[mou] MSP airport Snowy Owls

[A.J. Morales]

Jan 2nd my wife & I arrived noonish on Cargo rd at the
glycol building. Saw a few birdirs scanning on the
runway area (toward hwy 77). Some snow plows were
running that spooked one of the snowies; I got a short
flight pattern view (distance of approx 100 yds) that
was close to the groud!. Could not find the bird after
scanning another hour or so! Went to Ikea for some
shopping. Returned to Cargo Rd at approx 3:00PM.
Scanned another 1/2 hour all along Cargo Rd with no
luck!. As we gave up, just before heading under the
2nd tunnel(away from FedEx), I caught a large white
'snowball' in the distance (100-150 yds away) on one
of the red runway markers (on the airport side of
Cargo rd just to the right of Ikea in the background).
I backed the car out of the tunnel & scanned with the
binocs; SUCCESS! What excitement! Continued in reverse
to park the car. Set up the scope & what a sight! The
Owl was perched on runway marker K22-4. My wife and I
were absolutely thrilled to see this 'lifer' bird. We
flagged down other birders driving into the area. I
managed to get a few decent handheld 'digiscoped'
images (slow shutter speed due to heavy overcast). The
bird was facing us and was very light in color with
all white on the head. The wing pattern was a bit
darker looking like the bird was wearing a grey vest.
Thanks to  all the other birders we met for sharing an
amazing experience! 

AJ Morales 
Shakopee, MN







		
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