On the Hunt for Short-eared Owls

Yesterday, I was finally able to go look for short-eared owls. My two previous attempts to find a day to get away hadn't worked out. The weather was supposed to be so nice and warm that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of it. I figured that I might actually not freeze my butt off this year while standing around waiting for the owls to show themselves.

     My plan was to stop at the lake front first and see what kinds of waterfowl were on Otsego Lake. I was eager to get back to bird the lake because the last  time I was there I thought I saw white-winged scoters. Unfortunately I didn't have my scope with me then to completely verify that's what they were. The lake is usually my best bet for finding something unusual.

  There were plenty of geese, mallards and ring-billed gulls on the lake. A recent post on the internet mentioned a possible sighting of cackling geese at the state park located at the opposite end of the lake. I looked through the geese at the lake front for cackling geese, but I couldn't really be sure if there were any. Some seemed smaller and the forehead of some seemed steeper, but I just wasn't getting cackling goose off of any of them. I remember someone once saying that he hears cackling geese before he sees them so I guess I'll have to try and memorize their vocalization.

    There were no waterfowl by the docks. The birds were far off and difficult to see even with the scope. I spotted one bird that looked like it could be something unusual. It had a long neck; a grebe perhaps? There had been a recent report of a horned grebe seen from the lake front, but I couldn't make this bird out. Darn diving birds. This bird wouldn't stay up above the water long enough to get a good look at it. Time was running out and I still had to find the owls. I was disappointed that I couldn't stay and look longer, but I had to go.

   Some say that this will be an irruption year for snowy owls. Some areas in the state have been reporting them so I tried to keep an eye out for them in the fields just in case, but driving and looking for owls doesn't work very well. Actually I wasn't seeing any birds, zip,  zero, nadda, as I drove along. So far this trip was a bust. I finally reached the field where I was going to look for short-eared owls. Not a creature was stirring. I stood there waiting, thinking this was going to be another bust and that luck just wasn't with me when I noticed something gliding off in the distance. It was a large silver bird with dark tipped wings... a gray ghost.. a male northern harrier. I watched it glide around, a gorgeous bird, and then I watched another and another. All right, enough with the harriers, I thought, let’s see some owls.

  Something that could have been an owl flew across a field and landed in a tree. I peered at it through my scope. Darn bird, it sat on a branch on the opposite side of a tree so all I could see was its white belly and dark tail, Was it an owl? a female harrier? I re positioned myself, walking into the field for a better look at it, but I still couldn't tell. I couldn't see the head. 

  It was getting darker. Those harriers were still flying about everywhere. Many of the birds I was seeing were keeping to the farther edge of fields that were adjacent to the road I was on. A bird flew across the sky just above the trees in the fields. Was it an owl? I tried to get it in my scope, but my scoping skills are still a work in progress. I thought I was getting pretty good with my scope from all the practice I was getting at the hawk watch... but apparently not. Another bird flew along the tree tops. I couldn't find that one in my scope either. Drat, was this going to be how my search for owls ended?

  Then across the field came a stocky bird with shorter, broader wings and a flat face that looked like it had flown into one too many walls. An owl, hurray! I got a fairly decent look at it with my binoculars before it turned and went into the field across the way. I watched it fly around the field in the fading light where it was joined by another one. They flitted about calling back and forth. Another owl then flew up in front of me apparently drawn to the noise the two others were making. I watched this owl as it flew off getting my best look at an owl that night.

  Things became quiet after that as darkness slowly enveloped me and I prepared to head home for the night. I don't do much birding in the winter because most birds have gone south. Maybe I'll make "owling" a regular part of my winter bird watching. For now, happy birding.

 

April 1st

  The day started out rainy and cold. A light overnight snowfall covered the cars and the ground. The weather report did not bode well for the day and when you add that to the fact that I am not a morning person you have some very good reasons why I should have still been at home sleeping. Yet here I was listening to John Davis who was explaining birding etiquette to the small group of bird watchers who were standing around by the docks while a chilly wind and snowy drizzle blew all around us. As for birding in inclement weather he grinned and simply had this to say, “We are birders. That’s what we do.”

  I’d been in Cooperstown  three days earlier and had familiarized myself with the ducks near the docks. I was excited to see so many ducks on the lake then. I was sure I would find plenty of different species of waterfowl. Grabbing my binoculars I surveyed the swirling mass of ducks. “Let’s see, what we’ve got,” I said to no one in particular,…”a ring-necked duck, and a ring-necked duck, and a ring-necked duck, and a ring-necked duck and another ring-necked duck …” Suffice it to say there was an abundance of ring-necked ducks.  I’d estimate there were about seventy. Tucked in among the ring-necked ducks were a couple pairs of buffleheads, a couple scaup, a pair of mallards, a pair of common mergansers, a redheaded duck and coots. Most of the waterfowl and all of the species that had been there three days ago were still present. Ringed-necks ducks, it turned out, would be the predominant bird of the day.

   Every one split up to car pool for the trip. The first stop was the S.U.N.Y. Biological Field Station. That location didn’t yield much other than a number of ring-necked ducks. As we continued on alongside the lake I was surprised to see how much of the lake was frozen over which previously had been open water.

