COMMON BARN-OWL SIGHTED AT

WOOD LAKE NATURE CENTER

Betty Murphy

Because Bob Haire of North Oaks, MN

decided to look for warblers at Wood Lake

Nature Center in Richfield, on May II ,

1984, between I00 and 150 people had the

pleasure and excitement of seeing a Com-

mon Barn-Owl in Minnesota.

On May 10 the wind switched to the

SE. This brought a wave of warblers to

Wood Lake about noon . I reported seeing

14 species to the Rare Bird Alert. When

Bob heard this report, he decided to go to

Wood Lake early on May II .

At 8 a.m. Bob started along the wood-

land path to the north and west. About

8: 15 a.m. the movement of an American

Crow high in the trees on the north side of

the path (about where the rustic fence

ends) caught his attention. Bob says, "the

owl was originally spotted because a crow

was eyeball to eyeball with the bird (liter-

ally about six inches away). The crow was

giving the owl that particular close inspec-

tion that an inquisitive crow (not a fearful

crow) uses with any object of interest. The

crow gets its head in close, turns it side-

ways to the viewed object and 'scrutinizes'

it. The crow did give a couple of 'caws'

but they just didn't seem to be the heart-

felt 'squawks' usually heard with Great

Homed Owl harassment. The owl in turn

was bobbing its head (while holding the

head low) from side to side. What a curi-

ous dance the two were doing!"

The leaves on the trees were not fully

developed, and it was easy to see the bird

from the path. It was a clear day and light

conditions were good, with the sun low

and behind Bob . Bob identified the bird as

a Common Bam-Owl. He went to the Na-

ture Center and asked the naturalists , Tim

Anderson and Dan Belting , to look at the

owl. Tim and Dan agreed with Bob 's iden-

tification.

At 7 a.m. that morning I started to look

for migrant warblers in the Wood Lake

picnic area. Dan had seen me there, and he

came to tell me of the owl sighting. When

I saw the bird I agreed with the men's

identification of Bam Owl.

I stayed on the path to watch the owl

and the men went to the office to pass

along word of the Barn Owl sighting by

phone and in person. I asked everyone

who walked or jogged past me to tell any-

one with binoculars about the Bam Owl.

The owl closed its eyes and stayed on the

branch for about three hours, apparently

sleeping. When it stretched occasionally it

was possible to see the long , feathered legs

and the short tail. The small dark spots on

the white breast were clearly visible, with

the mixture of golden brown and gray

plumage on the sides and back contrasting

with the white of the face and underparts.

There was a crow's nest in a tree about

200 feet from the branch where the owl

was roosting. On three occasions during

the morning five crows flew briefly around

the owl's tree , but they did not go close to

the owl. A young crow could be heard

calling from the nest, and crow activity

most of the day appeared to be adults car-

rying food to the young.

Other birders soon arrived, some coming

to look for warblers and others as a result

of phone calls about the owl. The Gressers

set up their spotting scope for others to use

while they birded around the lake. Many

people just walking by were curious, and

they and several classes of school children

were able to see the Bam Owl through the

scope, as well as many birders.

Although the owl had been very still in

the morning with its eyes closed, it seemed

to wake up about noon , looked around

some, then changed its position so that it

was facing more into the wind. This pre-

sented a rear view from the path, but from

another path about 100 ft. to the NW it

was possible to also see the front view

clearly. When the branch was whipping

back and forth in the 40 mph gusts of

wind, the owl extended its wing to its full

Fall 1984

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