Burrowing Owl on AIC

["Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast dot net>]

I got a call this morning (11:45 am) from Paul Higgins with timely 
information about a BURROWING OWL on the causeway.  Paul saw the bird 
this morning perching on concrete barriers on the south side of the 
causeway between mm 3 and 2.  Paul thought the bird appeared to be 
excavating based on the dirt he saw flung out on the snow.  Additional 
observations of this behavior would be interesting as the scientific 
literature has only documented excavating behavior in the Florida 
subspecies of the Burrowing Owl. Paul also saw the owl eject a pellet. 
How cool--gurrrrrrpppP!

A second Burrowing Owl location where an owl was seen four times last 
week is on the road to Garr Ranch.  Once you've taken the final left 
turn to Garr and prepare for the 11-mile drive down the east side of the 
island, you'll drive up a long incline and pass through an opening in a 
chain link fence.  The Burrowing Owl has been seen in the "Chukar" rocks 
at the top of that incline, south side of the road and just before the 
road makes the next gentle turn. 

The Burrowing Owl is classified as a rare winter resident on the Utah 
checklist. One was documented on the Antelope Island CBC 2 years ago.  
Let's hope this one sticks around. 

On an additional note, birdnet posts have not hit the archives on the 
Utah Birds website since December 9th.  If you're subscribed to birdtalk 
but not birdnet and you review rare sightings in the archives, "missing" 
reports include some great gulls (eeeuuuwww--did I just type that?!?), 
Long-tailed Ducks, and a Winter Wren.  Distribution of birdnet posts to 
subscribers may not be affected.  

Kris 

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