As it’s been stated here before, 2017 is mostly about taking care of business here at home, mostly in the Owl Dept. There are four regular species, either residents or migrants, that were missing from my county list prior to the start of the year: Short-eared, Long-eared, Eastern Screech, and Northern Saw-whet. These have been my most wanted county birds as of late. The Short-eared was knocked off in short order on the first day of the year, filling a major void and leaving only three more. One could sit around and wait on news of a serendipitous encounter for those others, or one could get out there and try to make something happen. Never one for patience, I often choose the latter, drawing inspiration from intrepid Owlers like Tommy DeBardeleben and Jeff Grotte.
So along with buddy Steve Gardner, I’ve been getting out there. On one recent excursion, Steve and I stumbled into the biggest cache of whitewash and small owl pellets we’d ever seen. Actually, I don’t think we’ve ever found Owl evidence before. Four roost sites in all in one small stand of Red Cedars got the owl juices flowing fast. Steve and I expected to come face-to-face with a Saw-whet at any moment. While we came up empty, we were excited nonetheless to find such evidence and be in hot pursuit. Steve and I have been on many, many fruitless Owl hunts together in the past. This may have been a turning point for us…
A week later I was itching to get back to this site to take another look around. In the meantime Steve and I had both received intel on some Long-eared Owls in another part of the state. Never having seen one before, Steve wanted to pursue those and invited me along. I declined, opting instead to spend my birding time that day looking for a county Saw-whet back at that spot. Well, Steve and I both saw Owls in our respective locations that morning, but his Owls were much cooler than mine:
Any Owl sighting makes for a fun outing, even if it’s not post-worthy. But Steve’s lifer LEOWs were post-worthy, and something about his post caught my attention: he had seen his Owls in a plantation of Spruces. I had associated LEOWs mostly with Cedars. A connection was made in my brain, and I asked Steve how the site he was at compared with a plantation of Spruces in our county that we have unsuccessfully Owled a few times. Steve said they were very similar. Plans were made immediately to check it out the next day. It had been over a year since we last tried for Long-eareds at that spot. It was time to hit it again.
That next afternoon, Steve and I met up to walk this Spruce plantation, walking abreast down the lanes between the tree rows. And I kid you not, 30 seconds into our walk, Steve hollered out that Owl flushed from a tree in front of him and was coming my direction. We both knew what it was instantly–too big for a Saw-whet, too small for a Great Horned, and wrong habitat for a Short-eared and Eastern Screech pointed to one bird only: Long-eared Owl! We were stoked to say the least. Whenever the Owl flushed it would always land a short distance away and was unwilling to leave the stand of trees. This further proved we were dealing with a LEOW since GHOWs make fast beelines out of an area when they flush covering a half mile or more. One time this LEOW even went out of the grove, circled around looking at us, and re-landed only to disappear. I got a good look that time. We were too amped up and excitedly talking to put on a quiet stalk. Finally, finally, Steve and I had a successful Owl hunt!
As we continued to try to re-see the bird and hopefully get a look at it perched, we encountered piles of Owl sign–whitewashed trees everywhere and pellets scattered all over the place like popcorn on a movie theater floor. We also found the smoking gun of LEOW evidence: the remaining wings of our newest county bird’s predated partner:
We did flush it a couple more times but eventually decided to move on and give up on seeing it perched. Even still, the victory was immense. Steve said it best when he said it was cool that we did not have to rely on anyone else for this bird. I couldn’t agree more.
The Owling didn’t stop there. Steve and I found some Red Cedars in the area to check for Saw-whets. Once again, we found heavy evidence that Saw-whets were/are in those trees. Then we later flushed a Great Horned Owl and wondered if the Saw-whet(s) had gone the way of LEOW #2.
The next day I was able to revisit the LEOW site with some other local birding friends who had never seen one. Two Great Horned Owls flushed right away giving everyone a false start. As we got near the end of our respective rows of trees, conversation picked up among the others and I got the impression they thought this would be a non-event. From the previous day’s experience, I knew that it wasn’t over until we actually emerged from the trees. I kept up my constant scanning of every tree I quietly and slowly walked by. Then I nearly lost my breath when I spied the tall, skinny Owl near the top of a tree looking down at me! I quickly snapped a photo of the shadowed tangles it was buried in, not even able to see the Owl in my viewfinder.
This was the final, definitive proof that Steve and I had seen a Long-eared Owl the day before. And, man, did it feel good.
At this moment in the adventure I was multi-tasking, trying to get photos while snapping my fingers and whispering to get the attention of my fellow birders. I never got them on the bird before it flushed, but everyone was able to eventually see the Owl.
Nothing beats finding Owls on your own and having a local spot to go see a cool species like this. Now, if only the resident GHOWs will leave this bird alone…
Are the Owl adventures over? With 2 of my 4 wanted Owls knocked off in February already, I think we are just getting started.
