The Great Gray Ghost of the North, Backyard Birding

Article Date: 2005-04-01   Source: http://www.theithacajournal.com   Comments: 0

By Karen L. Allaben-Confer

Ithaca, New York, U.S.A. - What a winter for owls!

March stormed in on the back of a nor'easter that sucked up salty Atlantic moisture and swept up the Eastern Seaboard. It veered inland to meet a cold front plunging out of Canada. Snow fell on the Finger Lakes and eastward like sifting flour.

In a large farm field, bordered by an oak, hickory and maple forest in northwestern Jefferson County, about 130 miles NNE of Tompkins County, the snow-laden limbs of a monarch hickory that had grown old under full sun in the open field, offered a dramatic viewing perch for a large gray, round-headed owl.

Leaning nearly 45 degrees, the owl bent his broad flat face, revealing two white moustaches under large, gray-brown facial disks and arching white brows between glaring yellow eyes.

This young male Great Gray Owl migrated from his natal forest in Algonquin Provincial Park in Central Ontario to southern Ontario, then, wandered southeast to Amherst Island, west of Kingston.

Finding few rodents, he might have island-hopped to Wolfe Island, then across the narrows of the St. Lawrence River to Cape Vincent, New York -- a total flight of about 150 miles.

His keen hearing located a meadow vole running along its tunnel 12 inches under deepening snow. He lifted his nearly 5-foot wingspan, dropped majestically, flapped silently and sedately a foot above the snow, then plunged with legs and talons extended, nailing the rodent in mid-stride.

The imprint of outstretched wings on the billowing snow and "plunge mark" from feet and body impact may have earned this owl his Athabascan name, "heavy walker" -- sometimes, the only proof that a Great Gray Owl was present. Strix nebulosa nebulosa flapped back to his hickory limb - loose body feathers rippling gracefully beneath him.

The layers of long, fluffy feathers insulate a remarkably light, 1.75 to 3.19 pound body. Yet, including a long tail, great grays average between 24 and 33 inches tall, with a wingspan of up to 60 inches, the largest in size, but not weight, of any other North American owl.

Cape Vincent's rare visitor had hunted voles since Feb. 23, innocent of the historical significance of being the only Great Gray Owl to visit northern New York in nearly 10 years.

He would attract between 800 and 1,000 birders and photographers from nine states and two provinces before migrating back to Algonguin.

The Great Gray was not alone in making history. Due to harsh weather and a bust year for rodents in northern boreal forests, this was a notable "invasion" year of many owls all across the northern United States and southern Canada.

The Great Backyard Bird Count reported record numbers of Great Gray Owls, Northern Hawk Owls, and Boreal Owls in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and northern New England.

In Minnesota, Great Gray Owl populations increased from last year's 35 to almost 2,000! Last winter, only six Northern Hawk Owls and one Boreal Owl were seen in Minnesota. This winter there were 300 Northern Hawk Owls and 400 Boreal Owls!

The New York Times reported that a Boreal Owl even showed up in Central Park on Dec. 19, 2004 -- the first ever seen since records began of such sightings.

By early March this year, hundreds of normally reclusive Great Grey Owls wintered in rodent-rich woodlands and farm fields around Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, and in southern Quebec.

Great Gray Owls nest in dense coniferous stands near muskeg, meadow or forest openings.

In the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, they nest in mixed conifer and red spruce forests. Palearctic habitats include tamarack forests in Manitoba, tamarack and black spruce wetlands in Saskatchewan, black ash and basswood in Minnesota and balsam poplars and white spruce in Alaska. Estuaries, mountain meadows, and the edges of farm fields are prime hunting sites during migration.

Characteristically "sit and wait" hunters, the owls lean forward from a perch, watching and listening for movements of prey before pouncing. They also patrol through the forest, flying only a few feet above the ground.

This typical low-hunting flight has caused the death of nearly 500 Great Grays in Minnesota this winter, due to collisions with cars. They generally search for prey at dawn and dusk. However, during winter months, they can be seen hunting in daylight. Meadow voles breed all winter and can provide a constant food supply for birds of prey.

Cape Vincent's owl switched his hunting strategy from daytime to twilight once he mapped the "lay of the land" with the highest concentrations of voles.

About 80 percent of the Great Gray Owl diet is primarily small rodents, with voles being the most important food in Alaska, Canada and Oregon. In California, the owls prefer pocket gophers.

Otherwise, depending on their location, their eclectic menu choices consist of rats, mice, shrews, squirrels, snowshoe hare, chipmunks, moles, weasels, crows, small hawks, American robin, ducks and grouse. Frogs, toads, snakes and insects are taken infrequently.

Like other owls, they throw up, or "cast" compact, dark grayish-black pellets of indigestible bones and fur. These pellets measure 3 to 4 inches long and 1 to 2 inches thick.

With lengthening days, the Great Gray Ghost of the North should soon feel the urge to migrate.

In two to three weeks, some lucky birder or the farmer, on whose land this owl has thrived, may witness his grand gray presence flapping solemnly across the field toward the St. Lawrence narrows, ignorant of the excitement more powerful than a spring nor'easter that he incited among bird watchers.

It may be years before we see the likes of such an avian wonder in New York's backyard again.

Karen Allaben-Confer, a well-known wildlife artist, is an Ithaca native. She lives in the Town of Caroline with her ornithologist husband, John Confer, and their American water spaniel, Jasmine. They all enjoy bird-watching. "Backyard Birding" is published monthly in House and Garden.

Comments

Comment on the above News article.