I had to escape the craziness of the owl irruption in the Duluth area for southern Florida, and we all know I love owls. Instead I watched two Monk Parakeets this morning involved with nest construction in a Palm Tree down … totally cool … just me and the two birds!
First the Movie! (video link for email subscribers)
And the still images … Monk Parakeets Building a Nest
And the nearby Burrowing Owls which could not hold my interest … LOL!
Molly and I have reached Florida, and I am enjoying time away from all the craziness the Northeast Minnesota owl irruption has caused. Instead of hiking while the temperature hovers around 3F, I am bicycling in 75F heat. It is a pleasing change. As I have noted many times before in this blog I always take my camera with me while cycling. If you only have your camera with you when out on a formal birding outing, invariably you will miss many photogenic birding opportunities. One does not need a HUGE lens. Yesterday I had my Sony A6300 and its 350 mm lens (525 mm full sized sensor equivalent) in my pannier. Obviously a full sized DSLR or Mirrorless with a huge lens would not be practical to take on a bike ride.
I was super excited when I spotted this pair of wood storks in the late afternoon light. While not rare, these birds seen harder to find down here in photogenic spots.
Wood Storks by Bike
Coming soon … Monk Parakeets building a nest in a palm tree! This nest building was by far more exciting to me this morning than watching local Burrowing Owls which were only 100 yards distant. Remember, I am escaping the owl madness at home!
What a difference a few days makes, and 1,500 miles! Sunday afternoon while still in Fort Myers, after the storm clouds cleared, I drove over to the Pelican Ballfields in Cape Coral in the afternoon. A few Burrowing Owls decided to come out and investigate including this couple. Actually I did not even know these two birds were “an item” till the larger of the two owls (female I assume) ran ten yards over to stand with its mate. This movement above ground let me begin to understand that their burrow was at least ten yards wide underground, with multiple entrances. It would be cool to see how extensive their burrow is underground, but not something I will ever learn or see.
Cape Coral Burrowing Owls
Black-Vultures fly low overhead, and definitely attract the owls’ attention.
Monday morning it was time to head back north. We are now safely stopped at my son’s house near Milwaukee and seeing my new grandchild again. This morning at sunrise I went out in an attempt to find a Long-Eared Owl winter roosting thicket. Given advance knowledge, I found three Long-Ears. Birding was quite different from Florida given the temperature was only 3F. Oh wow, were my hands cold. Even with winter gloves, I just could not keep my hands warm. I have tried many different gloves over the years, but have never discovered any which work for temperatures below zero. I would love to hear in the comments about what others use to keep their hands warm. Please notice in these images that the owls are sitting in the sunlight. As temperatures drop towards zero and below, owls often sit in the sun / out in the open during the day … protected from any wind but able to feel the thermal warmth.
Milwaukee Long-Eared Owls (3 unique birds … 1 male and 2 sleeping females)
