In reply to Michael Hobbs' message:

As Dennis also said last night, the owl has been seen almost anywhere in
the park, but in the forest itself (not at the edges, or foraging over
some of the adjacent pastures). There is no one place to look for it. It
was first noted on January 30. Many people have tromped around in the park
looking for it since, and have failed to find it most of the time.
According to those who have spent enough time in the park to learn
something of its habits, it tends to perch low; hence it has frequently
been spotted by people on horseback rather than on foot. But it is
definitely not seen every day, or even every other day. Sometimes,
though, it perches rather high (10-20 feet off the ground) on snags,
broken-over treetrunks, stubs, branches. Even then you may not notice it
unless it happens to fly. And, habitues warn that one should stay on the
trails; there are old wells and other hazards on the forest floor. Good
luck! As Michael observes, it's a big park.

Hal Opperman

On Tue, 4 Mar 1997, Michael Hobbs wrote:

> At the monthy WOS meeting last night, Dennis Paulson let out that there
> has been (and presumably still is) a Great Gray Owl at Bridle Trails
> park (on the Bellevue/Kirkland line, bounded on the West by 116th Ave,
> on the East by 132nd Ave, and on the North by 65th St.) This is an
> equestrian park (horse trails) and is VERY muddy. Wear boots.
>
> I went there today, and walked around in the woods for about an hour.
> Needless to say, I did NOT see the owl.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1) Does anybody have more information about where this owl might be
> found in the park?
>
> and
>
> 2) How does one look for a Great Gray? Are some times of day better
> than others? Would the owl be flying? Roosting? How high up? What
> kind of tree? Where in the tree? Do they call? Do they like thick
> growths of young trees, or more open growths of older trees, or open
> blow-down areas, or wet areas, or what? Are they extremely wary (i.e.
> do you have to belly-crawl silently around the park to have any hope?)
>
> Today was very much a case of blindly looking for a needle in a
> haystack. I know where the haystack is, and I know what a needle looks
> like. But I don't know have a clue what to do.
>
>
> == Michael Hobbs
> == Kirkland WA
> == mikeho at microsoft.com
>