Evening Birdwatching
Tonight a few of us from the Cattaraugus County Bird Club went in search of the Short-eared Owl! It has been a few years since anyone has recorded them within the county and I would like to add them to my county list. In years past we have traveled to see these birds in the neighboring counties. I still remember that one owl in Genesee County that landed on a telephone pole right next to our vehicle. It would hunt the field right next to us and then return back to that same pole. If only I had my camera on me!! Then there were those 5 or 6 Short-eared Owls in Niagara County that decided to roost in someone’s Christmas decorated shrubs right next to their house. They looked like very large ornaments but these ornaments would disappear one by one once it got dark. I now wonder what we might encounter here in Cattaraugus County?
We started the adventure in an area heavily population by the Amish because they have what we think is the Short-eared Owl’s preferred hunting habitat (hay stacks, large open fields and fence post). Early evening we located our first of the seasons Northern Shrike and light phased Rough-legged Hawk (sorry about the picture below, it was quite a distance away). I hope that in the next few months that I will see more of them and get some better pictures to post.
About 20 minutes before dusk, Tim saw an accipiter in the tree which we needed to investigated closer. It was spooked and as soon as it took flight we were confident that it was an immature Coopers Hawk. But, what we didn’t expect was that it would be chased by another bird of prey. Tim was outside the vehicle with a better view and asked if we had seen the Merlin!! Mike and I quickly jumped out of the vehicle and said, “Merlin”?? Tim pointed to the tree that it was sitting in (photo below) and became very excited. After we all got some wonderful looks we tried to get closer and of course it took flight again. We tried to follow it but the Merlin disappeared while chasing some starlings. I strongly cropped this picture to make it full framed but the picture of it in flight shows its field marks better. This is a species who’s population in this area have been increasing over the past few years and could be our first winter record for this bird. No doubt that it was the best bird of the night.
Obviously we didn’t find any Short-eared Owls but we did had a fun trying. I will be attending a workshop organized by The Nature Conservancy for the next few days. I am not sure when I will be able to update the blog again but I promise to put some good stuff on here soon.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 