February 20th 2007. East Meadows, Northampton, MA. Long-eared Owl. Asio otus. Another great bird down at the East Meadows! I was just finishing an afternoon stroll when I bumped into Janice Zepko and Seth Kellogg by the airfield. We were chatting away when I noticed a raptor-like ‘shape’ land at the edge of a thicket above the track immediately in front of us. It materialized into an owl, and then a Long-eared Owl! Incredibly it flew towards us perching up once again, and then glided away down the track. We also had it 'teed-up' high on a spindly branch, somewhat reminiscent of a Northern Hawk Owl, before it drifted away (apparently hunting) over a corn stubble field. We had the bird in view for just eight short minutes from 17:22 hours. NB. Image quality is poor due to fading light. Other birds of note in the meadows, a male Northern Harrier, about 14 Snow Buntings and a Lapland Longspur. Images taken using Canon Powershot A540 through Swaroviski HD telescope. |
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