Since I was tangentially involved in that situation, I
will just add some additional details. As I was
birding the Davenport Cemetery on October 1st, a local
birder friend (Chris Janett) drove up and told me that
his neighbor (Patti Ensor) had a small owl slam into
their front window.

Around noon, I left the cemetery and drove out to
Patti's house. Although Patti isn't really a birder,
she looked up the bird in question in the field guide
and decided that it must have been a Boreal Owl.
Although Chris and I both thought that it was probably
more likely a Saw-whet Owl (still good for this area),
I had already learned that anything is possible.

Thinking that perhaps the owl was still around, Patti
and I searched the small amount of shrubbery in her
yard, the two Alberta Spruces (the only conifers
present), and tried looking up into the tall,
fully-leaved poplar trees. There was precious little
cover for Saw-whet or Boreals to roost.

Although we could not relocate the owl, Patti had
taken a couple of pictures of the owl through the
front window. A couple of weeks later, the pictures
were developed. Although the picture quality is soft,
there is little doubt that this was indeed a Boreal
Owl.

It was a shame that the bird didn't hang around.
Although I was disappointed that I hadn't seen it
myself, it is still a great find.

BTW, I had my own delayed identification of a rare
bird that day. In the cemetery, I searched for several
hours for the Magnolia Warbler. Even though, I didn't
see the Magnolia, I did see an interesting passerine
that Cindy McCormack had previously observed a couple
of days earlier.

Cindy's description was as follows:
I also did briefly see a small passerine that looked
somewhat similar to the Ruby-crowns, but had no wing
bars--I didn't see the face, but the size seemed a bit
larger that the kinglets and the uniform
throat/breast/abdomen color was a little darker than
the kinglet's. The back, rump, and wings were also
uniformly colored, similar to the Ruby-crown's color.
The leading edge of the wing may (?) be darker. The
tail seemed fairly short and dark. This bird was a
rich brownish/olivish/gold, uniform through the
undertail, abdomen, breast, and throat. It moved like
a warbler and it was foraging in uppermost branches of
a mountain ash.

My own observations of the bird were in good accord
with Cindy's. I should add that I did see the light
eyebrow, long thin bill, and noted that there was no
streaking on the bird. Other birders suggested that
this was a Tennessee Warbler, but the undertail
coverts were only modestly lighter colored rather than
white.

About a week later, I finally check out some fall
warbler web sites from back east. Sure enough,
Tennessee Warblers can be quite variable in the
coloration of the undertail coverts. In fact, one
picture on the site was a dead ringer for our bird
(i.e. uniform olive/gold/color through the vent). I
have no doubt that this was indeed a HY Tennessee
Warbler.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA




--- MarkJHoust at aol.com wrote:

> This is a situation that I was not involved with,
> but I thought a number of
> people would find it interesting. Some time during
> the second week of October,
> I think, Jim Acton of Spokane was called out to the
> Davenport area to check
> out some snapshots of an owl that had crashed into a
> farmhouse window.
> Apparently the collision occurred in the very early
> morning and the owl sat stunned
> for about a half hour, posing for pictures. Then it
> regained its senses and
> took off. Although it was hard to believe, the
> people who took the shots said
> it looked like a Boreal Owl.
>
> The pictures showed that it was indeed a Boreal Owl.
> One or more have been
> sent off to bird records people. I haven't seen
> one. The house is south of US
> 2 between Davenport and Reardan, an area many
> birders know from cruising for
> Snowy Owls and other good winter birds. It is open
> wheat country, 15 miles or
> so from the Columbia and Spokane Rivers and the
> mountains on the other side.
> Boreal Owl habitat is 60 miles or so to the north.
> In the Northwest, an
> individual showing up so far from its home habitat
> is not completely unprecedented
> but very very rare.
>
> Mark Houston
> Spokane
>

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