Friday, January 15, 2010

Owl

As you know, if you're following this blog closely, there is a Northern Saw-whet Owl in Prospect Park. You also don't know where it is, because if I told you I'd have to kill you, although you are apparently the only person who doesn't know where it is, since every birder I talk to in the park is aware of its location.

I was in the park Monday and sought out the bird with no luck. Maybe it had moved on, I thought. But then, checking eBird, I saw that it had been reported that day. So today, I went back to the location, peered into the trees and found nothing. Okay, so now, maybe it was gone, but no, I ran into the guy who originally showed me the bird and he said that it was still there, same tree, same branch.

Now I was starting to take this as a personal failing. Am I such a lousy birder that I can't find an 8" owl 80 feet up in deep green pine needles? If I didn't find that stinking owl again, I don't know if my pride could have withstood the blow.

So I trudged back to the--oops, almost told you where it is--found the owl poop on the ground, stood back a few feet and scanned the branches. Right next to a bunch of dead leaves that had gotten caught in the pine tree was another, round, brown shape--the owl.

I guess I forgot that the first time I saw the owl I mistook the dead leaves for the owl, then when I finally found the owl, figured I'd never really seen brown leaves at all--after all, why would dead leaves be in an evergreen? But they are and the owl is roosting on its branch; if I showed it to you, you'd have a hard time believing it's the owl, you'd just think it was more dead leaves. However, dead leaves hardly ever look back at you.

I also added Rusty Blackbird to my Kings County, New York State, and United States lists. The only time, I'd seen them before was in Canada. They were easy to identify today, because it is in the winter that the blackbirds are RUSTY.

I was also scouting today for waterfowl, since I've volunteered to do the annual NYSOA waterfowl count on Sunday in the park. The Wood Duck is still on the Boathouse Pond, out in the open, which is really unusual for that species. The lake has all the expected species. Happily they don't care about gulls in this count because there are anywhere from 700 to 2000 gulls on the lake ice and counting them accurately is extremely difficult since they tend to suddenly swirl up and fly around before landing on a different part of the ice. The ducks, geese, swans and coots are relatively placid.

Prospect Park
Number of species:     33

Canada Goose     204
Mute Swan     6
Wood Duck     1     Boathouse Pond
American Black Duck     6
Mallard     245     Boathouse Pond: 49, balance on Lake
Northern Shoveler     36
Ruddy Duck     11
Red-tailed Hawk     1     Peninsula
American Coot     16
Ring-billed Gull     700
Herring Gull     2
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Rock Pigeon     X
Mourning Dove     22     Feeders
Northern Saw-whet Owl     1     Ravine
Red-bellied Woodpecker     2     Lily Pond
Downy Woodpecker     7     Feeders, Lily Pond
Hairy Woodpecker     1     Breeze Hill
Blue Jay     10
American Crow     27     In peninsula trees and on the ice on the lake
Black-capped Chickadee     3     Feeders and near Lily Pond
Tufted Titmouse     4     One @ Feeders, 2 near Lily Pond, 1 near Nethermead bridge.
Red-breasted Nuthatch     1     Feeders
White-breasted Nuthatch     3     Feeder, Lily Pond, Nethermead Bridge
Brown Creeper     1     Breeze Hill
European Starling     25
White-throated Sparrow     50
Dark-eyed Junco     5     Feeders
Northern Cardinal     10
Red-winged Blackbird     1     Female at Feeders
Rusty Blackbird     2     Near bridge by Lily Pond
House Finch     3     Feeders
American Goldfinch     7     One of the males in full breeding plumage!

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