[TN-Bird] Re: Snowy Owl, Maury Co.

Last Saturday morning as Bill and I were trying to locate the snowy owl, I 
stopped to get gas and asked in the gas station if anyone had seen a large 
white owl.  Someone who worked at the plant said they had been seeing the owl 
at the plant for some time and that there had been 2 of them(?).  
--- On Sat, 1/24/09, Bill Pulliam <bb551@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Bill Pulliam <bb551@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: Snowy Owl, Maury Co.
To: braveladyrobin@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: "TN-Bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2009, 9:17 AM

> The guard also said something curious. She said that until last week,
> there were TWO birds. Someone apparently found the wounded mate and
> went for help, but by the time they returned, the mate was just a pile
> of feathers. Has anyone else heard anything about there being two
> birds before? Would two birds likely irrupt together?
>
> Robin Barrow
> Knox Co


The bird that has been seen is a first-year bird, probably male from  
its light coloring.  I think it very unlikely it would have already  
been paired the first autumn after hatching.  Now the possibility  
that there were two individual independent Snowys there is small but  
not zero; it is an irruption year and stranger things have happened.   
Farther north it is  not unusual to find multiple Snowys in good  
habitat during a major irruption year.  There are probably others  
elsewhere in TN too, by the way, that no lucky birder has yet  
happened across; check every "white plastic bag" in every field in a 

year like this!

There is a general phenomenon to keep in mind, though.  When non- 
birders are informed of a rare bird in the area, and given a general  
description (e.g. "big white owl"), they tend to find lots of them  
around.  The Saturn property probably has Barn Owls living on it; if  
they have any big fallow fields it could even  have a Short-eared  
somewhere.  Even a Great Horned can look whitish to an eager mind in  
the right conditions.  I know two years ago when the Common Redpoll  
was at my mother's feeder here in Hohenwald, once it was featured in  
the local paper then *everyone* had redpolls at their feeders, lots  
of them!  They were seeing House Finches, of course.  That same local  
paper just featured a handsome full-color spread on the Snowy Owl  
this week, so I expect Lewis County will now be overrun with Snowys!   
Of course... there's always the chance one might be legitimate... we  
do have some nice open country in the eastern parts of the county...

Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
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=================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/

                       MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

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