FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Short-eared Owl Circus

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Jan. 19, 2007
AR-TN-MS
 
Had a birder in from Oregon on Friday and spent a slow day bird wise  looking 
for a few species. We got great looks at Red-headed Woodpeckers in AR  but 
little luck in TN for other target birds on short time. The best trick of  the 
day happened in Tunica Co, MS, while looking for suitable LeConte's  Sparrow 
habitat which was pretty much a bust due to dry summer.
 
I spotted an uncut area of beans way out in a field, evidently left in a  wet 
spot that could not be harvested. It had grown up in a sparse cover of  
panicum grass. We had just flushed a single Short-eared Owl from the road side  
and 
started walking out in the muddy bean field to check for sparrows in the  
distant patch of grass.
 
The area of grass was pretty small, you could throw a rock across it  
practically in any direction. As we approached the area another Short-eared  
flush 
from the sparse cover. Then suddenly the circus act began, owls  popped up from 
all corners of this small area. We ended with 27 SHORT-EARED OWLS  flying 
around us in the field. Many dancing around us like butterflies,  turning their 
heads to check on us on a flyby with some landing out in the open  cut field. 
These birds certainly are masters of flight.
 
I've seen more Short-eared Owls in a day before but never so many in such a  
VERY small open area. Just as the bird we flushed shortly before this show, 
I'm  finding more of these birds bedded down in roadside ditches this year. 
Pellets  were everywhere and the beds were in small clusters in the sparse 
cover 
with  some birds bedded down within just a couple of feet of one another. Since 
the  dry weather earlier in the fall allowed the farmers in to prep their 
fields  rather than having to wait for spring, there is very little good 
roosting 
 habitat left for these birds.
 
Besides the numerous Kestrels, Loggerhead Shrikes and Red-tailed Hawks, we  
also had close to 80 Sandhill Cranes (counted 91 on Saturday) in the fields 
with  the hordes of Snow, Ross's and Greater White-fronted Geese. This all 
within 
 just a few miles of where the military jet was downed by these same geese 
last  week.  
Good Birding  !!!

Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135



=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                  EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________