Poor weather has kept us away from continuing our Deer Run Bird Survey (tons of snow and below zero temperatures on our available dates) but we were finally able to do a survey for January. [Read about the Deer Run Bird Survey citizen science project]
American Tree Sparrow
With the trails covered with 8 inches of snow we decided to only walk the “A” loop which is the shortest of the three loops but follows a lot of riparian habitat and open prairie. The bird life was fairly quiet but we saw one more species than our third survey and ended the morning with 17.
We counted 107 individual birds including a new one for the survey, Rough-legged Hawk. Perhaps the most interesting bird spotted was this Barred Owl whose feathers looked much redder than any other Barred Owl we’ve seen.
Is anyone aware of a “red-phased” Barred Owl? We looked in A Guide to the Owls of the World and a subspecies from Texas has ‘cinnamon’ coloring. Otherwise, there really is no mention that we found of the red coloring. We’d compare the color to that of an eastern Fox Sparrow.
We have now accumulated 837 individual birds of 31 species on our Deer Run Bird Survey.
White-breasted Nuthatch hanging around
8 inches of snow? I’m not surpirse you only walked the “A” loop. Sounds like dedication to me. Keep up the good work!
I’ll have to check one of my books about that owl…Unfortunately I loaned it to a friend over the weekend. Congrats on the new hawk!
Not bad at all for such a cold day. I only watch from inside in such weather.