[mou] BOREAL OWL and Bohemian Waxwings in POLK COUNTY

[Paul Budde]

Posted for another...
________________________________________
From: mnbird-admin@lists.mnbird.net [mailto:mnbird-admin@lists.mnbird.net]
On Behalf Of Emery, Nathaniel G
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 5:13 PM
To: mnbird@lists.mnbird.net
Subject: [mnbird] BOREAL OWL and Bohemian Waxwings in POLK COUNTY

This morning I was at the Agassiz Environmental Learning Center in Fertile,
Minnesota waiting to assist 5th graders from Bagley with a winter survival
course.  I was waiting for the bus at 0915 when the whistle of waxwings
filled my ears.  I looked around but couldn't see them so after 5 minutes I
decided to get up and go look for them.  First I saw a flock in the tops of
the trees near the entrance drive to the Nature Center.  Soon flock after
flock came in and filled branches of trees and shrubs like Christmas lights.
To my surprise they were all Bohemians.  I scanned the flock that spanned
from the entrance all the way along the Sandhill River to the Texas River
Crossing for about 10 minutes but didn't see a Cedar Waxwing in the area.  I
estimated the number of birds to be 200+.

            Smiling and walking back towards the Nature Center a flash of
movement caught my eye near the river.  I looked and immediately thought it
was a small hawk.  Just as I began to raise my binoculars I realized that it
wasn't a hawk at all, but rather a small owl.  I have been reading about
northern owls recently and looking over specimens at the UMC wildlife museum
and from my mental catalog assumed that it was a Northern Saw-whet Owl.  It
was perched just above bank height in an ash that was leaning over the
river.  I walked to within 15 feet of it, gathered some mental notes, and
took a few pictures with my disposable camera.  After 10 minutes I walked
back to the Nature Center excited to tell UMC student Jessica Sattler and
Program Instructor Kirsten Fuglseth about my find.  Beaming I escorted Jess
back out to the bird and we viewed it for another 5 minutes before leaving.
Neither time had it seemed alarmed and hardly acknowledged our existence.  I
decided to consult a field guide and used Peterson's Field Guide of Eastern
Birds and realized that I needed to go back and confirm whether it was a
Saw-whet or Boreal Owl.  Returning I found him less than 10 feet from the
road at another perch just above bank height.  This time I looked for the
pattern of white spots on the forehead, a heavy black outline on the face,
the shape of the head, and the color of the bill.  It had rounded spots, a
definite black outline around the facial disc, a flat-topped head, and I
commented to Jess that the color of the bill was Ivory.  Realizing that it
was a Boreal Owl and a big deal I told Kirsten and others.  Before going out
on one of the segments of survival course being offered I walked out once
again.  Grumbling to myself about leaving a nice camera that I borrow home,
I broke my own rule for viewing wildlife and crept as close as I could.
When my hand was less than 3 feet from the bird I decided to back off and
discontinue the photo shoot.   Returning to the Nature Center after taking
the kids cross country skiing and knowing that others might be interested I
called Laura Bell at UMC at ~1150 and asked her to spread the word around
the Natural Resources Department.

I checked on the bird more than 4 times before Kirsten made the announcement
that there was a rare owl in the area that I had been keeping my eye on.
After lunch I lead the entire group of about 60 students plus 10 adults to
see the very tame owl.  People associate much better with owl than they do
waxwing or warbler so the announcement generated a good buzz and everyone
was excited to go see it.  At 1210 everyone walked out to the edge of the
road and the children leaned over the snow bank 10 feet from the bird and
talked and laughed as I explained the ecology of the bird and why it would
be this far south when it lives in Canada.  After a few minutes the kids
left and I went in for lunch.  Around 1255 Dr. John Loegering, his wife
Lisa, and Laura Bell (all faculty or staff of the University of Minnesota,
Crookston) arrived and I played guide only to realize that it was no longer
on the perch that it had sunned and ignored my presence from for the past 3
or more hours.  Searching towards the golf course I relocated the owl from
the bridge that allows golf carts to cross the Sandhill River just up the
hill from the Texas River Crossing.  I called to Laura and she kept her eye
on it while I went back to get the Loegering's who had begun searching the
river in the opposite direction.  When the three of us returned Laura had
moved onto the golf course and we followed the owl as it would fly from
perch to perch along the river, each time being very near the water.  After
consulting National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America I
had confirmation that it was indeed a Boreal Owl.  We packed up and were on
our way back when the bird flew within 2 feet of Dr. Loegering's head
bringing out attention back to the bird.  After soon returning near it's
"original" perches we met with Jessica and Kirsten and we took more pictures
through a spotting scope and eventually decided we had enough good looks at
him and packed up near 1410.

This bird was definitely sunning and lazy early in the day but was quite
active from ~1300 hours until we left.  There were no plunges observed.
Online resources describe this species as nocturnal and finding refuge in
dense vegetation but this individual was in the open on unobstructed perches
from the time it was initially observed until our departure.  According to
the County Occurrence of Minnesota Birds, the Boreal Owl has never been
observed in Polk County.

A few digital pictures did turn out but I will wait until my film is
developed and scanned to post any of them.

Cute as the dickens!

Nate Emery
Fertile, Polk County