[mou] Snowy Owl at MSP
Cheryl Steinmueller
csteinmuel@prodigy.net
Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:02:06 -0800 (PST)
--0-1639372401-1136563326=:36070
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Mark Alt has asked everyone to report their sightings of Snowy Owls at the airport so I'll add my report, even though it's from 3:45 pm on Sunday, January 1. My husband and I drove to Cargo Road and came out of the first tunnel. Immediately to our left were the blue tanks and building that I recognized from MOU postings as the glycol reprocessing facility (thank you for the good description on Dec. 23, Jim Williams). We turned into it's driveway and followed that to the backside of the building where we could safely park. Two other birders were looking for the owls when we arrived. We joined them. I made a quick scan of all the fences and runway markers, hoping that the owls would be perched where we could easlily see them (from this spot you can basicly look West, North, and East but not South). No such luck. I remembered my friend's advice that a Snowy Owl will often sit on the ground and look like a chunk of the surrounding dirty snow. I wasn't looking forward to th
e
effort, but began to examine every bump that I could see along the ground - out along the taxiways beyond the security fence. I started by looking West and slowly covered the area with my binoculars, intending to turn North and then East to cover everything in my sight. When I got to a Northwest heading, however, I stopped. There were two lumps near a runway/taxiway sign that was facing away from us (ie. the backside of the sign - it looks like a dark metal box from the back). One of the lumps had shown some movement! I watched for another minute and saw movement again. As I alerted the other birders and gave them directions, I realized that the landmarks on the horizon that I was using to guide them to the location of what I was seeing were the same as those I had read in Jon Conley's posting of Dec. 28th - "between Ikea and Sears in the background". You have to be familiar with The Mall of America and the Ikea store to recgonize those landmards in the distance, but
they're
helpful if you know them. This owl was directly below the two tall towers on the horizon. We got out our scope and saw the owl with the very heavily patterned black markings on back, breast, and cap of head and with white bib extending only to the chin. Her back was toward us but we could see her bib everytime she swiveled her head. We saw her front side later when she moved. I had origianally hoped that the other "lump" would also be an owl but it was just a lump of snow - same size and profile as the owl! We watched for 15 minutes, then packed up to leave. Got out again when three other cars pulled in - thought we'd save them the trouble of searching. Just as we got out, a Sun Country jet came along the taxiway next to where the owl was sitting. That caused her to fly to a more Westerly spot and perch on a runway sign, facing us. She was further away but we could now see more of her body. We watched her preening her feathers, then left the area at about 4:15pm. Hop
e these
tips will work for others who are looking for their first Snowy (it was a Lifer for me!) and hope that you will find a pattern to the owls' locations, Mark.
Cheri Steinmueller
Little Canada
--0-1639372401-1136563326=:36070
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
<DIV id=RTEContent>Mark Alt has asked everyone to report their sightings of Snowy Owls at the airport so I'll add my report, even though it's from 3:45 pm on Sunday, January 1. My husband and I drove to Cargo Road and came out of the first tunnel. Immediately to our left were the blue tanks and building that I recognized from MOU postings as the glycol reprocessing facility (thank you for the good description on Dec. 23, Jim Williams). We turned into it's driveway and followed that to the backside of the building where we could safely park. Two other birders were looking for the owls when we arrived. We joined them. I made a quick scan of all the fences and runway markers, hoping that the owls would be perched where we could easlily see them (from this spot you can basicly look West, North, and East but not South). No such luck. I remembered my friend's advice that a Snowy Owl will often sit on the ground and look like
a chunk
of the surrounding dirty snow. I wasn't looking forward to the effort, but began to examine every bump that I could see along the ground - out along the taxiways beyond the security fence. I started by looking West and slowly covered the area with my binoculars, intending to turn North and then East to cover everything in my sight. When I got to a Northwest heading, however, I stopped. There were two lumps near a runway/taxiway sign that was facing away from us (ie. the backside of the sign - it looks like a dark metal box from the back). One of the lumps had shown some movement! I watched for another minute and saw movement again. As I alerted the other birders and gave them directions, I realized that the landmarks on the horizon that I was using to guide them to the location of what I was seeing were the same as those I had read in Jon Conley's posting of Dec. 28th - "between Ikea and Sears in the background".
You have
to be familiar with The Mall of America and the Ikea store to recgonize those landmards in the distance, but they're helpful if you know them. This owl was directly below the two tall towers on the horizon. We got out our scope and saw the owl with the very heavily patterned black markings on back, breast, and cap of head and with white bib extending only to the chin. Her back was toward us but we could see her bib everytime she swiveled her head. We saw her front side later when she moved. I had origianally hoped that the other "lump" would also be an owl but it was just a lump of snow - same size and profile as the owl! We watched for 15 minutes, then packed up to leave. Got out again when three other cars pulled in - thought we'd save them the trouble of searching. Just as we got out, a Sun Country jet came along the taxiway next to where the owl was sitting. That caused her to fly to a more Westerly spot and perch on a
runway
sign, facing us. She was further away but we could now see more of her body. We watched her preening her feathers, then left the area at about 4:15pm. Hope these tips will work for others who are looking for their first Snowy (it was a Lifer for me!) and hope that you will find a pattern to the owls' locations, Mark. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Cheri Steinmueller</DIV> <DIV>Little Canada</DIV>
--0-1639372401-1136563326=:36070--