On Thursday, February 11th, the Snowy Owl arrived at the North Meadow from the northeast and left the same way. So, three independent owl watchers ended up at the Grassy Knoll in hopes of seeing where the owl flew in from.

The owl had other ideas.

We saw a bird fly from the south around 5:50 pm. It was a Canada Goose that had been on the North Meadow by itself for much of the afternoon. I thought it was the owl at first, and just as I realized my mistake, the Snowy Owl appeared about twenty feet over the goose. It had been chasing the goose. The goose went out of view and the owl tried to land at the top of a tree. The branches were too small so the owl turned around and landed on the North Meadow.

Within a minute, a cross country skier flushed the owl and it went up to a backstop. After a few minutes it flew northwest and out of view. We looked for it but had not luck finding it. I made a loop around the western section of the North Meadow, and when I returned to the eastern section, the Snowy Owl was on the ground eating a Brown Rat. I returned around 6:45, so it had quickly caught the rat and returned to the field.

It was good to see that the owl is finding food quickly. Hopefully, it will be well feed by the time it returns north.