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Re: Great Gray Owls

From:

Denise Ryan

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:06:52 -0500

Not to get off the subject - but I just got back from scratching that Great Gray Owl itch in Northern MN.  You don't know real cold until your coffee spills out of the cup and freezes before it hits the ground. Good show up there.  They were as plentiful as Red-tails along the highway on a good day.  Saw them in a variety of habitats - in birch woods, in conifers, perched on posts in farm fields or pastures, high on utility poles, high up on broken off trees, next to houses, in the bogs and tamaracks and along water.  Given the cold up there, it was easiest to find them on the sunniest side of any habitat sleeping and soaking in the sun.  They are so big, that they stick out if you keep your eyes peeled. 
 
The Boreal Owl was a much bigger challenge, but the Black-Capped Chickadee brigade led me to my only Boreal Owl, and it was very stressed out.  The biggest difference was the Boreal was in very, very thick conifers and did a good job ducking under tree boughs heavy with snow, and enough snow cover to cover their whole body.  If it wasn't for the Chickadees, I would have never found it.  So keep your ears open and listen for the mob of Chickadees or crows chasing the owls too. 
 
Hope it helps y'all in thinking about habitat and places to look for owls around here.  That was a good note about burning those field marks into your brain - especially the difference between Saw-Whet and Boreal.  Good luck and Good Birding! 
 
Denise Ryan 
Washington, DC 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On 
Behalf Of Bob Ringler 
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 6:45 PM 
To:  
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Great Gray Owls 
 
 
   This comes under the category of Someone Needs to Look.  This afternoon from 3:30-5:15 I visited Gunpowder Falls State Park where Jennifer Branch joins the Big Gunpowder near Harford Road (DeLorme 58A3, ADC 28J2).  I walked about a half mile downstream from Harford Road crossing Jennifer Branch.  This is riparian woods with lots of sycamores.  The steep slopes above the river are heavily forested with beech and oak.  It looks like excellent Barred Owl habitat and a Great Gray could hide here easily.  Upstream on the south side are the National Guard Armory and the Hickey School; on the north side the National Guard Training Site and the police shooting range, all of it forested.  I also worked up Jennifer Branch to above the powerline cut.  There is a major power junction and substation here with dozens of big towers sprouting from an extensive broomsedge field with woods along the edge.  This should be a good hunting area.  Housing developments press in close  against the park and power company property.