Spotting Owls

[Eric Jeffords <jericjeffords at hotmail dot com>]

I had the good fortune of seeing three different species of owl over the
weekend. On Friday, 5/29, I drove up to Golden Spike National Monument. Just
before the turnoff toward Promontory a short-eared owl landed on a fence
post on the on my side of the road. I was able to stop about 20 feet in
front of it and observe it for several minutes looking right and left. It
didn't seem to be too concerned at my presence.

I then drove up to the turnoff to the museum and searched the fields, seeing
the usual meadowlarks, horned larks, and mourning doves. I decided to head
back down the hill, passiing the Big Fill Walk trailhead. I looked over
toward the trail and noticed something sticking up from the ground and was
curious to find out what it was. I pulled to the side of the road and looked
through my field glasses, expecting that it would turn out to be some large
weed or an oddly shaped fence post. It was, in fact, one of the historical
markers for the trail and sitting on top of it was a bird. I couldn't tell
what species it was from so far away but I could see that it was an owl. To
my dismay I saw a family of hikers approaching the area and was certain that
they would scare it off. They passed right by it without the owl so much as
flinching and I concluded that they were on a different path than where the
bird was sitting. I got back into my car, turned around and headed to the
parking area, nearly strangling myself with my seatbelt in my haste to exit
the vehicle. I started down the trail and came in sight of the owl in time
to see it leave its perch and head to the field below. The path I was
looking for was not far from the parking area and lay to the right of the
main trail. I began walking down toward the marker when the owl came back to
it. I was able to get within about 75 feet of it and could easily tell
through my field glasses that it was a burrowing owl, as I had hoped. It
then flew back down to the sagebrush below, sounding as it went. I looked
down to see that there was another perched on some sagebrush. I observed
both birds for quite some time before heading back to the car. What luck!

Yesterday, I spent the morning and early afternoon with Gayle Allen,
exploring Antelope Island. We were able to observe an adult barn owl at the
hay barn near the bison corrals. It flew out of hiding to land near the box
where it's young were peaking out from the shadows.

What a weekend! Happy birding.

Eric Jeffords

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