Folks

The first Snowy Owl I saw in Charles County was on the roof of a townhouse. 
The second one was on the roof of a single family home.  Snowy Owl don't 
normally know what trees are since they live in the high arctic.

Barn Owls are also white - Ghost Owls to some.

My two cents worth.

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "stanley arnold" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:44 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Snowy Owl report in Glen Burnie


> Hi Folks,
>
> I drove around the Glen Burnie neighborhood where the white owl was
> reported and stopped and had a nice conversation with John Schmid and
> his son Joshua.
>
> The neighborhood is very thickly settled, and not where one would
> expect to find any owl, thus it came as a real surprise to John.  John
> saw the owl at 10 p.m. last evening sitting on a very thick wire by a
> utility pole in front of his house.  He said the owl was very large
> and very white (illuminated by a street light).  John described the
> bird as having eyes in the front of the face, and having turned its
> head to look at him.  He got about a 30-second look before the bird
> flew off to the north.
>
> I don't know what to make of this; the most likely owl here based on
> my experience  would be Great Horned.  There is no habitat for Barred
> in the area, and even less so for Barn or Snowy.   Of course any owl
> could find itself enroute to somewhere else.
>
> Based on the rarity of Snowy Owl, and the unlikelihood of one being in
> this habitat, I would be more inclined to think that an albino owl was
> seen instead of a snowy, if indeed the owl were as white as described
> to me.
>
> Perplexing.  I checked out a couple of school yards in the immediate
> area, being the only open areas I could find, but saw nothing
> unexpected.  I asked John to call me in the unlikely event that the
> owl is seen again.
>
> I have lived in the Glen Burnie area for 15 years, and have had one
> owl in the yard--a Great Horned that flew over the house at 8 p.m. one
> December evening several years ago.  I've also found Great Horned in
> other residential areas.  I have occasionally found Barred Owl in
> either of two wooded parks about 1/2 mile from my house.  The closest
> Screech Owl I've ever found to my house was in a wooded area three or
> four miles away, but none of the rarer owls--yet.
>
> I'm intrigued by the reports of owls and gyrfalcons, and will continue
> to check out anything local.
>
> Stan Arnold
> Ferndale
> 
>
>
>
>
> On 2/25/10, fr84wrdr <> wrote:
>> I am next to the airport and I have been looking out the window and there 
>> is
>> no sign of him here off rt176.
>>
>> As for the scoping part, there is a viewing park right under a flight
>> corridor  on rt 176 at BWI and I often see people with tripod
>> mounted cameras shooting pics of aircraft.. I have wondered why they 
>> allowed
>> to set up like that.  MichaelO
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Frank Marenghi <>
>> To: 
>> Sent: Thu, February 25, 2010 2:08:48 PM
>> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Snowy Owl report in Glen Burnie
>>
>>
>>
>> Joking aside (for the moment), I assume someone will be on the lookout 
>> for a
>> large white bird in Glen Burnie this afternoon? Directly adjacent to the
>> airport seems like a good place to see a Snowy, although I'm sure scoping
>> BWI is not too popular these days.
>>
>>
>>
>> I would come up from Annapolis, but I figured there would be some folks
>> closer to that area. It's probably just a large white Rock Pigeon anyway 
>> . .
>> . .
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ~ Frank
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:15:45 -0500
>>> From: 
>>> Subject: [MDOSPREY] Snowy Owl report in Glen Burnie
>>> To: 
>>>
>>> MD Osprey:
>>>
>>> FYI ... I just received the following report. John said it was OK to
>>> forward to MD Osprey.
>>>
>>> Phil
>>>
>>> >From: 
>>> >Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:30:44 EST
>>> >Subject: Good Morning
>>> >To: 
>>> >
>>> >My name is John Schmid and and I live in Glen Burnie,Md.
>>> >410-766-5262 Last night about 10pm I was looking out mt front
>>> >window ,where I have some feeders in our plum tree. On one of the
>>> >overhead lines I noticed a big form on the wire. As I watched its
>>> >head turned quite a bit and I could see it's huge eyes. I believe it
>>> >was a white snow owl. It was white and huge. It stayed there for 30
>>> >seconds and as I was yelling for my wife and son to come he started
>>> >to fly away and although my was missed it my son saw him. It had a
>>> >huge wing span. My son said that it looked like the owl in Harry
>>> >Potter. I read that they sometimes migrate away from there normal
>>> >territory. There is no doubt in my mind what I saw,so I thought I
>>> >would report it.Please let me know if there is anything else I can
>>> >let you know about. In my yard we get 3 types of
>>> >woodpeckers,nuthatches,tit mouse,carolina wren,an occasional wood
>>> >thrush,oriole, a waxwing once last year and twice a
>>> >grossbeak,towhees and the normal sparrows,robins,finches,blackbirds
>>> >and cowbirds. I enjoy watching them very much. Well please let me
>>> >know what if anything I can do. Thank You John Schmid
>>>
>>> ==================================
>>> Phil Davis Davidsonville, Maryland USA
>>> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>>> ==================================
>>
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