[TN-Bird] Rough-legged Hawk & still Short-eared Owls in Cumberland Co.

From: "LeGrand Family" <elegrand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 22:03:51 -0600
I checked the standard Short-eared Owl site in southern Cumberland County 
again this evening and was treated to a Rough-legged Hawk (about 150 west of 
the usual hill top at Shadow Mt. Estates just south of Hillendale Rd.). I 
had a look at this dark bird perched on a fence post for about a minute and 
for another minute as it flew north across Hillendale Rd. (not to be seen 
again). In checking all of my field guides, I note that there's tremendous 
variation in plumages. Initially, I considered it a dark phase bird, but now 
I'm unsure of the criteria. While perched, this bird looked most like 
Sibley's (large guide) dark phase juvenile, though it was a bit lighter on 
the chest. In flight it looked most like Sibley's dark adult below, but it 
had much white on the upper tail with a solid black terminal band (similar 
to his light adult female but with more white on the tail--Sibley shows only 
dark upper tails on his dark phase illustrations). That was at 5:20 PM CST 
(sunset at 5:37 CST).

At 5:35 PM the first Short-eared Owl showed up. It and another one flew 
around (once within 15 feet of me!) in and out of sight for the next 10 
minutes or so before I lost track of them. At 6 PM, 2 American Woodcocks 
started displaying from the field. No harriers were found this evening.

The owls were first found here on this extensive area of short grass fields 
on Dec. 25, 2008 (2 seen). I've seen them on 9/9 additional times this 
winter (1 bird seen five times, 2 birds three more times, 3 birds one time). 
Because of the numerous ridges, they can be a challenge to keep track of and 
harder to count. The exact location is at the northernmost hill top in 
Shadow Mountain Estates which is off Dunbar Rd. 0.7 miles south of the 
intersection of Dunbar and Hillendale Rds. The owls are showing up in all 
directions around this site (previously they were most easily seen to the 
north toward Hillendale Rd).

I strongly suspect that Short-eared Owls are quite local in this part of 
Tennessee. Steve Stedman and I have tried in a number of other likely large 
open areas at dusk this winter without success (e.g., Ninemile in Bledsoe 
Co., Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness in White Co., northern 
Macon Co. near Rt. 10, and a couple of areas in southern Fentress Co.).
Ed LeGrand
Cumberland Co.

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[TN-Bird] Rough-legged Hawk & still Short-eared Owls in Cumberland Co.

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