Posted for another... ________________________________________ From: mnbird-ad...@lists.mnbird.net [mailto:mnbird-ad...@lists.mnbird.net] On Behalf Of Emery, Nathaniel G Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 5:13 PM To: mnb...@lists.mnbird.net Subject: [mnbird] BOREAL OWL and Bohemian Waxwings in POLK COUNTY
This morning I was at the Agassiz Environmental Learning Center in Fertile, Minnesota waiting to assist 5th graders from Bagley with a winter survival course. I was waiting for the bus at 0915 when the whistle of waxwings filled my ears. I looked around but couldn't see them so after 5 minutes I decided to get up and go look for them. First I saw a flock in the tops of the trees near the entrance drive to the Nature Center. Soon flock after flock came in and filled branches of trees and shrubs like Christmas lights. To my surprise they were all Bohemians. I scanned the flock that spanned from the entrance all the way along the Sandhill River to the Texas River Crossing for about 10 minutes but didn't see a Cedar Waxwing in the area. I estimated the number of birds to be 200+. Smiling and walking back towards the Nature Center a flash of movement caught my eye near the river. I looked and immediately thought it was a small hawk. Just as I began to raise my binoculars I realized that it wasn't a hawk at all, but rather a small owl. I have been reading about northern owls recently and looking over specimens at the UMC wildlife museum and from my mental catalog assumed that it was a Northern Saw-whet Owl. It was perched just above bank height in an ash that was leaning over the river. I walked to within 15 feet of it, gathered some mental notes, and took a few pictures with my disposable camera. After 10 minutes I walked back to the Nature Center excited to tell UMC student Jessica Sattler and Program Instructor Kirsten Fuglseth about my find. Beaming I escorted Jess back out to the bird and we viewed it for another 5 minutes before leaving. Neither time had it seemed alarmed and hardly acknowledged our existence. I decided to consult a field guide and used Peterson's Field Guide of Eastern Birds and realized that I needed to go back and confirm whether it was a Saw-whet or Boreal Owl. Returning I found him less than 10 feet from the road at another perch just above bank height. This time I looked for the pattern of white spots on the forehead, a heavy black outline on the face, the shape of the head, and the color of the bill. It had rounded spots, a definite black outline around the facial disc, a flat-topped head, and I commented to Jess that the color of the bill was Ivory. Realizing that it was a Boreal Owl and a big deal I told Kirsten and others. Before going out on one of the segments of survival course being offered I walked out once again. Grumbling to myself about leaving a nice camera that I borrow home, I broke my own rule for viewing wildlife and crept as close as I could. When my hand was less than 3 feet from the bird I decided to back off and discontinue the photo shoot. Returning to the Nature Center after taking the kids cross country skiing and knowing that others might be interested I called Laura Bell at UMC at ~1150 and asked her to spread the word around the Natural Resources Department. I checked on the bird more than 4 times before Kirsten made the announcement that there was a rare owl in the area that I had been keeping my eye on. After lunch I lead the entire group of about 60 students plus 10 adults to see the very tame owl. People associate much better with owl than they do waxwing or warbler so the announcement generated a good buzz and everyone was excited to go see it. At 1210 everyone walked out to the edge of the road and the children leaned over the snow bank 10 feet from the bird and talked and laughed as I explained the ecology of the bird and why it would be this far south when it lives in Canada. After a few minutes the kids left and I went in for lunch. Around 1255 Dr. John Loegering, his wife Lisa, and Laura Bell (all faculty or staff of the University of Minnesota, Crookston) arrived and I played guide only to realize that it was no longer on the perch that it had sunned and ignored my presence from for the past 3 or more hours. Searching towards the golf course I relocated the owl from the bridge that allows golf carts to cross the Sandhill River just up the hill from the Texas River Crossing. I called to Laura and she kept her eye on it while I went back to get the Loegering's who had begun searching the river in the opposite direction. When the three of us returned Laura had moved onto the golf course and we followed the owl as it would fly from perch to perch along the river, each time being very near the water. After consulting National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America I had confirmation that it was indeed a Boreal Owl. We packed up and were on our way back when the bird flew within 2 feet of Dr. Loegering's head bringing out attention back to the bird. After soon returning near it's "original" perches we met with Jessica and Kirsten and we took more pictures through a spotting scope and eventually decided we had enough good looks at him and packed up near 1410. This bird was definitely sunning and lazy early in the day but was quite active from ~1300 hours until we left. There were no plunges observed. Online resources describe this species as nocturnal and finding refuge in dense vegetation but this individual was in the open on unobstructed perches from the time it was initially observed until our departure. According to the County Occurrence of Minnesota Birds, the Boreal Owl has never been observed in Polk County. A few digital pictures did turn out but I will wait until my film is developed and scanned to post any of them. Cute as the dickens! Nate Emery Fertile, Polk County