  At our next stop I was able to add some first of the year finds to my new year’s bird list. Two gadwalls were swimming away as we approached. Three cormorants were all huddled together on one stump. A couple of phoebes were flying about. Canada geese were scattered around the grounds and there was a great blue heron standing in the water.  A bald eagle flew low over a house. Some wood ducks were spotted swimming behind some reeds… and there were also ringed-neck ducks.

  A small sliver of water along the opposite shoreline was the only open water at the next lake that we stopped at. I saw my first of the year American widgeon there… and more ring-necked ducks.

 We drove up a hill. Before us were hundreds (that’s hundreds with an “s”) of Canada geese in a large cornfield. Flying around and over the geese were scores of horned larks and snow buntings. This is the reason that this yearly waterfowl trip has become a favorite of mine. I don’t normally find the diversity of species like we see on this trip, such as these snow buntings and horned larks, in or around Oneonta.

  We next came to a small pond where we usually find plenty of birds, but this year the pond was pretty much frozen over and there was no waterfowl. A kestrel sat on a wire above the road as we drove by.

  We stopped at one final lake. Hooded mergansers were swimming in the water. A harrier soared across the marsh and a great blue heron flapped its way across the lake. As an added bonus two otters trotted around on the ice entertaining everyone with their antics …and there were ring-necked ducks.

  At this point everyone left to return to the cars that were back at the docks. We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate then headed back to the docks also. On the way a small bird flew across the road. When we stopped to try to get a better look at it we noticed a large mixed group of birds in a field off to our right. I don’t know how many different types of birds there were, but it seemed like we just kept finding more species the longer we looked, wild turkeys, mallards, black ducks, crows, starlings, grackles, robins, red-winged blackbirds…

  Once I was back at my car and had said goodbye to my fellow birders I headed toward home. I wasn’t done birding though. I would bird all the way home. I decided to drive down along the back side of the river. As I neared Milford I stopped to look at a number of small birds in the bushes. While I sat there someone else also stopped to look at the small birds too. It was a red-shouldered hawk, a first of the year find. What a great close up look.

  I pulled into the boat launch at Portlandville to check out the waterfowl. There were only Canada geese in the water, but I did see a pair of cardinals and a Carolina wren.

 

  I got nine new first of the season finds on the trip. Now that the birds have started to come back into this area I’ll undoubtedly be going out again soon looking for the next new migrant’s arrival. I'm a birder. It's what I do.

  

Winter Birds

  I have found that looking for birds in winter varies from looking for birds in the summer. In the winter the birds are fewer and far between so you need a car to cover a lot of ground to find them. Sunday was such a lovely sunny day I couldn’t wait to get outside and go look for birds. The sunshine on the whiteness of the snow was so pretty it made me forget all about how cold the temperature was. I was going to Harpersfield to look for winter birds, those migrants that come down from the frozen north to spend their winters here. I was hoping for a triple find like the first time I went to Harpersfield when I found a rough legged hawk, snow buntings and horned larks.

  Well I didn’t exactly find all three species this time, but no matter, it was a lovely drive. At first I didn’t see any birds. I turned up a road toward a barnyard where there were lots of pigeons and starlings, not exactly rare species around here. I continued on that course thinking that I should probably turn the car around and follow my usual route when smack dab in the middle of the road in front of me was a huge flock of snow buntings. I’d estimate there were about 120. They flew off... of course. I stopped the car and waited to see if they would simply circle around in a  group and return to where they had been picking up grit in the road. They did just that, but they didn’t stay there very long. Once more they all flew up and circled around, this time settling down in the field on my left. I still had a pretty decent view of them which was good because when you find snow buntings you have to check through the lot to see if there might be any lapland longspurs. Easier said than done, the birds didn’t hold still for a minute. They scurried here and there. I did my utmost best to see if there were any differences in the birds, but I didn’t find any. They all appeared to be snow buntings. The birds flew up into the air again and I watched as each bird dove and turned in perfect sync with the others flashing their white undersides when they, as a group, changed direction. I wondered if a lapland longspur might appear a little different in the group as they flew about, maybe a little more darker or perhaps a little more chunkier, but I still could find no differences in these birds.

  I drove back to the usual route that I follow when looking for birds. The last thing I needed was to get lost. The scarcity of birds was proving to be discouraging. I expected to find one raptor in the trees or soaring in the air but the only raptor I managed to find for the day was a red-tailed hawk no where near this location. I was a little encouraged when I found a group of eleven wild turkeys strolling around someone’s yard. Maybe there would be more birds ahead.

  All around me was a rare phenomenon of nature. Snow rollers lay about in the fields everywhere. These snow rolls are formed by the wind which blows a chuck of snow across a field of snow and in doing so the snow picks up more snow thereby creating a cylinder of snow. Most of them appear hollow in the middle. These reminded me somewhat of small round hay bales and varied in size up to that of a basketball. It seems many of the larger ones had the help of gravity so that after the wind formed them they rolled down the hill increasing in size as they rolled.

  As I neared the end of my search I caught sight of some small birds flitting about in a bush. They were tree sparrows, another migrant that came down from up north. All in all I had thirteen different species for the day.  I can’t wait for my next chance to get out and look again for the winter species I couldn’t find this time.

Happy New Year everyone and good birding.