I drove out to Fauquier County looking for Northern Harriers and Short-eared
owls this afternoon, and I found them.
In the large field on the south side of Harrison Road, right off of Old
Tavern, I found a male "Grey Ghost" Northern Harrier. The bird was actively
hunting, was easy to see with a pair of binoculars, was often close enough to
the road for some decent photography.
I then went on out to Rectortown to look for Short-eared Owls. I initially
turned onto Crenshaw Road where I met a couple who said they had been doing a
raptor survey, and had just seen an owl 10 minutes before in a field down the
road. So, I went back down Crenshaw Road and turned right onto Rectortown
Road. A short distance down Rectortown Road where it turns hard to the right,
there's a large place to park in front of a gate. I parked there. I was soon
joined by several other birders also looking for the owls. About 5:20, as
it was beginning to get seriously dark, we saw two Short-eared Owls fly across
and into the field on the north side of the road. One of them landed on a
phone pole for a minute or two. We had a decent look at them flying and
hunting in the field, even though it was getting dark and was very cold. We
also had two adult, female, Northern Harriers in those fields.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Virginia
Sent from my iPad
