Hi all,

Jim Flynn, Marissa Benavente and my wife Connie and I spent the last weekend
visiting the Spring Creek area near La Grande in NE Oregon. Our primary
target was the Great Grey Owl, and the trip was inspired by the previous
Tweeters reports by Andy Stepniewski of his visits in March and April this
year.

We obtained details of the nesting platforms from the La Grande Ranger
Station prior to the trip and also much help from Andy.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and found all the the active nests to be
empty, presumably the birds had all fledged in June. In the evening Marissa
caught a glimpse of one bird taking off from a low branch and then promptly
diasppearing.

The next morning we heard a Great Grey Owl calling but could not locate
the bird. That evening (Saturday), we located an owl, close to the area
where
Marissa had seen it the previous evening. This time it cooperated and we
all ended up with excellent views. It was a young bird, with some downy
feathers on the head, and did not appear concerned at our presence.

Driving back towards the highway, we noticed two owls fly across the road ,
in front of us. We stopped and got out of the car and had one of those rare
'birding moments'.
We were amazed to see 6 Long-eared Owls flying low over the road, right over
our heads. Again the owls were totally unconcerned with our presence -
though we
could see several looking down at us, as they passed overhead.
No sounds, but just the sight of these owls which appeared to be
hawking flying insects (white moths). It was behaviour I associated with
nightjar species, not owls. This continued for at least 10 minutes. It was
about 9:45 pm and there was still some half-light. I did not realise they
preyed on insects. But perhaps there is another explanation?

On our way back to Seattle, we stopped in late afternoon at the Nile Creek
Burn and saw 2 White-headed Woodpeckers (at a nest) in the "back" of the
burn,
away from the road and also a Williamson's Sapsucker on the lower part of
the
road.

Thanks again to Andy Stepniewski for sharing the information which inspired
the
trip.


Steve Pink
Lynnwood, WA or Byfleet, Surrey, UK
mailto: pirangas at hotmail.com

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