Not be deterred by the prediction of a massive winter storm I headed out early Saturday morning to see if I could track down any owls. I headed up to the Pole farm and encountered snow on the way which was rather surprising. By the time I got to the Pole farm is was snowing and blowing pretty heavily. I started by looking for Short eared owls (SEO) but if there were any, they were tightly tucked in and not braving the inclement weather. I initially thought that this might be too early for SEO but I saw two SEOs at this location last year in early January. Something that I did not realize is that SEO migration is irruptive in nature, so this could very well be a slow year for them.
Anyway, from there I swung by a nice little pond that has several hundred Canada geese and a single snow goose tucked in with the crowds. With snow in my ear and a chilled nose I headed over to my Long eared owl roosting spot to see if I could track them down. Sadly I found no owls, nor did I find any evidence of owls. I searched the evergreens for Saw whet but struck out in this department too.
I decided the snow wasn’t great for birding so I jumped back in my heated car and made for home. The snow cleared out pretty quickly heading North and I decided to stop by a nice field close to home. The field has a small cedar grove on the edge of it and I found pellets there last year in March. After doing my best CSI imitation I struck out again. On the plus side I did manage to scare up a few Winter wrens which were great.
One thing about owling is that persistence generally pays off. The more places you look, the luckier you become – generally. I had another hour to kill so I decided to swing by Round valley reservoir. Last winter I heard some crows harassing something in a pretty large evergreen stand and I decided to check it out. Again, I found nothing although the location is EXCELLENT for owls. Even though I struck out I will definitely go back to this evergreen stand to check it out later in the winter. How was your weekend? Any owls?
5 comments:
Wow,you are persistant and that is a good thing. I hardly ever see owls and only in flight when too dark to capture a good photograph. I need to let my neighbors know that I need a ring up if they know they have owls near by. Best of luck next journey out~
Hi Mary,
Thanks for popping in! Persistence combined with a massive amount of luck is key when looking for owls. I'm hoping that my luck will change during the winter months.....;-)
Ran into your blog researching today to see if anyone else had been to the Pole Farm and see any owls lately. Guess not, based on your post yesterday. I live about 15 minutes away so I plan to go check back there on Monday when we return from holidays with family. I would love to see the owls flying over the snow if there's still snow left!
Robin
It was very interesting for me to read the post. Thank author for it. I like such topics and anything connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
Hi Robin1,
Nope no Short eared owls yet. I haven't seen anything reported on NJ birder either.
Than Anon, much appreciated.
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