A-AmericanBlackDuckDrake

Photo Study Of Waterfowl and A Couple of Short-eared Owls At E.B. Forsythe NWR (Brig), March 4th, 2011

Brigantine was loaded with waterfowl yesterday including a couple of thousand Snow Geese. Also two of the much heralded Short-eared Owls showed up in mid-afternoon,
coursing up and down both sides of the southbound dike, landing occasionally to get their pictures taken.

Short-eared Owl

    The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is a medium-sized owl averaging 13 to 17 inches in length and weighing 11 to 13 ounces. It has large eyes, big head, short neck, and
    broad wings. Its bill is short, strong, hooked and black. Its plumage is mottled tawny to brown with a barred tail and wings. The upper breast is significantly streaked.
    Wingspans range from 38 to 44 inches. Females are slightly larger than males. The yellow-orange eyes of the Short-eared Owls are exre aggerated by black rings encircling
    each eye, giving the appearance of them wearing mascara and large, whitish disks of plumage surrounding the eyes like a mask. The Short-eared Owl occurs on all continents
    except Antarctica and Australia; thus it has one of the largest distributions of any bird. The Short-eared Owl breeds in Europe, Asia, North and South America, the
    Caribbean, Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands. It is partially migratory, moving south in winter from the northern parts of its range. The Short-eared Owl is known to
    relocate to areas of higher rodent populations. It will also wander nomadically in search of better food supplies during years when vole populations are low.
    (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; The Sibley Guide To Birds)

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For comparative purposes here is a photo of a Short-eared Owl
taken at Oberly Road WMA in Alpha, NJ on February 14th, 2010

And here are photos of some of the other birds seen at Brig today:

Northern Pintail Drake

Two Northern Shoveler Drakes Fight Over A Hen

Green-winged Teal Drake Flies

Killdeer Near Nature Center

"Hey, Wait For Me!"

Snow Geese Scramble When Helicopter Flies Over

Species seen today

Snow Goose	American Black Duck	American Crow
Canada Goose	Mallard	Blue Jay
Brant	American Wigeon	Northern Harrier
Tundra Swan	Great Blue Heron	Red-tailed Hawk
Mute Swan	Hooded Merganser	Herring Gull
Canvasback Duck	Common Merganser	Great Black-backed Gull
Green-winged Teal	Dark-eyed Junco	Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Pintail	Northern Cardinal	Killdeer
Northern Shoveler	Eastern Bluebird	Northern Mockingbird

To see a larger image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnails or the captions...thanks!


AmericanBlackDuckDrake	AmericanWigeonDrake	Brant	CanadaGoose	CommonMerganserHen

GadwallDrake	GadwallDrake2	Green-wingedTealDrake	Green-wingedTealDrakeFlies	HoodedMerganserDrake

HoodedMerganserHen	MallardDrake	MallardHen	NorthernPintailDrake	NorthernPintailHen

NorthernShovelerDrake	NorthernShovelerHen	SnowGeese	SnowGeeseAtSunset	SnowGeeseFly

SnowGeeseLanding1	SnowGeeseLanding2	SnowGooseAtSunset	WrongWayBlueGoose	MuteSwan

TundraSwansAnd ASnowGoose	GreatBlueHeron	HerringGull	NorthernHarrier	Short-earedOwl1

Short-earedOwl2	Short-earedOwl3	Short-earedOwlFlies1	Short-earedOwlFlies2	NorthernMockingbird

© Howard B. Eskin 2011 Please email your comments to hbeskin@voicenet.com Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index