Monday, April 9, 2018

Brick 4/9--Great Horned Owl

Peek-a-boo
It has been like sand in my gears that for the last month or more there has been a Great Horned Owl in an undisclosed open secret location in Brick. It occupies an Osprey nest (and weren't the former residents surprised when they returned from their southern sojourn) on a residential street. Until today I haven't made the drive over there because I always feel awkward creeping around a neighborhood with binoculars, but today I could stand it no longer when I saw that my friend Steve had listed the owl, so I texted him for the location of the bird and, more importantly, if there was someplace to park.

With his answers on my phone, I took off to find the bird. I was hoping I'd find it quickly before the cops came to investigate the weirdo with the bins.  The street was easy enough to find but at first I didn't see any nest or nest pole. I walked across the busy street, thinking perhaps it was in a marsh across the road. When I didn't see it there, I texted Steve for more precise directions and just as I hit send, I looked up and just above where I had parked my car, there was the owl, looking around, wide awake. I'm lucky the owl didn't cough up a pellet onto the roof of my car.

Great Horned Owl is not a bird I usually have to work for, but when I didn't hear one all winter in the woods behind our house (last year we had one on January 1st), I decided that I had better do a little chasing.  One hour of round trip driving, 2 minutes of birding.

1 comment:

  1. Great story!! Honestly, great horned owls are magnificent birds and they are worth the chase! At my park we have a pair that we monitor during nesting season. This year they had one healthy chick. Actually, the other day we had quite an exciting adventure trying to find it branching. Feel free too check the story out and follow my blog for more posts if you are inclined to do so :)

    http://bethpagestateparkecology.blogspot.com/?_sm_au_=iVV14GPqFJTr41qQ

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