Nice Try, Mr. Owl

Feliz Año Nuevo!

The message was delivered. The message was heard. And he tried to hide, but to no avail.

So there we were: exiting our last flight of the year on Tuesday afternoon, We had just returned from Phoenix, and before that Akron, on our last trip of our Big Year. But we had some unfinished business.

We were off in search of a Short-eared Owl. A very particular Short-eared Owl, whom we were determined to find before the year was over. Of course, we could have gone after other owls, but since we had tried and failed several times--and we don't take failure lightly--this one was personal.

Now, I may have suggested to this Owl in a recent blog post that we would be displeased if he evaded us. Displeased enough, I believe I said, to send a fleet of giant mowers to cut down all his grass. Or something like that. I forget.

This Owl, though, he's a clever one. Resourceful. With his own connections. And he only had a little more than two days to stay out of sight.

So, he recruited a friend to help keep us away. His partner in crime? A 900-pound Elephant Seal, who did her best to block the highway that runs in front of Owl's field for most of Monday and Tuesday. Her name? Bathsheba de Tolay, apparently. (follow the link, the event is pretty entertaining!)

Her escapades resulted in miles and miles of traffic jam, and we were sorely tempted to turn around. And she might have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids from the Marine Mammal Center! Also, once we got stuck in the traffic, we literally had nowhere to turn around, so we had no choice but to crawl past her.

Managing to keep our sanity long enough to finally get to the turn-off, he put one more hurdle between us.

We walked nearly a mile along Skaggs Island Road, to where the "Area Closed", "No Trespassing", and "Cameras In Use" signs are posted at the base of the old bridge. For nearly an hour, we respected the signs and scanned the fields from that point, as before finding plenty of raptors of various kinds, but nary an owl. Finally, with the sun and desperation setting in, we decided to ignore those signs and follow the road to the apex of the bridge.

From there, in less than five minutes, we found him! He had been hiding far in the distance, in an area where our view was blocked by the bridge. Only by slightly ignoring those signs (rationalized by thinking that as long as we didn't go off the pavement we were fine, and if they really wanted us out they would have put a gate there), were we able to locate him. Phew!

And that about does it for our Big Year! Unless something crazy shows up this afternoon, our final tally will stand at 692, far beyond what we originally set out to do.

Check back next week, as I'll let you know if we get one more bird, and then wrap up the year.

For now, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve! And, once the fireworks settle down just past midnight, keep your ears open...you might find your first bird of 2016 even before you go to sleep!

Happy New Year,
Me