At 5:38 PM I spotted an owl flying away from me! I didn’t get binoculars on it in time, and from the angle and distance it would have been hard to ID even if I did.
I want to say from size and shape it may have been a great horned owl, but I’m not sure.
We went to Sax-Zim bog this afternoon and found so many spring tails jumping around! I dare use the other common name, because it did make me hopeful for spring. The longer we have warm temperatures, the more bearable this winter becomes. We walked leisurely along the trail behind the visitors center before driving at dusk to look for mammals.
Tonight from 5:00-7:30pm I went out to check my atlas block for the 1st time this year! It was a warm, windless evening, but dusk occurs now while after-work traffic is still relatively high. So, some of the spots I surveyed last spring close to the highway were too noisy. I went to Wisconsin Point to listen at 0.5 mi intervals along the road within my block, but no owls! It seems like such a great location for owls, and maybe it is, but I’ve never had luck surveying there. That’s the most well-birded area in my block, and also a place I’ve checked quite a bit by evening/night. Yet, the woman who reported the GHOW calling in Lester Park last night mentioned she didn’t hear the owl this evening in the dusk hours. It’s a good reminder that individual owls can be particular and only call within a certain time window, so perhaps I’m missing the ones that are there.
Tonight, someone reported a great horned owl calling from a local park, so I figure it’s time to start listening for nocturnal species!
In 2016, a lucky Clark Co. residence ended up with a gray-crowned rosy finch! In winter 2015 a brambling appeared at a northern feeder. Also watch your feeders for the very rare but possible…