Subject: Lincoln Park owls
Date: Apr 24 19:21:44 2003
From: Tucker, Trileigh - TRI at seattleu.edu


Hi Tweeters,
This afternoon I was walking through the piney section of woods
south of the northern playfields in Lincoln Park (Seattle), and encountered
a pair of what I believe were barred owls ("Fran and Owlie"). (I'm just
starting on owls, so ID tips would be very welcome.) They had no visible
ears and had pale faces with notable arched "eyebrows" that continued across
above their eyes and down their noses. Fran had a paler face than Owlie; I'm
assuming that means she's the female, but again, any comments would be
appreciated. Both of them had speckled markings on the upper part of their
breasts and vertical stripes on the lower part. They weren't the least bit
shy, remaining in their trees while dogs and children passed almost
underneath.
I remembered the earlier Tweeters discussion on interesting
combinations of birds in a binoc view while I was watching Owlie on a
branch, and an Anna's hummingbird came up and squealed, apparently at Owlie.
After a couple of swoops on the hummingbird's part, Owlie took off -- could
it be that a hummingbird harassed an owl to the point of shooing him off?
The hummingbird followed, then perched nearby and squeaked and squealed.
Then Owlie flew back and rejoined Fran, and stroked her feathers
with his right talon. They nuzzled a couple of times. Then one of them
chased a crow around for a while. It was such a treat to get such a close-up
view of their interactions!
A couple of questions -- does anyone know of a species list for
Lincoln Park? Gene Hunn's "Birding in Seattle and King County" mentions just
a few sample species.
Then second -- Hunn states that "A barred owl was reported here
[Lincoln Park] in 1980." Does that mean that these owls are rare? Or have
there been further observations since then?

Good birding,
Trileigh Tucker