January 24, 2012
Richard Stevens:
Bryan Ehlmann and I decided to drive around DIA today in search of Snowy Owls. We did not relocate the Snowy Owl that Rebecca Kosten and I found yesterday afternoon at 56th avenue and 470-toll road.
During the day, we did go over to Harvest Road and 138th avenue and see the Snowy Owl there. Thanks to Sue Ponsor for reporting the owl was back there.
In between the two stops, we drove roads south and east of DIA. We tried to cover roads that we had missed in the past.
Whenever we found a person who appeared to spend some time in the area, we stopped and asked if they had seen any "white owls". One stop was quite productive. A "cowboy" feeding cows had seen a Snowy Owl earlier today (1/24) and also on 1/20! These sightings were approximately 6 miles from our sighting yesterday!
Early in the morning, I came up with the idea to ask landowners if we could pick up the white bags on their property. Some fields had dozens of these white grocery/store bags.
Several ranchers gave us "weird looks" about our request. Three landowners said go for it. This technique allowed us to walk over hills and scope fields that were not visible from a public road. No additional Snowy Owls were found, however one never knows. We at least explored fields never encountered before by us.
We stopped at two disposal sites and two water treatment plants, again asking about any "white owl" sightings. While this did not find any sightings, before the day was over, we had "recruited" another 200+ potential observers!
Our birding day ended along the DIA Owl Loop. The Short-eared Owls did not appear tonight.
Richard Stevens:
Bryan Ehlmann and I decided to drive around DIA today in search of Snowy Owls. We did not relocate the Snowy Owl that Rebecca Kosten and I found yesterday afternoon at 56th avenue and 470-toll road.
During the day, we did go over to Harvest Road and 138th avenue and see the Snowy Owl there. Thanks to Sue Ponsor for reporting the owl was back there.
In between the two stops, we drove roads south and east of DIA. We tried to cover roads that we had missed in the past.
Whenever we found a person who appeared to spend some time in the area, we stopped and asked if they had seen any "white owls". One stop was quite productive. A "cowboy" feeding cows had seen a Snowy Owl earlier today (1/24) and also on 1/20! These sightings were approximately 6 miles from our sighting yesterday!
Early in the morning, I came up with the idea to ask landowners if we could pick up the white bags on their property. Some fields had dozens of these white grocery/store bags.
Several ranchers gave us "weird looks" about our request. Three landowners said go for it. This technique allowed us to walk over hills and scope fields that were not visible from a public road. No additional Snowy Owls were found, however one never knows. We at least explored fields never encountered before by us.
We stopped at two disposal sites and two water treatment plants, again asking about any "white owl" sightings. While this did not find any sightings, before the day was over, we had "recruited" another 200+ potential observers!
Our birding day ended along the DIA Owl Loop. The Short-eared Owls did not appear tonight.
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