February 2005
Pellets
Monday, February 21, 2005
I made a quick trip to Tower Grove Park after work to pick up some of the pellets I found on Saturday. After gathering up a few I saw some beneath a tree a few paces away and went to investigate. One of the pellets was still damp! I looked up, and there was a Great Horned Owl perched in the branches overhead. It opened its eyes, and I backed away and returned to the car. If owls wonder about human behavior, this one surely must have wondered what I could possibly want with its pellets.
GBBC in brief
Saturday, February 19, 2005
I birded the west side of Tower Grove Park for the count. There were three Fox Sparrows in the Bird Garden and a Red-tailed Hawk by the brick house.
The stand of trees where Great Horned Owls nested last year is serving as a roost this year. I went there looking for pellets or whitewash and found about a dozen pellets amongst splatters of whitewash. While I was examining the ground under the pines, the owl flew in from the area of the stables and perched in a deciduous tree, where it was harassed by three crows.
The focus of most of my birding has been on passerines. This is the first time I’ve found owl sign—my plan now is to survey all the likely trees in the park.
Odds and ends
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Between work and a class I’m taking I’ve had no leisure time, which means birding is done on the fly during a quick turn around Forest Park’s east side or a detour through Tower Grove Park on the way home from work.
One morning nearly two weeks ago (February 4) in Forest Park, while walking to the office, I was lured down one of the river paths by a Song Sparrow singing on the wooden rail of the stone bridge just before the skating rink. Several Red-winged Blackbirds sang across the field, and although I saw no more sparrows, I was glad I had taken the long way in. As I came to the Victorian footbridge, a chickadee and a small, olive-colored bird flew into a small tree near the foot of the stairs to the overpass. Ruby-crowned Kinglet! I stood watching him for several minutes, marveling at his exquisite mix of colors: the bright red crown, chartreuse flight feathers, and subtle olive contour feathers. I’ve heard this bird described as drab and wonder why.
Other delights in Forest Park included a Cackling Goose on the morning of February 3, on the golf course in a flock of a few hundred Canadas, and two Red-tailed Hawks that afternoon, in trees near the Victorian footbridge.
There was probably more than one Cackling Goose in the flock—several looked as though they were possible candidates. I was on the way to work, though, and had only a few minutes and a very good view of the one that had initially caught my eye, so I focused on it to be sure of the identification. This was a handsome little bird—a small crescent of white at the base of its neck gave it a dapper flair.
I came across the hawks while walking to my car from the office. One was yelping from a tree about fifty yards from where the second one was perched. Just as I stopped to look, it took wing, and I saw that it had the bloody remains of a small mammal dangling from its talons. It landed in the tree where the other was perched, and although I was very interested in seeing what happened next, the hawks seemed more interested in my presence than in each other. There was no place for me to duck out of sight, so I walked on, not wanting to disturb them further. The hawk with the grisly treat flew off toward the skating rink, and I don’t know whether it returned.
