A LIFER FOR EVERYONE!

LONG-EARED OWL

Yesterday a friend called to say he had found 3 strange looking owls at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area. His description of the birds led me to believe he had found a group of migrating Long-eared Owls. Today he returned to the same tree and found them again. He called us and Margi and I headed to Bluegrass to find these life birds. We met Steve at the site and sure enough they were beautiful Long-eared Owls! These beautiful birds are not typically found here in southern Indiana but they are probably migrating through the area now. Steve later called back to tell us he had found 22 more in the same areas we typically find the Short-eared Owls each winter.
Long-eared Owls are found in pine, spruce and cedar forests and unlike their Short-eared cousins, do most of their hunting during the evening hours. They prefer to roost during the day in dense evergreen trees. Steve found the majority of the birds roosting in Eastern Red Cedar trees on reclaimed surface mine land. They will roost in groups of 2 - 8 and tend to flush easily.
We were blessed to be able to finally see these wonderful birds so close to home. I'll bet several southern Indiana birders will get good life birds this weekend.