye on the owl.  We circled the area a few times but gave up--probably sitting on someone's back deck somewhere (as it apparently has done before.)

Then we went to the beach and immediately noted a huddle of birders down on the edge of the marsh, with their binoculars and scopes on tripods.  We walked over and, sure enough, they had a snowy owl in their sights.  They pointed to a tiny bump on a log--albeit a very white bump--some 200 or 300 yards away.  How could they know it wasn't a plastic bag?  They let us look through the lens and sure enough:

SNOWY OWL!!!!!

There it was, right there, on a log, facing us full forward (not in the usual over-the-shoulder or side pose), with its oh-so-white body and some black specks.  Occasionally it would preen, cleaning around its left wing, but then it would go back to sitting stock still.  Like a white bump on a log.   Beautiful, just beautiful.

I couldn't believe it.

SNOWY OWL!!!!

And if the birders hadn't been there with their 20x scope, we would never have noticed it, perhaps even with our 8x binoculars (though, we could see it just enough with ours, once we found it.  Thanks for those, Pop!)  The kids were as jazzed as I was.  And so grateful to the birders for pointing him out and sharing the view.  If we'd arrived just 10 minutes later, we would have missed it completely.

They say there are 2 owls in the area and they've even been coming closer to the shore.  Some casual amateur birders--not intense ones like these who follow listserv updates on bird whereabouts--have even come across the owls very close up.

We stayed around a little while longer, marveling at our good fortune.  Perhaps hoping a bit that he take flight right towards us.  But no, he kept sitting on his log, safe in the confines of the marsh.  Such a beautiful bird.

And now we've seen one in the wild.

I think it just makes me want to see him again.

Can you see it?  It's right there!  Can't even see the white speck in the photo, but we could see it.

(For a sense of what he looked like, check out this Getty stock image, which is the closest "snowy owl on a log" result to what we saw today.  Now, make the image as small as possible and stand on the other side of your room and put up a rounded hand like a telescope--that's what it looked like.  About 1/2" tall in the scope.  Good thing they're white or we really never would've seen it.  And now I think I'll want a scope with a tripod!!)

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Update:  Okay, I'm now geeking out on birding.  Just joined the Connecticut Ornithological Association which hosts the listserv that tracks sightings in our area (all the birders today recommended it) and also eBird, where I reported my sighting of the Snowy Owl!!  Should do the Audubon too (CT has its own chapter not affiliated with then national one, typical Connecticut.)  I don't think I'll ever be much of a real birder, but I do love those birds of prey--we see hawks all the time.  We've even already seen a few Bald Eagles in flight this year along the river.  If I had to list them, very unscientifically and incompletely, I'd say I've seen a Barn Owl, Northern Saw Whet Owl, Great Horned Owl, Snowy Owl, Red Tailed Hawk (though, admittedly, I have trouble telling them from Red Shouldered Hawks and Cooper's Hawks at a distance), Northern Harrier Hawk, and Bald Eagles.

A Chilly Walk

Snowy owls have been seen on our coastline. And so today, despite head colds (we figured it would either not affect our colds or make it worse--we're the same as we were, but we did dress for the 20F weather), Mama and I made our way down to the beach where a photographer snapped some great photos on Monday (the first publicly-documented sighting this year.)  We walked the rocky shoreline but didn't see any owls.  We spoke to a local photographer who hadn't seen any today either.  He said it's more about luck than anything else, especially with all the various spots the owls could go in our town and others nearby.  But we enjoyed the walk, having never been on this stretch of shore before, and even got a nice view of the lighthouse.   I made a donation, at the office, because no doubt I'll be back looking for those lovely owls.  Not for a photo--I just have my phone--but just to see a live one in the wild.

By the way, Pop, it is the place you and Gommie walked, just as you said it was.  It's open on weekdays during office hours but is otherwise off-limits.

Owling

We've heard that the snowy owls are back in the area and so, tonight, we headed out owling.  After reading how to be quiet and scan low to the ground since snowy owls fly low looking for prey, we dressed warmly and brought the binoculars Pop gave us.  But we were not layered enough for a stiff wind and temperatures below freezing on the beach.  Still, we spotted seagulls, ducks, and geese, and a very pretty sunset.  But no owls.  Probably too windy. We ended the evening with hot chocolate.

But we'll try again.