![]() The eagle then set it’s wings and began gliding in my direction! I threw my car in reverse and tried to line up with the path I thought the bird would take and then slowly stepped out my car. Sunny days like this usually lure a few Turkey Vultures up from Huntingdon County so that’s what I expected to see when I got my binos on the bird, but was shocked to see that it was actually an adult Golden Eagle! The eagle began soaring as soon as it cleared the treetops, and gained some height. I pulled my car over to watch the larks in the road ahead of me for a few minutes, and then glanced over to my right and spotted a large, dark raptor flying up out of a patch of trees. All that I could find were crows and jays, not even a Red-tailed Hawk, but Williams Rd came through with three Horned Larks. I wandered around on Tusseyville Rd, Airport Rd, and then turned onto Williams Rd. I thought about heading back to town then, but was already out by some nice field habitat so I took a drive around to see if I could find a Snowy Owl or other field birds. Linden Hall Rd had some good habitat for snipe and pipits, but all that I found was 70 Mallards and a few other birds. Great Horned Owl roosting at Whitehall Farms (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)įrom Whitehall I was planning to check some habitat along Spring Creek for birds drawn to the open, flowing water. Another great way to find roosting owls is to look and listen for crows and other birds mobbing the roosting owls. ![]() Look for them either roosting out in the open or sticking their heads out of tree cavities and snags, and facing the sun. Very cold but sunny days are great for finding roosting owls, and I have been able to find Great Horned, Barred, and Eastern Screech-Owls in past winters. After a few minutes it did slowly open its eyes, and looked at me and stood up a little taller, but after a minute or two it fell back to sleep and I snuck away. The owl remained still, with its eye closed tight. Once I was within 100 feet, I crawled over closer and tried to stay hidden in the grass. To my surprise, a beautiful Great Horned Owl was tucked-up and sleeping in the sun! I slowly made my way closer, constantly checking that the owl was still asleep. However, right when I started to turn back I noticed the shape of a large owl perched low on a distant hedgerow. I was starting to get cold and figured that I had seen most of the sparrows in the area, so turned around to trudge through the snow, into the wind, and head back towards my car. ![]()
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