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There are birds more prized by North American birders than the Great Gray Owl , but not many*. Like many cold-weather creatures, the Great Gray Owl can to some extent trade altitude for latitude. We made our way to the spot that the owl had, according to our guides, last been seen. The owl wasn’t there.
One of the highlights of birding in this Texas state park is the chance to see five owl species that breed here. This is made even sweeter by the hope of seeing two extremely rare US visitors – the Mottled Owl and the Stygian Owl. Let’s enjoy the owls of Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Eastern Screech-Owl.
Just yesterday I learned that the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) is the only breeding bird found in New York that has been documented nesting in every month of the year. This bit of trivia was given in an article in my local bird club’s monthly newsletter about the ongoing breeding bird atlas in New York State.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for owls. Wander through my front door and glance upwards and you’ll find at least two watching you, a Tawny Owl and a Barn Owl , both sadly gathered as roadkills. Above our fireplace is a large painting of a Barn Owl.
It was dark when we reached our accommodation in the hillside village of Pachna, where we were greeted by a duet of Scops Owls. According to the taxonomists, these weren’t regular Scops Owls ( Otus scops ) but the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl ( Otus cyprius ). It was strange to hear it here in Cyprus.
Further down the road, we reach a derelict building with a large veranda hidden among the trees – an abandoned hunting lodge (if I were in a situation to invest, I would choose to upgrade this into a luxury wildlife lodge). Previous posts about the same tour: Melghat Tiger Reserve: The Search for the Rarest Owl of India.
A portable speaker is placed on the top of the car, playing Tawny Owl calls from a smartphone. Although we do enjoy it immensely, we are not doing it for fun, but to gather information on distribution, habitat choice and density of breeding pairs of owls for the first national and second pan-European atlas of breeding birds.
Two more aspects contribute to bird diversity: these are the inner city waters, so hunting is forbidden, and the Danube rarely freezes, and even then it would be the last water to freeze. Yes, other species easier to spot in winter include the Long-eared Owl and the Peregrine , but I am not going to discuss their whereabouts openly.
I was chatting with Gordon about this and we discussed how drones could be a safer way to get photos of birds or document birds for breeding surveys, but he was quick to point out, “You and I already have an idea of what a safe distance would be to test that out with an active bald eagle nest. How close is too close?
Swifts are aplenty, one is likely to see Gray-rumped , Band-rumped , or Short-tailed Swift hunting insects each morning. Even having a conversation at night can prove difficult, as we are often interrupted by the wail of a Common Potoo , or the intermittent hooting of a Tropical Screech-Owl.
Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. With the proposed hunting seasons on sandhill cranes being discussed in Tennessee, Kentucky and Wisconsin, we must not forget the whooping crane, which travels and winters in the big sandhill crane flocks. Another thing to consider.
commented further: “With a little work some species can be seen quite easily such as the divers, scaup, scoter, Goosander , Garganey and Long-eared Owl. Cranes breed in very small numbers in UK but are always impressive en masse. And also Golden Oriole because of its good looks, even though the UK has one tiny breeding site.”.
As I neared the shore, I spooked a hunting Striated Heron who in turn spooked a Neotropic Cormorant hunting the shallow water. The subtle white edging to the gape of this bird indicates it is near breeding time. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. But I quickly realized this was no slow morning. Black-crowned Night Heron. Great Egret.
It was our second trip out on this piece of highway this year and sadly the second deceased Barn Owl. Unfortunately we have only ever seen dead Barn Owls in the Broome area and one day it would be nice to see a bird hunting over the land. Grass Owls are also present in the area, but remain off our bird list.
These birds (usually juveniles) are clearly linked to the growing breeding population in the region. Pallid Swifts were already back at their breeding sites, while the marshes provided a host of waders, including year-ticks such as Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and Kentish Plover. These are Dunlins.
Win a Copy of Hawks at a Distance Great Horned Owl Taking a Deer Leg Cats Are Still Public Enemy Number One, For Birds Crossley ID Guide Giveaway Winners.Or • Explore These Related Posts More Habitat for Snowy Plover? RECENT POSTS More Habitat for Snowy Plover? Wicked, right?
— and link that to something abut the Great Grey Owl and my BFF Analiese Miller who is an amazing, emerging, photographer who has recently trained her 300mm Cannon F4 lens on the birds (including the Great Grey) at Sax Zim. Birds Cassin''s Auk crows Great Grey Owl Mass Death research' You see, it is all connected.
We immediately headed to an undisclosed location where Carlos had breeding Mangrove Cuckoos staked out. Anyway, we arrived, spotted a Great Horned Owl in flight and waited and waited and waited. In fact, the owls were so disgusted by Carlos’s presence that one of them vomited upon seeing him.
