Short-eared Owls - 19 Mar 2021
With Cell 4 to my left, Vermet Unit to my right, and a stiff north wind at my back I approached the Middle Causeway of Pt. Mouillee SGA. There, nicely illuminated by the rising Sun were a pair of frolicking Short-eared Owls! I was still 100 yds away, but I could make out their rounded wings and butterfly flight as they chased each other over water and back toward me. I was lucky enough to get some nice, albeit long-distant, pics of the birds as they drifted in my direction along the shore of the Vermet Unit.
They then drifted back toward the Middle Causeway and headed west toward the dike separating Vermet from Long Pond Units. I decided that I'd had enough of the wind and followed them. I pulled up a quarter mile away and digiscoped one bird that had settled down in the grass; it was barely visible among the same-colored grasses. A fly-by Northern Harrier got its attention as it drifted overhead.
As I approached the two owls they suddenly took flight and circled each other. One bird dove into the grass and retrieved an unlucky rodent. It took off w/ prey in tow and headed out over the Humphries Unit.
The second bird took flight and circled several times before heading directly in my direction. I was finally going to get some nice fly-by pics when a pair of Ring-billed Gulls suddenly attacked it and forced it back in the opposite direction. I could only watch it disappear to the west. Grr...
Oh, well. I'm very happy w/ my capture rate. This has been a nemesis bird so I'll take what I can get. Still, what could have been...
Mar 29, 2021 7:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
13.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Clear, cold, 40F
1 species
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) 2
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
