Friday, January 30, 2009

Ottawa Area: Great Gray Owls

Late yesterday and this afternoon I had a total of 6 Great Gray Owls east of Dunrobin. There was a concentration of 3 owls along Greenland Road NW of Thomas Dolan Parkway, 2 along Vance's Side road and one along March Valley Road.

Despite its size, the Great Gray Owl blends in well and is easy to overlook.

The Great Gray Owl has excellent hearing and can detect mice under the snow.

On a sad note, this afternoon I discovered the Boreal Owl dead along March Valley Road. It was laying on the ground in the general area it was observed earlier during the week. The owl was emaciated.

The Boreal Owl that delighted many earlier this week was found
dead along March Valley road this afternoon. Even though it was
observed catching a mouse on January 26th it was in an emaciated condition.

There were a number of flocks of Bohemian Waxwings in the area and still lots of White-winged Crossbills, Pine Siskin's and Common Redpoll.

Good birding,
Bruce


Directions: GGOwls: From Ottawa take Hwy. 417 west to March Road exit. Follow March Road to Dunrobin Road and turn right. Follow Dunrobin Road to Dunrobin and turn right on Thomas Dolan Parkway. Follow to Greenland Road area. If you require additional information, please email me privately. Please review OFO's Ethical Birding Principles

1 comment:

Misha Lytvynyuk said...

I really upset that Boreal Owl died. That is sad :(....
I was around that day when owl catch that mouse. So I hoped it doing well. I hope it died not because people interference. Thank you Bruce for the highlight of the recent birding sighting.