Since that comment was written, I have knocked off all those ducks but one–the Barrow’s Goldeneye, a bird considered casual in Minnesota occurring roughly every 5 years. As I am getting to the end of my normal MN birds, BAGO was rapidly moving its way up to the top of the list of my most-wanted birds. Last year I chased a female BAGO in Fergus Falls but failed. This year there have been a couple other reports but nothing I considered reliable and therefore chaseable. Well, a little over two weeks ago, Adam Roesch birded at the Mississippi River in Champlin–quite aways upstream from his beloved patch–and made a stunning discovery. Among the myriad of Common Goldeneye, Adam found and photographed a beautiful male Barrow’s Goldeneye. And with that find, Adam submitted his first ever eBird checklist. Talk about an entrance.
For the second time in as many weekends, we arrived at Anoka’s Peninsula Point Park to scan the Mississippi for the good Goldeneye.
There’s just something that I absolutely love about getting duck lifers in the cold months.
I’m not lying. This skyline view of Minneapolis is literally what this Snowy Owl can see from its bizarre winter territory. I am used to looking for Snowies in urban environments, but nothing quite like this. Snowy Owls aren’t that hard to spot in places like this, yet I was having a hard time, a really hard time. I finally ran into another birder who clued me in to this sneaky Snowy’s hideout.
See it? Yeah, I didn’t either without help.
Never have I seen an Owl, Snowy or otherwise, so well fortified. Camouflaged, yes, but not entrenched. I tried every which angle and every side of the building for a shot.
The non-birding-totally-birding metro trip was a success by any standard. It was back to rural west-cental MN where more adventure awaited in the days to come. We’ll save that for the next post, but to close things out, here’s a Great Horned Owl the kids and I saw on the ride back home.
The homeowner, Kathy, assured Jeff the Owl was there regularly; it would just be a matter of me finding a time to make the 2-hour trip. Funny thing when you are a parent, your time no longer belongs to you–work and kid activities keep us hopping and out of the house most every day and now on weekends too. Birding definitely takes a back seat. I was feeling the need to get this done though; bird in the hand and whatnot. With Melissa being gone on a trip all weekend, I was staring at some serious single-parenting. The red Screech dream was seemingly out of reach. So I did what any serious Owler would do: cashed in some comp time and took me an Owliday mid-week.
These photos were shot through glass. Like Jeff, Steve is an accomplished photographer who ushered me into his photo blind where I could photograph the Hawk without a glass barrier. Unfortunately, the Hawk got a bit nervous and flew into some tangles. But have a look at that tail!
I very quickly learned that Steve, a retired dentist, was taking our birding mission very seriously. While the main object was to get me the red Screech, Steve did not want to send his newest guest away without getting some other good birds too. He was off to a stellar start. In many ways I felt like I was in a parallel birding world to my experiences in Arizona. Jeff was the MN Tommy and Steve was the MN Gordon. Like in Arizona, there was one main mission for the day–get Josh the red Screech. That didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy a little action while we waited, like this American Black Duck among the 500+ Mallards it was with at the Shakopee Mill Pond. Black Ducks have been really good to me this year.
The open water was a good chance to pick up some FOYs as I still struggle to reach that barrier of 50 species. Belted Kingfisher, American Coot, Ring-necked Duck, and Lesser Scaup were all new for the year. Ducks do not hold the attention for long, so we were off to do some backroads exploring while we waited for a sighting update on the red Screech. We were told it pops out of the hole of the Wood Duck box regularly on sunny days. This day was dreadfully cloudy, so we were hearing nothing in regards to the Owl. Just like Tommy, Jeff was really wanting to get me the target Owl bad. We discussed an alternative option in St. Paul, but that was quite far away and no one had seen Screech- Owls in that spot for months. As the hours ticked on, we were all wondering if the day’s objective would be a bust. Jeff figured our best shot was still with this homeowner, so he messaged her to ask if we could poke around the property to try to turn it up. With an affirmative answer, we were on our way to at least make an attempt.
Knowing there was a red Screech in there made for some impatient waiting. The Owl was not being cooperative at all while we watched and waited. We were so close to meeting the big objective, but it just wasn’t happening and the impatience of all was festering. Would we have come this far only to fail? What’s that they say? When a door closes, open a window?
We thought this Owl was going to let us photograph it in this position for a little while, but after a half minute or so, it had enough of this nonsense and flew straight toward us and directly into to the hole of another Wood Duck box. We never did see it again and decided to leave it alone. High on a successful trip, we continued to hang out by that little pond and talk Owls with Mike and Kathy. We thanked them profusely and were finally on our way. With a few hours of daylight left, the day was still wide open with possibility.
