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.