Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 17:32:22 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> From: "Paul P." <cheep@EROLS.COM> Subject: Short-eared Owl at National Airport Comments: To: Janni Ottavio <coeligena@hotmail.com> Comments: cc: Shawn Padgett <Vafalcons@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Today (Sat, 11/16), Rob Hilton found a SHORT-EARED OWL at National Airport. He first found the bird at about 8:40 am while it was hunting over the grass near the runways. Rob was viewing it from across the river, at Hains Point. I arrived shortly after that, and we waited and watched until about 9:30 am for it to show up again. It hunted low over the fields, at times out of sight because it was below a low ridge. Eventually it invaded the air space of a PEREGINE, and we had a wonderful view as they parried (the falcon clearly had the upper hand). The owl clearly didn't like being below the Peregrine, my guess is that it felt vulnerable in that position, so it flew up high towards the river (we believe it actually entered DC airspace). As it flew past the top of a large, mostly red radar structure we could see that the Peregrine had perched on the structure. The owl eventually turned south and perched briefly on a post at the south end of the airport. A minute later it dropped down to the ground, out of sight. We watched the area a little while longer, but it never showed itself. Standing at Hains, with our scopes pointing towards the airport, especially for that amount of time gave sufficient cause for the Park Police to stop by and talk to us. The officer was incredibly nice, and after he checked us out he said it was OK for us to continue to stay there. Nice to see that they're on top of these sorts of things, and just as nice that we were able to stay. On a related note, yesterday (Friday, 11/15) I saw 2 birds that I'm 99% sure were PEREGRINES sitting atop the Railroad bridge over the Potomac. They were distant (on was on my bike, w/o bins), but the size, shape & appearance were right - matching what I had been seeing all last winter and spring. What's notable about this is that it's the first time I've 2 birds there since last June. Back in June an adult female Peregrine was picked up out of the river just south of the bridge, but she eventually died. I understand she had just laid eggs too. In any case, I saw a single bird there a day or two after that incident (presumably its mate), but that bird took off for the summer. In late Sept. I saw 1 bird back on the bridge, but the next sighting wasn't for another month, in late Oct. Since then I've occasionally seen 1 bird on the bridge. So I was happy to see the 2 birds yesterday. Hopefully this is a sign that the pair will stick around for the winter, and perhaps try to breed again next year. Good birding, Paul Pisano Arlington, VA cheep@erols.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================