Saturday, April 4, 2009
Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center site
What an absolutely miserable morning to be out and about... during the drive to Rochester last night my car was repeatedly slammed by heavy winds, and then we woke up to find that rain and snow had joined in for even more fun... it was cold, it was wet, and it was nasty, and on the way over to the Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center trailhead I wondered out loud if anyone else was going to show up for this morning's owl prowl, including the guide. But there were a couple of cars there when we pulled up, and by the time we got going we had three guides from BBRRC and 14 folks following them around the flooded trails in the Owl Woods in hopes of seeing some owls...
One of the reasons Ann and I decided to do the owl prowl was to find out just what we should be looking for (beyond just going out and looking up into the trees) as well as where and when we should be looking. I'm happy to say the head guide was excellent and gave us all sorts of useful info to help us find owls in the future (things like - know where they like to hang out, look for signs they've been hanging out like droppings and pellets, and be thorough - often an owl will only be visible from a few angles.) He also gave us tips about when owls were most likely to be moving through the area (sometime over the next several weeks, usually after a warm night with a good breeze out of the southeast.) And we learned a good deal about how the BBRRC catches and bands all sorts of owls and raptors, so tromping around in the mud and water was well worth it just for that.
Much of the time was taken up wandering through the pine and spruce groves looking for owls. Overall we didn't have a lot of luck... it's still a little early in the season, and apparently there haven't been a lot of owls coming through yet - and the weather last night was pretty lousy (though on the plus side, that meant there was a good chance that any owls that had come in several days ago would still be there.) My hands and feet got very cold - I know there's no such thing as bad weather, just poor clothing choices, but unfortunately I didn't bring out any thermal socks and I left my warmer gloves in the car, and unlike when I'm running we were moving slowly and standing around a lot, so I was bloody freezing before too long (fortunately I'd packed a rainjacket, so only my hands and feet got wet.)
After a lot of nothing - success! I wandered under some spruce trees, looked up - and there was a long-eared owl looking back at me. Maybe I should have tried for a photo, but instead I signalled to Ann, and as she and another owl prowler came closer he took off down the trail. After that we moved as a group to where the guide thought the owl might have gone, and - more success, not only did we spot him again but he also stayed put long enough for us to get a good look at him. My one photo is a bit disappointing - between the branches in the way and trying to keep my camera lens as dry as possible, it was tough to get a good shot.
After a bit he decided he'd had enough of us and flew off, probably back to the grove where I first spotted him. At least I got a good look at him before he flew off the first time... and I had the good luck to be the first person in the group to spot an owl (the first owl spotted on an Owl Prowl in 2009.)
I suspect Ann will try to go back sometime over the next few weeks to see if she can spot any more owls; maybe we'll head back together at the beginning of May, though the guide seemed to think the numbers coming through would have dropped way off by then. Ann is also thinking about going to some of the Birds of Prey Days events at the end of April... if I wasn't heading to NH to run the Muddy Moose trail race I'd go out too, but that may be a little too much driving for me that weekend... we'll see...
All in all, despite the lousy weather this was time well spent - I strongly encourage anyone interested in birds and especially owls and raptors to give an Owl Prowl a try!
JMH
