I returned to the site at about 4:30pm to wait for dusk to see when
the BARN OWL would make it's move. And perhaps go hunting if I was
lucky.

The owl was still in exactly the same place as he was when I left him
with eye's closed and a "screwed up" face. No crows bothering him at
this point. It would have been very difficult to find him if I didn't
know where to look.

Alan Grenon, another list contributor, appeared at the roost after
reading my post and I pointed out the owl.

We both waited around for some time until at a little after 5:15pm
the owl became active and eventually flew from the Douglas Fir (not a
pine ... thanks, Alan!) to a deciduous tree next to it. We lost it
for a while until Alan picked it out and we both continued to observe
it in binoculars (some local house security lighting providing the
illumination). He was watching us watch him.

After a few minute he started bobbing up and down. Initially I though
he might be ranging on prey but it became quite clear he was
regurgitating a pellet that fell through the branches to the ground
with a solid thunk. I shall return to that in a couple of days!

After this his activity level increased further. The owl fluffed up
it's feathers and gave a wing flap (loosing a couple of contour
feathers). Now swiveling it's head to keep track of a dog walker and
dog as they passed us by. Then checking us out again.

At 5:35pm he took off heading out of the park, over the houses on
Federal Ave E heading roughly NNW nicely silhouetted against the sky.
Not hunting in the park, eh?

So anyone in the park over the next few days should perhaps keep and
eye (and an ear) out for the BARN OWL.

On Jan 9, 2009, at 12:50 PM, Kevin Purcell wrote:

> The crows pointed me in the right direction and I spotted through
> binoculars a half-awake BARN OWL at the cut end of 6" diameter
> branch in the pine(?) tree about 30 feet above ground. Without bins
> the owl blends very nicely into the background (which suprised me
> for such a light colored bird).
>
> [...]
>
> The tree in which the BARN OWL was perched/roosted is adjacent to a
> yellow house and a wood chippings pile from the cleanups from the
> recent storm. It is about 100m north of the stairs up to the
> holloway from E Prospect.

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com