This morning several of us from C'ville headed over to the Mt. Crawford area to
see if we could find the here-again-gone-again Snowy Owl (or owls) that
had/have been frequenting the area. It was cold but bright and sunny and our
hopes were tainted by reality: no recent postings from Cecil Wampler Road
(where I saw my first Snowy several weeks ago) or from the White Wave Plant.
We pulled in across the road from the White Wave Plant to survey the area from
Rte. 11 but to no avail. We decided to head west on 257/Dinkel Road; shortly
we pulled into the driveway of the First Russian Baptist Church to let traffic
pass and there the owl was, perched on a light pole towards the rear of the
property above a parked bus. Amazingly no other birders were there, nary a
scope in sight (including the one we didn't have), but the owl was very
tolerant of us. We slowly approached it on foot but with no cover until we
were within 150' of the pole. It took note of us but, seemingly, with no
alarm. After about 20 minutes, the owl lifted off and wheeled back to the east
and settled in a corn field behind the White Wave Plant, still visible to us.
In the time we were viewing it, two vehicles pulled in out of curiosity and
then left without fanfare. Due to the bird's relative lack of sharply
contrasted barring and its overall light coloring (it had some flecks of black
on the chest and some on the wings when it flew) we surmised that it/he was a
male. Perhaps others who have seen this bird can provide more expert
information. Yes, we have been to the Mount and, for two of us that trip
provided a life-bird; for the other, a second-ever sighting.
David I. White Jr. | 505 Park Plaza, Charlottesville VA | H: 434-296-4272 | C:
434-VISA25466-3636 | dizoo@xxxxxxxxxxx