Preston's mention of the Paradise CBC Short-eared Owl number prompted me to
look into the reference. According to the *Annotated Checklist of the Birds
of Kentucky* (BPB 2019, 3rd Ed., p.151), a stunning 134 Short-eareds were
tallied on the Paradise CBC held on December 30, 1995.
You can read more here:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1286&context=ky_warbler
James A. Wheat
Spencer County, KY
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 12:43 PM PRESTON FORSYTHE <pns_for@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
In past years, for us, the magic time for seeing Short-eared Owls has been
5:20 pm to 5:50 pm. With the peak close to 5:42 pm. I can remember this
because it happened over and over, with a steady decline in numbers year
after year, since BPB's CBC , (92 in one day), at Sinclair in the
1990's...1992 ?? Very few before, or after those times...unless walking the
fields and stir them up. Especially none in the morning, unless stirred up
with a line of birders spread out. Note, the bird books say common in the
morning??
For this winter, starting in early Nov., the few owls we have spotted, and
the few we have read about with the time reported...seem to all be observed
between 6 and 6:20 pm. Sunset to full darkness.
Exception-- the Tyson's owl roost activity near Schochoh, Logan County. I
think the owls are attracted somehow to the name, Schochoh.
Now, as for Northern Harriers, the numbers for us also down, but we still
see off and on during the day.
Owlingly,
Preston Forsythe, Browder, KY
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
<https://go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature&af_web_dp=https://more.att.com/currently/imap>
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 7:57 AM, Steve Brown
<steve554b@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mary's right that it's been wonderful to see the owls there this season,
but I'd like to make a slight revision to this post. It seems to imply that
owls were not seen on Sunday evening.
Meg Brown and I were on Bennett Lane on Sunday, 2/20/2022, along with a
young birder and her family that we met there. We all saw at least three
Short-eared Owls, and at least one Northern Harrier. We also found the
Loggerhead Shrike again. That was only two days ago, so there is a chance
that they are still around for a few more days.
We were there from about 5:15 to about 6:45 p.m. The owls appeared around
six. Here is a link to our eBird checklist.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103299101
Steve Brown
Louisville, KY
On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 8:55 PM tingsgrove <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
*Things might be beginning to wind down for the Northern Harriers and the
Short-eared Owls. The harriers arrived the end of October the past 4 years
and there were as many as at least 3 to 4 females and a single male as best
that I have been able to ascertain this season. I am not certain when the
owls arrived, but the first date that I photographed them was on December
third. Usually 4 would fly up together and then split off three and one.
Two of them always seemed to team up. There were a few times that 2 others
would appear a little bit later. On Saturday a friend and I were observing
a harrier when 5 owls flew up at the same time from the field. *
*Last evening three people stayed at the fields on Bennett Lane in Oldham
County until 6:15 and never saw the owls. This evening I was the only one
on site from 3:30 until 6:30 and I saw no harriers and no owls. It was
very unusual not to see a single harrier and they have been very active.
That being said this morning on my way to a Dr appointment I did see a
single owl flying across the lane in front of me and go towards the
roosting field of choice. It could be that they are still there and just
flying up with the sun staying up later. For most of the past 2 months
their pattern was to fly between 4:30 and 5:45. *
*It has been such a wonderful time observing these birds and meeting so
many great people. Everyone has been respectful to each other as well as
to the birds and the land on Bennett Lane and many of the neighbors have
been quite interested in learning about the birds.*
*The fields are now a flutter with more and more Red-winged Blackbirds and
Eastern Meadowlarks returning every day. The Savannah Sparrows have
thinned out a bit. *
*This is my fourth year of birding just down the lane from where I live
and it is always very rewarding. The fields also provide Ironweed and Joe
pye weed for hundreds of Monarch butterflies in August as well.*
*Mary Howell Cromer*
*Oldham County, Kentucky*
