Monday, January 9, 2012

Owl Night 1/9

I had to stay home in the morning before work so I could get some rest and do some house work. With that I tried to find the flock of bluebirds that have been coming through my yard this winter all winter that consist of all three species of bluebirds, but I failed at finding them. I did see and hear the Western Scrub-Jays that usually winter in the area, which is always a treat. All of this is not the reason of this post today.
Tonight after I got off of work I was driving home on Highway 402 and I decided to skip turning on SW 18th in search of owls and stay on HIghway 402. Right when I got to what I call Cattail Pond Marsh, which is about 1/4 mile west of Cattail Pond and runs from just south of SW 18th to a little ways north of 402, I saw a medium sized owl fly across the road. This bird had an awkward butterfly like flight, which makes it either Short-eared, Long-eared, or Barn just by the flight style and size. This bird had a very dark breast breast, but very little faint streaking on the whitish belly. It had white wings with a bold black comma on the underside of the wings and bold black outer primaries. It also had a brown back, but unfortunately I didn't see any field marks on the back. From the black in the wings, streaked breast, and brown back that eliminates Barn Owl, which at night when you see in a Barn Owl in flight it looks super white. Now for the fun part. From the dense streaking on the breast to faint streaking on the belly and the bold black wingtips this eliminates Long-eared Owl. With the habitat being a marshy area this would be the species of owl I would expect in the area more than the other two species. With eliminating these two species it leaves us with just one option........Short-eared Owl (92). I was thinking this would be the most difficult of the regular species of owls in Larimer County as I have only had 3 in Larimer County before this one.
When I got home and still outside I heard the shrieking cry of a Barn Owl calling from the south end of my property. This is the third time I have heard this species screaming from the same area of the property. Without trying I ended up observing two difficult species of owl in the same night and I am now wondering what other owl species I could have observed if I had actually tried to find some owls.

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