Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Continued Boreal Owl Survey

June 20-22, 2016

Richard Stevens:

Terry Michaels and I returned to the Colorado State Forest to finish our 2016 survey of the nesting boxes.  We finished all but eight boxes, which will require a bit of hiking reaching.  I may try for some of them next week.

We did not find any boxes used by owls this year.  Eventually we did find seven additional Boreal Owls and two Flammulated Owls near boxes.  Add one Flammulated Owl and one Boreal Owl from last week's trip.

Five Boreal Owls and two Flammulated Owls were encountered along the North Fork Canadian River and Road.  The other two Boreal Owls and a Long-eared Owl were found along the Michigan Ditch.

The Canadian Road transect required a seven mile round trip hike past the locked gate at the end of CR 41. 

The Michigan Ditch Transect was 11 miles round trip.  The nesting boxes were checked during the day.  All the owls were encountered after sunset and before sunrise.

The exhausting hikes were enjoyable, however quite demanding.

Terry and I returned to Denver around noon on Wednesday.  I dropped him off and recouped with a drive around Arapahoe County.

Between hikes we found an American Three-toed Woodpecker at Ranger Lakes on 6/21.  Three Boreal Owls were found before midnight 6/19 between Cameron Pass and 1.2 miles to the west!

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