AMB Field Trip #10: Raptors & the Great (Horned) Owl Controversy

A few days after our raptor lecture, our class reassembles for a raptor field trip, starting at Barr Lake State Park.  The weather forecast has been for decent temps, but with huge winds - something we've had all too much of already this month - out on the plains.  But happily for all of us, the huge winds do not materialize.  It is, in fact, a perfect Colorado bluebird day.

But, of course, there are no bluebirds today:  it's January!  And our target is raptors, along with anything else we might come upon out on the prairie.  

As if on cue, as we're assembling at the nature center at Barr Lake, Bald Eagles - one at a time, either five or six, depending on how lucky you are - do a flyby overhead.

Bald Eagle

That's the good news, and perhaps one of the least contested moments of the day.  The truth is, mere moments after we've started on our journey out of the park, we spy a raptor sitting in a tree on the shore of the lake.  The bird is too far away to see clearly without a scope, but it flies before we can get a scope on it.  Most of the experts in the group call it a Ferruginous Hawk, which seems pretty darn cool, since it's still a new and exciting bird for me.  But one of my carpool mates insists that it's simply a Red-tailed Hawk - and won't be convinced otherwise - and the controversies of the day begin.  Who knew that something like birding - a thing that outsiders regard as a passive hobby - could lead to ferocious competition?

Happily, our next several birds are ones we reach agreement on more easily.  There's a hawk that everyone agrees is a Ferruginous.  By the way, "Ferruginous" comes from the Latin ferrigineus, resembling iron rust in color;  this bird does not disappoint.

Ferruginous Hawk

And then there are multiple birds that everyone agrees are Rough-legged Hawks.  Another factoid:  Ferruginous and Rough-legged Hawks were originally considered one species.  Both have feathers all the way down their legs to their toes (Golden Eagles are the only other raptors to also have feathered tarsi - that's birdspeak for a bird's feet).

Rough-legged Hawk

Rough-legged Hawk

There's a Great Horned Owl in a tree in the distance that only a few of us see.  There are tons of Red-winged Blackbirds (admittedly, not raptors) in trees along the way.  There are hundreds of Horned Larks and Meadowlarks gracing the side of the road.

Rough-legged Hawk

So it's an incredibly birdy day, and that is excellent news.  But we also have a huge group today, and huge groups are unwieldy, especially when split into 6 cars, all stopping along the side of mostly 2-lane roads with little in the way of legal pull-offs.  It's an exercise that requires coordination, and today, for reasons unfathomable to me, most of the cars are not participating in the walkie-talkie sharing of information that's really necessary to make these trips the best they can be.

I'm lucky to be riding with one of the trip leaders: Joe Roller, a Denver birder who has been doing this stuff since he was a boy.  The other leaders are Doug Kibbe and Mackenzie Goldthwaite.  Kez is one of the mentors in the program, and Doug is one of the guest lecturers/trip leaders.  The good news is that both Joe and Doug keep up a steady stream of shared information.  One of the things I love best about Joe is that even though he knows so very much about birds, he's a realist, and reminds us over and over that there are just some birds that you will never see well enough to identify.  

By late morning we're on rural roads that are on the back side of DIA (Denver International Airport).  We avail ourselves of roadside facilities (ahem, perhaps not really intended for public use, but open and clean and a godsend), and use the time to stretch legs and watch Horned Larks in the open fields next to us.

Horned Lark

One of our crew has a scope set up on a bird in the air, and then there's a flurry of excitement as a positive ID is made:  it's a large bird, not a raptor, though.  It's a Sandhill Crane!  Totally unexpected and out of place in Denver in January.  We're excited to watch it, but it fills me with uneasiness.  Tina - who was my mentor for the first several months of the program - once offered up her views on the out-of-place birds that birders get excited about chasing.  She said, "you know, these birds will all most likely die, as they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Birders love to see them, but it's not usually a good thing for the birds". 

Sand Hill Crane

Sand Hill Crane

I watch this bird as it flies in circles - and it does fly in circles, as you can see from the photos - and worry that it is lost and can't find it's way in the world.  Add to that the fact that it's flying in the DIA area, and I worry that it will have an unintended encounter with a plane.  Everyone else in my class is dancing with joy and calling this the "bird of the day";  I'm silently crying and praying for this creature's safe passage.

Down the road a bit, we have our biggest controversy of the day.  In a copse of large, barren cottonwoods at a 90-degree turn in the road, one of our group spies a Great Horned Owl.  

First owl, everyone agrees is a Great Horned Owl
(photo credit & copyright:  G. Hart)

We all stop to look at it, and then someone discovers another owl.  When I see it, I think "how cool - a Long-eared Owl!"  But, of course, I know nothing about owls, really, and soon I'm being schooled by others.  This is also a Great Horned.  But then, maybe no.  One of the experts says it's Long-eared.  Others say Great Horned.  I start to think perhaps I should take some photos - foolishly, I've left my camera in the car just now - and then the bird in question flies away.  Thankfully, others in the group have photos to share.

The controversial owl
(photo credit & copyright:  Cynthia Madsen)

We'll find another owl in the distance when we get in our cars and turn the corner;  nobody is certain whether it's the controversial bird, but there is agreement that this is yet another Great Horned.  At the time, we end the moment as a house divided.  There is a small (and credible) force calling the bird Long-eared, and a larger contingent calling it Great Horned.  For me, it goes into my ebird list as "owl sp".  (For folks new to birdspeak, that means I've identified it as an owl, but the "sp" is short for species, and it indicates that I have not been able to identify the specific species.)

We cover a lot of ground on this field trip;  too much, perhaps, for such a large group.  But we encounter lots of fun birds, many new for the year.  Highlights of the rest of the day - as we cross from Adams and Denver Counties into Morgan and Weld - are a huge flock of Wild Turkeys assembled in a farm field, far off the road, and a smaller flock of Brewer's Blackbirds.  But that's after we've stopped for lunch at a rest stop along the way, enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous weather.  There are a few birds at the rest stop, ones we would expect there:  a few House Sparrows, an American Robin or two, and even a flyover by yet another adult Bald Eagle.  But as we leave our lunch stop, one more unexpected bird is foraging along the wayside.