Quality over quantity is what this birding year is all about this year. This day definitely embodied that as a lifer* Owl was had with a couple of bonus Owls all while having fun with friends. A huge thanks to Jeff Grotte for setting everything up and making a fun day off, to Steve Brown for the other good birds and the selfless enthusiasm, and most importantly a big thank you to Mike and Kathy for sharing their special yard bird with us. There will be more Owling with Jeff and possibly Steve in the months to come. But first, I have a duck to track down.
Walking out in this grassland, we were not expecting but were quite delighted to kick up two Short-eared Owls. It’s a pretty good day when a Short-eared Owl is a consolation prize.
Steve, Riley, and I had phenomenal close fly-bys of these Owls. Though the birds were cooperating for photos, the clouds and dropping sun were not. Even still, I got a few shots to remember the night.
Then with no fear, one of the Owls perched up fairly close. It was exciting to see a perched Short-eared Owl–this likely would never happen again, right?
When it was finally time to leave northern MN, I got word that a Great Gray had just been seen in Cook, a mere 15 minutes from the parents’. I didn’t have time to look for it and had to go back to west-central MN. It seems I am always at the wrong end of the state.
What’s not been mentioned yet is that the other members of my party were promptly notified and arrived on-scene shortly afterward. Just as they arrived, a Rough-legged Hawk appeared and got into an aerial spat with the Owl. The latter was decisively victorious as it drove the former to the ground to the great delight of the Kandi crew. A little while later the Short-eared perched up on a road sign offering everybody a chance to get incredible looks as the Owl at its Vole dinner.
The newer Kandi birders, of which I am one, were elated. The wise old Kandi legends were pleased–their prophecy that such a moment would happen in this very place had come true. They had preached patience all along. Some grasshoppers don’t listen, though, and end up going to North Dakota.
Certainly there was no way for the day to get any better. Or was there?
Not once did I bump this Owl off its perch. In fact, we all got incredible looks as we slowly drove by the bird while it continued to sit on the sign. Brad and I watched it from the vehicle at close range for a long time until it finished its meal and then quickly went out to grab another Vole. The talon to beak transfer we witnessed was incredibly smooth and quick.
At the rate and manner in which things are progressing, you better believe I’m watching the field by my house when I take my dog out to pee.
As we crept along the canyon hillside to get in a better position to see the Owl’s face, it suddenly flew off! We could not find it again. The satisfaction of getting the lifer was muted by the Owl showing us his bad side and only briefly at that. Would this be my lifer sighting–the side view of a bird? The discouragement was returning the longer we weren’t finding it. Again, Tommy never panicked or wavered; he just kept that flashlight moving. And then I heard him say those awesome words that I have heard him say so many times before, “Hey, Josh!”
This, this is what I had been waiting/hoping for. Tommy did it.
This Owl was very cooperative (finally) and just let us enjoy the show.
Maybe I had it backwards. Maybe it was the Owl who was enjoying the show of four happy birders who had just succeeded on their mission.
At this point Dad went back to the car on account of a knee that was giving him fits. Gordon, Tommy, and I decided we would try for more Whiskered Screeches. Why not?
Hearing this vocalization was an exciting learning experience for Tommy. It wasn’t as cool as the Morse-code calling we heard the adult make earlier, but it was still pretty neat regardless. Have a listen for yourself:
Two Owl lifers remain for me in Arizona. The question is not whether Tommy can help find them, but rather, will it happen in 2017? Time will tell.
There is a pair of Burrowing Owls within a mile of my parents’ place that I usually visit, but this year I didn’t find them as easily in the past. I did eventually see one which brought me relief; I hadn’t seen them the first few times I checked this year. Normally they are always out. To get my Burrower fix this year, I had to find some brand new ones which is always fun. This pair was found on school property in Maricopa. How cool would it be to have Burrowing Owls at your school?
Another new Burrowing Owl I found this trip was only 100 yards from my parents’ backyard fence–I was pretty pumped to find this one.
Burrowing Owls aren’t the only birds I enjoy re-seeing on our annual AZ trip. Vermilion Flycatcher is another. Every year I’m finding more and more around my parents’ neighborhood. Fun fact: Vermilion Flycatchers look just as amazing after November 8th as they did before.
I did get to do some birding beyond my parents’ neighborhood and city. I had the pleasure of once again meeting up with good friends, Tommy DeBardeleben and Gordon Karre for some intense birding outings in southeastern AZ. We’ll save the really juicy lifer stuff for the next two posts, but there was plenty of non-lifer goodness as well, like a Green-tailed Towhee seen along the De Anza Trail near Tubac. Previously I had only seen an extremely back-lit one in Colorado.
