Thursday, 27 December 2012

[cobirds] Owl Close Encounter - Arapahoe County

Cobirders,

Around 6:30 this evening, as I was getting dinner prepared, several times I thought I saw the flash of a wing out over the back patio.  But, at 6:30, all I could see against the pitch black of night was kitchen reflections.  I assumed my brain was playing tricks on me, since I'd watched a sharpie hanging out near a juniper next to the patio and occasionally swooping low over the grass at dusk an hour or so earlier.  By the 3rd time I saw a "wing flash," I stepped over to the sink, leaned over to look through the window and came face to face with a very small owl.  He was perched about 3 feet away from me on the window sill.  He flew after about 5 seconds, so I got just a brief look.  My quick impressions were of a small owl 8 inches or less with a small round whitish facial disk with brown streaking and a white "X" through the eye area and no ear tufts visible.  He seemed more brown than gray, but hard to tell in the dark.  I have little experience with owls.  It looked very similar to photos of Northern Saw-whet, but could have been W. Screech???  Not sure what would be likely here in suburbia in December.  A fun and very close encounter!

Becky Campbell
Arapahoe Cty just so of CCSP  

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment