FW: Long-Eared Owl at Garr RanchMarch 1st

["Eric Huish" <poorwill_ at hotmail dot com>]

Birdnet Email -- from the website

----Original Message Follows----
It was submitted by LaNita Larsen and Amy Owen
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Subject: Long-Eared Owl at Garr Ranch?March 1st

Email_Address: amyowen11@earthlink.net

Message: On Monday afternoon, we took advantage of the lovely weather to 
drive to Antelope Island.  The Northern Shrike was still hanging out part 
way down the road to Garr Ranch, and we also spent time observing a Prairie 
Falcon perched on a large rock east of the road.

On arrival at the ranch, we walked in the snow and through the back gate, 
not expecting to see much of anything.  But as we all know, sometimes the 
trouble is well worth the effort.  A Long-eared Owl was perched fairly 
close-by in the thicket and we also had satisfactory bino views of the owl 
hunting in the trees by the spring.  But it soon moved behind to the open 
meadow.  We rushed around to the back to see if we could find it again. We 
observed it there for over 30 minutes.  It was truly spectacular in every 
respect, affording us wonderful opportunities to study the behavior and 
field marks.  (On other occasions, we have only seen Long-eared owls in 
meadow thickets and heavy undergrowth.)  As it was actively hunting, we 
watched it launch several attacks without success.  But finally the owl flew 
almost straight toward us and out over the unbroken snow of the meadow. 
Without warning, it plummeted into the snow and came up with a dark vole.  
It was an amazing performance, completely accomplished by the owl?s 
astonishing ability to hunt by sound!

Our oddest sighting of the day was a large porcupine perched on an 
improbably slender branch, happily munching on the berries at the top of a 
Russian olive tree.


LaNita Larsen and Amy Owen

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