In many ways, this was a photo redemption trip of many birds. This Lazuli Bunting was another nice find on the De Anza Trail. The only other sighting I had was a fleeting glimpse at a lifer in MN. Here I got to see the front AND back of this looker.
Black Phoebe is another of which I only had marginal photos before this trip.
And Greater Roadrunners…we got skunked on this bird our very first AZ trip. This bird below might have even let me pet it. It actually walked toward me when I was only 10 feet away.
Now this next bird is one that I have better photos of, but c’mon, it’s a Black-throated Sparrow and needs to be included in this post regardless.
And finally, the best photo redemption of all was of the only Owl Iifer I had never photographed. Last year we saw a Barn Owl, but it flushed from its roost before I could get a photo. It was a major letdown that I wanted to fix on this trip. This time I was able to get a few shots before it flushed.
Then Tommy and I found it after it flushed and got some more shots of this cool bird.
Next post will be all lifers. With three more posts (two AZ), there is much to look forward to!
Unfortunately I did not pause long enough to enjoy these Owls as I was in a hurry to get down to the Le Conte’s spot. I wanted to get that out of the way and did not want birding to consume much time since we were visiting family. So I grabbed a couple quick photos of one of the birds in the dim, drippy forest and moved on.
Only one or two WETAs show up in MN every year; lucky us that it was our turn to host. Here my two-hour one-way chase to add this state bird last year was for nought. What a spectacular rarity and a beauty on top of that. This was a bird I yearned to see in the montane forests of Colorado two years ago (and eventually did); now luck dropped one on the doorstep, almost literally for Joel.
Steve Gardner also came out to enjoy the Tanager. As we discussed my travel dilemmas for the next day, Steve advised me to go the Scoter route. Settled. Seeing a vivid, bright male bird made me want to see another. The best part was that I could ask some Duluth friends to check on the Scoter in the morning to even see if that was still a viable option come travel time.
These birds don’t seem to perch for long (or at all). Rather shortly this one took to the air. It was amazing how fast and how much ground it can cover and how unpredictable its flight path is. Amazingly this Owl came back for another, much closer roadside perch:
But enjoying the hunting behavior of this Owl in this habitat is half the fun.
It was really tough to keep track of the numbers of Short-ears we were seeing as they cover so much ground so quickly. I conservatively eBirded 7 of them. It was a lot of fun to witness the Short-eared phenomenon in action. Sandy was spotting all the birds, and I was hoping to get in on the fun and pick one out myself. Eventually it happened.
And then it happened again as I flushed one from the side of the road in my headlights on our way back to Grand Forks. I’m glad I didn’t hit it!
The Owl vocalized often and moved from perch to perch. It was simply awesome.
I was amazed by how hyperactive this Owl was–it pays to observe a nocturnal bird nocturnally! Here’s a short video where you can see what I mean.
This bird called often with its monotonic trill. Hearing it was a new thing for me and just as thrilling as seeing it. Check it out.
Eventually, though, it retired to one final perch and quieted down.
It was now to time to take celebratory photos.
With the major trip goal of seeing an Eastern Screech-Owl all locked up by 7 AM, Tommy and I had a good 5 hours of free birding time before I had to drop him off at the airport. I was thinking as a lister and giving Tommy options for some life birds he could get. Tommy had his Owler hat on that day, though, and he instead opted to see Barred Owls again with this free time. We went to Fort Snelling State Park to see the famous pair, but unfortunately they were a no-show. Fortunately, Tommy picked up his American Tree Sparrow lifer for a nice bonus on the day.
Eventually Tommy spotted what we presume to be the male of the nesting pair of Barred Owls. I was surprised when he pointed it out to me–I really wasn’t expecting a Barred Owl in this spot. It was a reminder to be vigilant always. Tommy never lets his guard down.
After enjoying these Owls and the other birds it was time to wrap up this flash of a visit. Tommy and I enjoyed a hot meal of Swedish meatballs at IKEA in the shadow of the Mall of America before getting him to the airport at noon. I told Tommy that perhaps there were some Arizonans who flew to MSP the same day as he did to do something just as frivolous–spend their time and money at that retail behemoth. The difference, though, is that what Tommy came to get will not end up in a landfill some day. Instead we created yet another fun memory that will always be with us.
Maybe it’s work, maybe it’s my unfinished taxes, maybe it’s the fact that the regulars have become blasé, but my obliviousness is mostly due to my OCD over ESOWs for TOBY (Tommy’s Owl Big Year). Nights are filled with mining the data, pumping the contacts, and even prowling the woods. There has been little time for the ordinary. This indifference should not be mistaken for a lack of awareness of my surroundings or of the current events in the birding world.
Sometimes things do catch my attention requiring me to investigate matters further.
Another overdue addition was American Woodcock, peenting style. (Turn the volume way up)
