5 replies to this topic

[KittyBoodles]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading this website and forums for a long time, but finally made an account today to ask advice and to share my story... I have a few questions regarding officially reporting a rare bird sighting.. pros/cons, how to, if I should, and so on.

During the week of 9-12 to 9-15 I have spotted, twice - what I am 99.99% positive is a Burrowing Owl, twice, over a 4 day period - in Northeast PA.

My story: I've been a birder as long as I can remember... from being very little with my mom taking long walks in the woods to today. I live in Northeast PA, in the middle of several State Game lands with farm lands all around them, and enjoy birding immensely. I am disabled and can not walk very far for very long any longer, so I do most of my birding from my deck, windows,hotel rooms if I travel, and also sitting in my car within State Game Land parks from parking lots and camp sites. Because of my disability I do not sleep very well, so I take the car over to a nearby SGL park at all times of the day and night, and enjoy the wild life. Birds, bears, deer, and so many other critters.

I saw it in the hour before sunrise on both days around the same area. It was about one hour before sunrise so it was dark, but just starting to have that little bit of lightening in the sky. What actually drew me to look for the bird was I *first* heard what sounded like a Mourning Dove call ("chuooo") but the call sounded ...off. It seemed higher in pitch. That is what really caught my attention. The Mourning Doves are very common here, and typically don't start making noise until later on..

First spotting, it stood on a bare branch roughly five feet off the ground, and was very still. I almost didn't see it except for the big yellow eyes. I did not get my camera ready in time before it flew off. It did not fly up, it flew down toward the ground and skimmed the ground as it left. What struck me was how tall it stood, how long it's legs were, and I did not see any ear tufts.

Second sighting, a few mornings later, very close to the same time but a little later (a little more light) and I saw it standing on a picnic table. This time I had my camera ready, but, due to the darkness, color and lighting, and the distance between this owl and myself, my HD night vision camera could not pick it up. I was closer to the owl this time than the previous morning so I wrote down details and did a sketch in my book.

Description:

- It has *very* long legs
- No "ear tufts"
- A very round head
- a white "V" over it's eyes and an inverted white V "mustache".
- I was able to see a thin white 'collar' around neck.
- It appeared to be close to 8" tall at best guess, standing very still.
- It had big yellow eyes
- It had a short tail
- it had a barred chest

Now, we have Saw Whet and Screech owls here, along with other owls and birds that I can easily identify easily by sight and sound. For a few days I thought it was a younger owl that had not developed ear tufts, except this owl had *very* long legs, standing upright, and that is what stuck with me. I also realized that the partial Mourning Dove sound I'd heard could have possibly been made my this owl, so this made me go searching for what it could be. It took me several days (and finally, with a good friend's help) to ID this owl due to it's not being in it's normal range and area. I was completely surprised to find out that this owl matched discriptions to the Burrowing Owl, especially because it is not supposed to be in this area. My friend and I were literally sitting with our mouths open when we expanded our search outward from the State of PA.

I have tried to catch it on camera since however I have not seen it for 5 days now. There is a golf course nearby, several rivers with rocky banks and run offs and it's a heavily forested area but with large fields nearby and airports several miles away, (I have read that they seem to like these open areas). We do have groundhogs, rabbits, lizards, tons of frogs.

I'm very careful when I want to ID a bird, sometimes it's taken me weeks to make a positive ID on some birds (especially finches) and I almost always have my camera on me, ready to go. In my yard, I have a trap cam set up to help me take photos of birds and other animals. This one, I have only seen twice and both times was unable to take a photo, but I wrote down exactly what I saw and even sketched it in my book so I could be sure and not have to rely on memory. The only reason I have that tiny percentage of doubt is because I can not prove, with photos to others, what I saw.

So here are my questions... While I'm very, very, very happy to be nearly completely positive that I have found a very rare Lifer, and it would be great if someone else could spot it and take away that tiny % doubt - I'm not sure if I should submit a rare sighting form with specific locations with Lat/Long and so on.

I have read that it can be harmful to the bird(s) when others come to try to see it, and I don't want to stress it out. I don't know why it's here, if it is passing through, if I'm wrong (I honestly don't think I am mistaking it for another owl) ... or what. I know many birders, and I understand that most birders are very careful, but I worry about causing the bird harm or stress because of some articles I've read. Most of the area is State Game lands, but there are several private lands, houses and farms nearby. The articles I've read over the years about rare bird reporting and ethics, if you should, if you should not, and I'm want to be cautious and do this right, for birders - and for the bird(s).

I'd love to share this bird with other people, but I'm nervous... so here I am asking for any advice. Should I make an official report? Will this cause many people to come to the area? Should I wait until I could possibly get a photograph? What would you do? I'm even nervous to hit "submit post" on this. Is that silly??

Thank you for your time and any advice that can be given. I really appreciate it!

~ Karen

[JimBob]

If it was a burrowing owl, it was most likely an escape. Without a photo, I don't think that it could be confirmed. Maybe try to get back to the area.... And look for it.

[illin]

It is up to you. If it was a Burrowing Owl it probably won't make it back to where it was from anyway, so others might as well get to see it. At least that is the way I look at it.

Jim why would you say it would most likely be an escapee? They have shown up in odd places before. One was found in Chicago a few years ago.

[creeker]

Sounds like it is a Burrowing Owl. You describe it perfectly. According to my Sibley Guide they are rare visitors to your area. Congrats on the cool sighting! Pretty sure if you report it, and it's in an area where people can get to it, there will be throngs of birders there looking for it. I think you really should report it. Sightings like this are important to birding in general.

[KittyBoodles]

Thank you for your help and advice!

I've been back over there a few more times but have not seen or heard is since, but... I've been there most of the summer and it's possible I just didn't see him/her until those dates.

I think I will make the report.

Thanks again!

[spookyjimjams]

If it is a Burrowing Owl, you should have no difficulty seeing it during the daytime. They tend to be awake and above ground at all hours. They are really common where I live, and I can count on a particular pair next to the mall to be at the lip of their burrow all day long. Good luck!