Subject: Birding at Track Speed...mostly by headlights.
Date: Nov 20 12:16:23 1999
From: Roger - rcraik at home.com
Hi All
Well it's that time of year where either the weather is rotten or it's dark all the time so I
haven't been able to get any exciting lists going. At least from the cab of one of our locomotives.
Lately it has been; go to work in the dark, sleep during the day and return home in the dark.
This does increase one's chances for seeing owls, however. Yesterday, around 2:30 AM, I did spot a
Northern Sawhet Owl hunting over the east end of our rail yard. They never cease to amaze me at just
how big their wing span is in proportion to their body size. I've only ever seen them flying on two
or three occasions.
A few days back, near Yale, I also saw a Great-horned Owl sitting on one of the utility poles that
are placed alongside the tracks. It was sitting at eye level (about 12' off the ground) and the only
reason I noticed it was because the top of the pole seemed to have horns and eyes. Oddly enough it
did not flush as we went by.
Around this time of year when the snow starts to come lower down the mountains there is usually an
increase in the number of small owl sightings. I suspect that most off these are N Sawhets with the
occasional Western Screech mixed in. They have a nasty habit of sitting on the rails and not moving
off as we approach until the last minute, if at all. We are never sure just what happens because
there is a blind spot of about 30' just in front of the locomotive. It is even more difficult to see
if they have managed to clear to the side because one's eye can not adjust fast enough when looking
into the dark just back from the area lit by the headlights. I have removed a dead N Sawhet Owl from
the front of an engine so I suspect that most don't make it.
On one daylight run I did manage to watch a Northern Harrier pounce on a vole and as we got closer
it spooked and dropped the vole as it was flying away. I also saw a juvenile Bald Eagle struggling
to drag a spawning salmon out of the Fraser River. The fish looked much heavier than the eagle. This
is the first time time in several thousand eagle sightings (not to be confused with a thousand
different eagles) along the rivers that we run alongside that I have witnessed an eagle with a live
fish in it's talons. Most of the time they are just hanging out in the trees or working over the
remains of, what appears to be, long dead fish.
As an additional note to the discussion on Common Redpolls a few years back I added this bird to my
Life List (Dead Bird Section) when I found two of them lying on the deck of one of our trailing
locomotives. The train had most likely gone through a flock of them and these birds had not gotten
out of the way in time. I have no idea of location that they were hit.
Well, I think that's it for now so good birding all.
Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC
Freight Conductor for CP Rail