The first Short-eared Owl of the season landed on a pile of cornstalks after catching a vole before sunset last Friday. A lucky photo of the Short-eared Owl in flight with the vole in its talons as it repositioned to the ground. This adult Bald Eagle with a bulging crop was among 44 Bald Eagles counted Friday. Bald Eagles provided photos of individuals perched and in flight during the weekend, including more images that illustrate the Bird Photography feature in this issue. Bald Eagles provided photos of individuals perched and in flight during the weekend, including more images that illustrate the Bird Photography feature in this issue. Bald Eagles provided photos of individuals perched and in flight during the weekend, including more images that illustrate the Bird Photography feature in this issue.

After being on the lookout for a Short-eared Owl for a couple weeks, I appreciated a little thrill when I saw the first one of the season hunting on the wing above the roadside during a birding drive Friday. There was still enough sunlight for photography, so I hoped the Short-eared Owl would continue to fly in my direction as I pulled into an approach. Instead, it hovered a moment, dropped lower, and hovered briefly before dropping to the ground. In a moment the owl emerged from the low grass with a large vole in its talons – flying toward me.

It passed by fairly close, but unfortunately it flew on the shadow side of my position, but the owl landed on a pile of corn stalks in full sunlight. I was able to park close enough to photograph the Short-eared Owl as it scanned the area, and while expecting it to begin eating, the owl took flight in search of another perch. I watched closely as the owl picked up the vole with its beak, took flight, then switched the prey to its right foot as it flew across the best sunlight, providing a split-second photo opportunity before the owl landed on the ground, where it swallowed the vole whole in the shadow of the roadside. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, it flew up and resumed hunting the short grass along the road.

I watched another 5 minutes, appreciating the Short-eared Owl’s long wings in flight, its low hunting position, and its ever-wider search area until it was out of sight. In confidence, this likely wasn’t my first fall Short-ear sighting, but it was the first that I could make a positive daylight identification. The night before, as I began my return from our family Thanksgiving celebration in Fargo, an owl flew low into the headlight view of my car along the west of West Fargo. The night owl wasn’t close enough to make a positive identification, but judging from its size, coloration, and wing shape, I ruled out a Great Horned Owl, a Snowy Owl, or even a hawk, and believed it must have been a Short-eared Owl.

Earlier Friday, I observed 3 single Bald Eagles to the south, a fine silver-gray male Merlin, and a Northern Shrike. A large flock of Snow Buntings was a treat, with a couple small flocks of Horned Larks nearby. A flock of a dozen Sharp-tailed Grouse was fun to see in flight too, as was a colorful male Ring-necked Pheasant. With almost every lake ice-covered and single-digit high temperatures, only a single flock of Snow Geese remained in the area surrounding my home range, feeding 3 miles north of my office, probably numbering near a thousand birds. The cloud of geese at Carlson Lake was noticeably absent, which didn’t bode well for seeing very many Bald Eagles, or so it seemed. There were only 3 eagles perched in a tree and on the ice, but along 2 tree rows immediately northwest of the lake I was very surprised to find 32 more, for a total of 35 Bald Eagles.

Eagle Action

Later Friday, as the sun was setting I wanted to see how many eagles would roost at Carlson Lake and the surrounding trees: There were 44 on hand as the daylight dimmed, which was a record high count for any fall I’ve been on hand. Overall, there were 2 or 3 Bald Eagles at the lakeside daily the week before, with 4 on Friday November 22nd, 2 on Monday November 25th; 9 eagles on Tuesday, 23 Bald Eagles on Wednesday the 27th, and the record of 44 on Friday November 29th; followed by a total of 28 on the last day of November, and 16 Bald Eagles on the first day of December.

By Saturday it was clear that migration was on its last legs in the region, especially since the last thousand Snow Geese apparently evacuated sometime overnight. I left the geese, which included a few Ross’s Geese still feeding at dusk the night before, which made November 29th their last day in the cornfields of my corner of Dakota. That’s when the question became: how long would Bald Eagles remain? A half-hour before sunset I checked the area and only counted 10.

Window Action

Friday I appreciated seeing 2 Dark-eyed Juncos foraging below my feeders, a normal adult and a western Oregon junco, which I finally managed to photograph. As noted before, the Oregon race of Dark-eyed Juncos rarely are encountered this far east, so they are a treat when they do appear. For the first time in more than a month there were Dark-eyed Juncos in sight most of Saturday while I was in my office, including a high count of 6 that included 3 normal juncos and 3 Oregon juncos – a nice treat. There was similar cold weather junco action Sunday and Monday, and the core group of feeder visitors were a male Hairy Woodpecker, 1 or 2 White-breasted Nuthatches, several House Finches, and 4 Blue Jays.

From my car window Monday, counted 5 Bald Eagles during a morning drive to Carlson Lake, 7 eagles over noon, and 11 at sunset, which was insightful in itself. Within a given day, eagles are moving in and out of the core area – Carlson Lake – and some are leaving the region, while others are still arriving. But the eagles won’t be here much longer, so I will appreciate every day a few can be found nearby (there were 13 before publishing Tuesday).

Soon I will make my first migration south to drive my SoDak winter raptor survey route, centered at Pierre, South Dakota. At this point, the timing is right, but I need to wait for a sunny day with as little wind as possible when I can break away from my Editor duties. I enjoy that SoDak trip a number of times each winter, and I’m looking forward to seeing what raptors and other birds will be on hand. In the meantime I hope you have had some avian excitement during the past week, including over the holiday break, and wish you good luck finding some kool birds in the days ahead!

Article and Photos by Paul Konrad

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