Evening With The Owls

I have wanted to see Owls for a while. Most of them are out at night and many people Id them by their call. Not good enough to do that yet.

Nels Nelson had reported a Great Horned Owl out at Milne Rd. He had a really close up photo. I had seen one out there but it was across the Freeway and didn't get a good look. Got a so, so, Photo.

So I emailed Nels and he told me exactly where to go to find the owl. When I looked it up on ebird  there had also been some Short-eared Owls in the same area. So Nels said to be at the corner of Milne rd and Harrington at 5:30 and I'd have a good chance to see it.

My friend Nancy wanted to see an Owl in person so her and I and Daphne got in the car and headed out. Daphne of course fell asleep which I expected. We finally found the barn we were told to look for the owl at.

Yep, there it was. In the window of the barn. It was actually very exciting to see it. I took a few pictures from the car then got out and got a few more. We stayed there for about 15 min. just watching.
Decided to head for home. On the way out saw my first Rough-legged Hawk. Got a bonus with seeing a Short-eared Owl. At first I thought it was a hawk. Watched through my bins and he turned his head and it was an owl. Took a few pictures before it took off. What a beautiful bird.
So all in all it was a great evening.

Banded Bird

Reported my first banned bird. It was very exciting to see the tag on it.

Went out to Commonwealth Lake and was watching a flock of about 300 Cackling Geese. In the middle was a bird with a yellow band on it's neck. I knew it was to be reported. Posted on OBOL and a couple guys told me how to report it. Steve Nord told me he was there after me and the flock was still there but flew off before he got close enough to see them.

It's funny how an hour can make a difference in the bird sitings in a certain place.  I didn't see the Great Egret that's usually there but he did. It's interesting.

It will be interesting to get the report and see where this Cackling came from. Something to look forward to.


Here is Y3*