1/30/11 Long Lake (northern Hamilton County) At 5 p.m. yesterday (1/29/11), a Barred Owl flew by our kitchen window. I ran to the window and found the bird perched by the house, intently looking under the porch (a full story under this section). It dropped down, out of my sight, but returned to the same branch within a few seconds with what appeared to be a vole in its talons. The bird transferred the vole to its beak and threw its head back 3 to 4 times to swallow the prey (unlike the Great Gray Owl I observed in Potsdam a few years ago that swallowed its prey in one movement). I was just about to clean out the ashes in our woodstove, and I waited so I wouldnt disturb the bird, but it didnt leave. Eventually, I had to go out of the house (as did our 2 dogs) and the owl seemed unfazed. It continued to perch in the same exact spot until 8 a.m. this morning (I checked on it throughout the night). It did not leave for long, and has been perched in the same spot for most of the day. (Occasionally, it flies to the trees behind our garage, but returns within a few minutes.)
After I watched the Barred Owl consume the vole last evening, it continued to intently look under the porch, but it kept turning its head toward the road. Eventually, I heard snowmobilers going by, and the noise appeared to be bothering the owl. I was observing the owl through a window and I decided to make one sound. The owl immediately looked at me! I did it a couple more times to insure it was not a coincidence, and the owl immediately looked at me each time. Their sense of hearing is remarkable. For an animal with such an acute sense of hearing, many of our human-engineered, loud sounds (noises) must be very bothersome. The ~60 Evening Grosbeaks and a couple hundred redpolls that have been visiting our feeders each day, stayed perched in the trees this morning without dropping down to the feeders. By 8 a.m., the Black-capped Chickadees drove the Barred Owl from its perch with a loud round of non-stop DEE-DEE-DEEs (they leave off the chick-a when they are very disturbed). What would all the other bird species do without Black-capped Chickadees?! (We have a baby monitor set up outside to bring in the sounds, so I was able to hear what was going on.) The finches were very skittish and did not perch long at the feeders. With so many Evening Grosbeaks visiting, Ive been putting seed on our porch floors, which is where they prefer to feed. Some of it falls through the cracks, which is no doubt attracting the Barred Owls prey. Barred Owls are having another difficult winter with little food available in the forest, resulting in constant reports of birds perched along the highways, flying in front of cars, and at feeder locations. I observed one female Hoary Redpoll this morning. Chris Bennett of Delaware and two of his friends traveled up last weekend and observed 2 female Hoary Redpolls at our feeders. 1/29/11 Sabattis Bog (Hamilton County) When I get sick of snowshoeing with our dogs each day, I drive them to Sabattis Bog where I can bare-boot along the road and the dogs dont have to struggle through the snow. As we drove away from the bog, we startled a Barred Owl from its perch along the road. 1/23/11 A Brown Creeper sang one song! 1/21/11 A Brown Creeper was roosting for nearly ½ hour on a cherry tree outside my window (probably part of a mixed flock, and the Black-capped Chickadees were at the feeders). The Common Redpolls kept flying at the creeper trying to get it to move or leave it was actually rather comical. The creeper ignored them. 1/13/11 & 1/15/11 Roosevelt Truck Trail I skied the Roosevelt Truck Trail, which is located between Newcomb and Minerva, with the Cold River Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, and again with my husband, George Yellott, and Pat & John Thaxton two days later. Boreal Chickadees were heard on both trips. The habitat is mature spruce-fir with very little understory a place to check for Cape May Warblers in spring! There are 3 wheelchair accessible campsites along this trail. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
