Dear OBOL birders;
Janet Naylor and I went to Diamond Hill, (a private wetland) east of
Harrisburg on Jan 23, to look for Short-eared Owls (SEOW). While most of
the time those we saw were were around 1/2 mile away to the northeast, we
were rewarded by one which flew within 70-80 feet of us as it hunted along
the edge of the tall weedy patch which lines the roadway. I saw that one
flutter its wings for a short time - twice - only the outer half of each
wing vibrating in a quick shallow beat. Still moving forward but more
slowly I presume it was listening/watching more attentively. I haven't seen
them do this before while still horizontal and moving forward. Otherwise it
resembled a Kestrel wings sometimes when beginning to hover.
The first Owl appeared right at Sunset, 5:08pm - and with the overcast
sky it was too dark for any photos. By 5:30 it was too dark to sort out
Harriers from Owls. But earlier, around 5:15 one SEOW flying about 200
feet up, flew in a straight line towards the SSE. I saw several of them do
that last year too. We watched it until it was about 1/2 mile away and
turned our attention back to the field in front of us. Immediately another
(could not have been the same bird) flew up pretty close and then away from
us again. During the 45 minutes we were there, (4:45-5:30), we saw numerous
Northern Harriers; 2 males and 3 females for sure. At one time there were
five birds visible in one binocular field of view - but too dark to suss
them out. Also three Bald Eagles, two adults apparently paired up, perched
atop a double wood power pole off to the west at an appreciable distance,
and one with white tail flying southeast off into the hills.
With the very frequent reports this year of SEOW at Meadowlark Prairie and
Fern Ridge as well as Diamond Hill (20min north of Eugene) , it seems to be
a better than average year for them down here at the southern end of the
valley. I'm still hoping that as Winter wears on, the Owls will begin
their nightly feeding earlier as they did in Feb-March 2014 at Tangent
Eagle Roost. That year I saw some SEOW flying around even before sunset on
several occasions. And before it was too dark for photos an additional 2 or
3 times.
Priscilla Sokolowski
