Hi Sam, Ryan, Bobby and Curtis and everyone,
Yesterday when Delia and I and Brian Pendleton drove into the parking lot at dusk at Eide Rd it was like driving into an ambush with a bank of huge lenses pointed directly at us as if they might go off at any moment. It was a Barn Owl stake out, admirably disciplined and well-organized without any anarchic elements breaking the rules or invading the bird's space. They told us she would be heading out soon and we thought "Oh, I'm Sure!".
The photos of the gorgeous bird that flew out are at the link below, presumably it's her roost site and a daily show, but I don't know that. Many photographers must have gotten very good shots of this bird. The bird did not seem troubled by the attention, and at one point, every time she turned her head toward the group you could hear the shutters going off like at a fashion-shoot.
Speaking of stakeout birds, the Tennessee Warbler that I reported "gone" is, well, not entirely necessarily for sure gone.
Here is the schedule it has been observed keeping: Jan 16 10:10 am 1:05 pm Jan 18 12:28 Jan 22 8:45 am
The bird comes in to the yard in a business like way, scoping for danger but soon getting into the creek and bathing but always skillfully finding a bathing spot that is hidden behind a rock. After about a 15 second bath it once stuck around for more seconds, once even preening in semi-visible positions on branches, but other times has shot from it's impossible-to-see bathing position completely out of the yard at high speed, leaving a trail of frustration. The whole visit is probably well less than a minute duration.
We think any kind of a stakeout would probably be both boring (The creek didn't get any other warbler or notable bird all day today) (also, after a big rain tonight, how big of a draw is a bath?) and unsuccessful. We are hard at work inside the house preparing for a family visit, one of us is fighting a cold,and conducting cottage-industry sweatshop labor. Our biggest concern is that we don't want to appear to be holding back information on this bird, nor would we feel good if we were appearing to be unwelcome if anyone were calculating differently from us and thought it was worth it do a vigil. Also we have been on the receiving end of so many wonderful hosts of birds, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Blue Jay and many others come to mind, we don't want to be hypocritical. Outside from the driveway or further in next to the back of the house would be unintrusive to the bird. Just for the sake of not tossing a lot of info out on the internet, email us first if anyone wants to experience for themselves how frustrating this bird can be.
Pictures of the Tennessee and the Owl at the bottom of the blog--scroll all the way down past the New Mexico pics.
Thanks all, Ed Newbold
ednewbold1 at yahoo.com ( and Delia) Beacon Hill Seattle
Here's the link:
Ed Newbold | It's winter wonderland in the bootheel!!!
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Ed Newbold | It's winter wonderland in the bootheel!!!
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