Said the Owl to the Fox... #135 & #136

A spectacular day! I had two of those moments in birding today that just get you hooked and keep you coming back for more. People ask you when they find out you like to bird watch: "what do you like about it?" Certainly one answer to this question is that there are these special "moments" that, because you were looking for them, you were privileged to be a part of. One of the things we should notice about life is that there are beautiful things happening all around us but we miss them all the time. Sometimes you have to be willing to be odd looking, to stand out apart from the "norm" in order to behold the beauty.

So today I set out for the Wilderness Center near Wilmot, Ohio because I heard tell that a life bird for me was visiting the feeders there. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon at the center. The day was winding down and their heating system hasn't been working too well so I was the only one there, other than staff. I waited at the windows watching a sizable collection of birds furiously pecking away at the last scraps of birdseed for the day.

After 45 minutes I still had no sign of my quarry and was just about to pack it in. One of the staff swung by to ask about the birds. We chatted about the recent highlights: Pine Siskins had been there on and off and a verified Sharp-shinned Hawk had been making the feeder birds jumpy lately. No sooner had the words, "well I guess if it hasn't been here by now, it's probably not showing up" come from his mouth when who should pop up? Life bird #135, the Fox Sparrow. Very handsomely attired in rufous-striped plumage and doing his own version of the "two-step".

Fox Sparrow, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

From this magic moment I made a dash for Kidron park with two birds on my mind: 1) Red-breasted Nuthatch and 2) Barred Owl, both of which had been seen there before. If you haven't been to Kidron Park yet, by the way, you should really get your snow clothes on and stop by. Just before Kidron elementary there is a small turn-in and, if you follow the road around to the visitor center, you'll find a trail leading into the woods at the back corner. They have set up a fantastic feeding station in the woods and it's a beautiful location with a stand of mature pines to walk beneath.

This was the third time I've visited the park recently, looking for both of these birds. I've never seen or heard a sign of the Nuthatch but on the two previous occasions I've stirred an owl from it's perch without a good ID. As I said, I'd been told there was a Barred Owl there but on my first visit I heard the owl calling and it didn't sound like a Barred Owl to me. I had to know for sure. So this evening I hunkered down on a plastic chair in the middle of the woods and waited until the sun started going down. I was rewarded for my wait as, not one, but two owls started calling back and forth in the trees... a deep, mellow hooting. Moving slowly along the trail I strained my eyes at the thick treetops hoping to see one of the birds before the light was gone. And then: The Moment. Right over my head flew and then perched atop a broken tree, framed by pine boughs and catching the last few rays of light was a Great Horned Owl. I gazed at the bird in my binoculars and it gazed back at me circling its head clockwise in that classic owl fashion. Breath-taking. I drove home on a cloud. I hadn't seen a Great Horned owl since I was a kid and one landed on an old dead tree along the woods in my back yard. It was a bird I was longing to see again. So... mystery solved. The Great Horned pair kicked out the Barred Owl and I saw my bird, official lifer #136. Feelin' warm and fuzzy (now that I've defrosted... did I mention over an hour in the woods...) Go see something beautiful.

Great Horned Owl, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology



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Photo Credits:

Fox Sparrow: Mdf
Great Horned Owl: brendan.lally