Nature Note #161: Long Awaited on the Bog Trail

After spending a mid March Monday afternoon birding at Montezuma NWR, I decided to head over the Beaver Lake Nature Center to see if I could find any Snows (the geese, not the egrets or the owls).

I didn't luck out there, so on a whim I decided to look for the Long-eared Owls that had been reported earlier in the month. I didn't expect to see them until I heard the screaming call of a jay in the conifers by the Bog Trail. I stopped dead on the boardwalk and looked into the branches, hoping to see something.

Round, yellow eyes stared back at me through the tangle of conifer boughs and bare branches. They were rimmed by a rusty orange face and gold-trimmed horns while a black beak rested below those watching eyes.

I gasped with shock as I was gazing , unexpectedly, at a Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)! I was so excited! I manically clicked away, grumbling as the dribbling rain threatened to dampen the camera lens and ruin the image.

The owl continued to stare as I cleaned the lens, scarcely moving a muscle. It had adopted its camouflage pose and was attempting, by staying as still as possible, to remain unnoticed. Despite its best attempts, one wrong move had alerted its presence to the jays and led it to being discovered by a man watching it just as intently from the boardwalk.

It's not unusual for owls to be found like this in the winter months. They will roost communally before departing to nesting areas in the spring. Long-ears look like skinnier versions of Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) with darker brown backs and wings, longer "ears" and alert yellow eyes that seem to suggest shock rather than wisdom. They are an uncommon species in the Northeast and have been declining there, but have remained fairly common in the western states. They are a diamond in the rough, so to speak, as they are usually difficult to find due to their extreme nocturnal habits and preference for deep woods when roosting.

I walked on, a changed man. After you see any life bird, you will never be the same again. But after seeing this one, it felt way different. It felt like I'd seen a kindred spirit, a fellow watcher. It felt like meeting eye to eye with a creature that views a world so differently from us and having the ability to share its gaze for even a few minutes is something I'll treasure for the rest of my life. Thank you, Long-eared Owl, for giving me that gift.

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