There is an obvious owl bent to this fall's birdlife. Just this morning, I
took my car in for servicing after finishing a night shift. Instead of seating
myself in front of the coffee room TV and suredly falling asleep, I phoned
Cathy and asked if she wanted to "do brunch". She said sure and to keep myself
awake until she arrived to pick me up, I bundled up against the -5 degree C
cold (i.e. *not* cold) and walked around outside the shop. I immediately was
drawn to the unmistakeable war cry of a pair of Am. Crows. I spied them
divebombing something apparently on the railing of the sundeck of one of the top
suites of an apartment building across the road. However, the object of
their enmity was out of view around the corner of the building. When Cathy
arrived, I directed her to check out the commotion more closely. As we passed
by, I said "Oh look, someone has one of those fake owls on their sundeck!".
However, it struck me that crows are not stupid birds. I figured they should
know the difference between real feathers and fibreglass. So we went as close
to the building as we could, and sure enough, there was a male Great Horned Owl
attempting to doze away on the sundeck railing!! Now this is an urban setting
with those egregious clusters of tacky apartment buildings so typical of
1960-70s N. America architecture. Very few trees in the immediate vicinity.
Numerous thick pines and spruces on ridges withing 1 km of the site much more
conducive to a roosting owl. But no, this one elected to plunk himself down
on a sundeck railing in full view of every crow and raven in the area. Had
this owl just finished a meal of Fluffy and was content to just stay there in
hopes of more of the same menu? Was the owner of the suite keeping an owl
(illegally or not)? All curtains were drawn and no signs of activity in the
suite so we assumed the owner had no clue that there was an owl on the deck.
We elected not to advertise his presence to the locals by buzzing the landlord
and trying to gain access to the suite. We did tell the few passerbys that
indeed it was a real GHOW and, of course, they were as amazed as we that
one would be so boldly in their midst. He was still there when I retrieved my
car from the shop 90 minutes later. A first for me with what I usually consider
a retiring species more likely to try concealment rather than advertisement.
What other owl oddities await the alert birder this winter season?

- Jack

Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca

cc: phinneym at unbc.edu
mholm at awinc.com