Subject: [Tweeters] barn owl at Nisqually
Date: Mar 31 15:00:45 2006
From: wheelermombi at comcast.net - wheelermombi at comcast.net
Hi Tweeters,
I took another quick walk at Nisqually NWR to the river. As Phil mentioned yesterday, the Rufous Hummingbirds are buzzing around, sometimes venting their war chirps at one another. The Great Horned Owl was still on its nest. I like the way it bends its head completely upside down to preen its neck; something that I find kind of hard to do myself. There were two Red-breasted Sapsuckers as well one Hairy and one Downy Woodpecker along the riparian forest paralleling the Nisqually. On the return walk, I went down the path that leads to the first parking lot as one enters the refuge, passing along the back side of the visitor center. Along this path, I spotted a Barn Owl in the same tree cavity that housed the two Barn Owl chicks last year. I only had my binoculars (a scope is much better in this case), and it wouldn't come out of the shadows, but I could see it moving around and occasionally got good glimpses of the white face. To see the owl, take the path that leads f!
rom the first parking lot, beyond the tall laurel bushes for a few hundred feet. Just before the white 'habitat resoration' sign on the right, you can see a dead tree to the left at roughly 10:00. It's not in that one. Look past it, perhaps 100 yards away(?), at another dead tree. It has a cavity between 20 to 30 ft. off of the ground. It is in there. You might need to be patient, as it isn't always visible right away. Again, it is much easieir to see with a scope.
Good birding,
Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net