Hi all!
God sure blessed us with a bountiful harvest of birds today!!! I am sure
many of you will see Gabriel Mapel's report, but after we split with him we
went to look for Short-eared Owls. We stopped at Harrison Rd. in Facquier
County. We saw some Swans and assorted ducks, Killdeer in the field with
starlings, along with a couple of meadowlarks. Just as we were counting the
ducks, Alec spotted a bird flying. We thought it was a Pipit or a Horned
Lark, but fantastically enough, the bird plopped 5 feet in front of us, and
turned out to be a female LAPLAND LONGSPUR. She was very tame and many of
the guys got great photos. We also showed it to two other birders. The
Longspur was seen alone with a Savannah Sparrow and was in the field
directly across the field with the Short-eared Owls.
After that exciting viewing we drove down to look for the Greater-white
Fronted Goose. We saw many geese, but no white-fronted, although we saw one
partially leucistic with white mottling down the head and neck; and we did
see three confirmed Cackling Geese.
As a side note, we had 6 Harriers, mostly female, and a few thousand
Starlings. The main event, until the Longspur stole the show, was the
Short-eared Owls. We had three. They came out rather early and we caught
them in flight and perched: it was spectacular! There was also a HArrier on
one of the fence posts that left shortly after the first owl perched and I
thought of it as the changing of the guard: The harriers hunt before dusk
and the owls take their place for the after-dusk hunt.
As it was getting darker, we saw Jupiter and his four moons, which was
quite spectacular. Great end to a marvelous day!
--
+
JMJ
Go with God and may love guide your actions,
Jacob Barkett
"The only mistake in life is not to die a saint."
"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and
the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged." --- Northwest Ordinance
