Hi all As the snow flew today, I found myself looking at the birds in the yard wondering if anything different may show up. Nope, as the morning disappeared, all I had seen was the usual crowd: Lesser Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Spotted Towhees and those pesky introduced birds: House Sparrows and Eurasian Collared Doves!
Then, all of a sudden, a speeding brown "ball" came rocketing towards the house, low over the snow, straight at the bird feeders, only to veer and crash into a 'never cleaned' window and collapse into the snow underneath. I was aghast to realise that it was a first for the yard, a Northern Pygmy Owl, now lying helpless and seeming lifeless in the snow. Lest a Magpie or anything else took advantage, I picked it up, having realised that it was still alive, and placed it on its belly in a clear plastic box covered with a towel, in a darkened room. I carefully lifted the towel some 40 minutes later - it was now standing up and staring at me! I left it alone for another hour or more, until I decided to examine it more closely. It seemed in fine shape, so I scared off the Cooper's Hawk that was sitting watching the Juncos, waiting for the Eurasian Collared Doves to return after its last failed dash to grab one.. Denise took a couple of pics as I examined the owl, before I released it, whereupon it flew strongly into the Choke Cherry and the Juncos scattered. After just a few minutes it moved trees, and then after a few minutes more it headed off into the falling snow. Good luck buddy - it's destined to be -10F tonight, and I hope you sustained no serious internal injuries from our 'never-cleaned' glass. Only our third owl species for the yard, the previous being several Great Horneds, and a single Saw-whet that spent a winter's day in the spruce by the back door, next to the bird table.. Interesting day! Best wishes Dick Filby Carbondale, Garfield County -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/VI1PR0802MB25606A10C95E813D0B30F0F4B2630%40VI1PR0802MB2560.eurprd08.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
