[Birdtalk] A tale of a Northern Hawk Owl

[Tim Avery]

This morning Steve and Cindy Sommerfeld, Steve Carr, Donna Thorum, Bob
MacDougall, and I left Salt Lake at 4:30am and met Richard Pontius of the
Ogden? area, and Marie Adams of Evanston in Willard to head north to Rexburg to
view the NHOW.  We arrived right around 9:00am in cloudy and cool weather, with
a slight on and off drizzle.  The owl was not there... well right there.  We
spread out and looked around for a bit, when a photographer and his companion
spotted the bird in the line of trees north of 33 sitting right in the middle
of a mess of branches.  WE moved across the highway, still a ways out, and
viewed the bird from a safe distance for a good while.  Others from Montana,
Idaho, California and Colorado were present as well.  The only shots I could
get were digiscopes:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_10.jpg

Our group of 8 headed into Rexburg to grab a bite to eat, and warm up a little. 
While in town we spotted a couple more interesting owls:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/wise_owl_01.jpg
(Hootie the Balloon Owl, and Donna "the Wise Owl" Thorum)

We opted to head back towards Beaver Dick Park to see if the bird moved in
closer.  When we got there, the owl was not, closer, and in fact, was not in
the trees where it was when we left.  I scanned from the north side of the
road, which had a pretty good overlook of the surroundings, but could not see
the owl.  WE decided to take off and as we were headed back east on 33, we
spotted the bird gliding towards the trees in the park entrance where it had
been reported previously.  We pulled in, set up the scope and got some great
looks:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_05.jpg

The owl was very calm, preening and hopping around in the branches about 12 feet
high in the tree.  I think everyone with a camera was able to get some nice
shots, as the bird was out in the open posing nicely:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_02.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_03.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_04.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_06.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_07.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_08.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/nhow_09.jpg

We left the bird in the tree and headed out, and back to Salt Lake.  At Beaver
Dick Park we also observed a few other nice birds:

Tundra Swan - 4
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Pine Siskin - 2
American Goldfinch - 1

Along I-15 just south of Rexburg was a flock of over 100 Tundra Swan on a small
lake on the west side of the interstate.  If you already haven't, its well
worth the drive to go see this bird.

Cheers

Tim
Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.timavery.com