Who knows, maybe luck will be with me and a Northern Pygmy Owl will show. Other birds that I lack a specific plan for but that might be kind enough to show up anyway include Hammond’s Flycatcher and Macgillavry’s Warbler , both potential lifers for which I can’t seem to find a way to include plans to specifically hunt down.
Wader watching in spring is always exciting, as so many of these birds are transformed when they acquire their breeding finery. A few breed locally, and in March I went out twice at dusk to watch for roding (displaying) males: I saw single birds on both occasions. Always a good bird to see: a Short-eared Owl.
This years bird number 1300, the Whiskered Screech Owl, was found in the dark, in a snow storm, and no photo was gotten. Wandering the Sydney Australia Botanical Gardens, there were a large number of birds that could have made this list, like the Powerful Owl, but this photo of Little Wattlebird is one of my favorites from the area.
I was fortunate to rack up a number of lifers in 2013, both at home and abroad ( Varied Thrush in Washington, Brewer’s Blackbirds in California, Burrowing Owl in the Nevada desert). Larry adds our second owl species to this list of stellar birds. It was a race between the Snowy Plover and the Spotted Owl.
Migrants will be around but their hormone driven urges to get back to the breeding grounds for procreation make them less than reliable on count day. Scouting for race day : Another high point, although this could also be viewed as a low point if scouted species pull a no-show on race day. And yes, the need is desperate.
So, curious about which birds nest in two places, I quickly found out that it’s Phainopepla, a western bird, a relief because I was concerned that it might have implications for my data collection for the NYS Breeding Bird Atlas. copyright @2020 by David A llen Sibley. The Portfolio of Birds is comprised of 87 2-page spreads.
This species, one of the heaviest birds able to fly, was once common through most of southern and central Europe and all the way to Mongolia, but was driven to extinction by hunting and changes in agricultural practises in most of its European range during the 19th and early 20th century.
Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. There are distinct differences between Eastern Screech-Owl morphs.
home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?! Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?! Tomorrow, MARCH 15, 2011, is the deadline for public comment on a proposal to hunt sandhill cranes in Kentucky. Kentucky Dept.
Yes, Germans were a particularly supersticious breed in the days of old, and would not dare to use the word devil even when cursing. You see, in German we have three distinct words for different groups of owls. The eagle-owls of the genus Bubo are all called “Uhu“. Yupp, you read that correctly.
Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. Larry’s BBOTY – Great Gray Owl. What was yours? Maybe I should not say that….who
John from A DC Birding Blog , and Patrick from The Hawk Owl’s Nest at Jamaica Bay at 8 AM Saturday morning for some birding. The Red-winged Blackbirds that were busy staking claims to breeding territory by singing from bushes, trees, and marsh plants were not groggy at all.
Bang Pra is a reservoir and no-hunting area to the south east of Bangkok. Our next rarity was a Thick-billed Warbler , followed almost immediately by an Asian Barred Owlet , a bird I was very pleased with as a) I spotted it and b) I usually miss owls. Next we drove to the local bird breeding centre.
How much do you know about owls? I’ve been fortunate to encounter many owls in my birding life, sometimes because I’m looking for them, sometimes happily by happenstance. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read. I don’t think so.
Here local hunters had known about the colony and for generations had been harvesting the birds by simply picking the adults off their nests during the breeding season. The rare Rufous Fishing Owl was one of the many species seen by the group here.
Logging roads have opened up vast areas to commercial hunting, leading to industrial-scale poaching and a more than 60 per cent drop in the region’s Forest Elephant population in less than a decade. At the same time, 50% of the Congo Basin forest has now been allocated for logging and this region loses close to 1.5
Snowy Owl, Long Island, NYS. This was a special Snowy Owl encounter in a year of many Snowy Owls. It was, indeed, a Snowy Owl. I drove to the other end of the lot and watched the owl fly back to its meal, smack in the middle of the empty lot. How often does one have a Snowy Owl all to one’s self?
Another Nanhui trip also brought a Northern Boobook , which eBird nicely describes as a “slender brown owl with comically expressive golden eyes” While one would think that such a fierce-looking bird mainly lives off larger prey, this is not the case. It did not seem to bother the owl much though. Oh, the excitement.
Breeding behaviour and plumage was very apparent, but John Wise , an ex-pat Brit now resident in Orlando, told me that the birds’ activities had been held up for a couple of weeks during a cold snap that saw frosts in Florida. Mike Mar 5th, 2011 at 1:32 pm Those egrets in breeding plumage are absolutely exquisite!
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