Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Continues In Snowy Owl Footsteps

After not having a chance to see Flaco for over a week due to my vacation, I caught up with him on Wednesday. He was roosting the the same American Elm he had been using when I left. However, he is now moving south after fly out. This means the area between the Reservoir and the 96th Street Transverse.

While I didn’t see it, after Midnight, Flaco went to the North Pump House (really a gate house as there are no pumps) of the Reservoir, which had been used by the Snowy Owl two years ago. It is so interesting to see our new Bubo, act like the old one.

Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Extralimital

Steller’s Sea-Eagle, Day 2

On Thursday, we went out again on a whale watching tour, this time run by Trinity Eco-Tours.
The morning was very foggy. So, no whales sightings and we needed to hug the coastline. But, we saw over 80 Bald Eagles who had congregated on the shoreline to eat the spawning Capelin. Just before our tour was over, I spotted the Steller’s high on a cliff.  We didn’t get much time with it, but I did get some nice photographs.

Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Extralimital

Steller’s Sea-Eagle

I’m on vacation in Newfoundland, Canada and while checking the the rare bird alerts for the Provence, I saw that the Steller’s Sea-Eagle was being seen in Trinity Bay. (This is the same bird, many New Yorker’s traveled to Maine to see earlier this year.)

I was staying in St. John and wasn’t sure if my non-birding husband would be up for a three hour trip, but he was! So we drove up today, checked into a very basic hotel for the night, and then made our way to Sea of Whales Adventures in Trinity. Their whale watching tours often have seen the Steller’s Sea-Eagle. After spending time with a Humpback Whale and her calf, we went to look for the Steller’s Sea-Eagle and she was exactly where they expected to find her.

We’re taking a second boat tomorrow and I hopefully will have some more photographs to share.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

Eurasian Eagle-Owl

The Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Flaco roosted in the same American Elm he’s been using for the last few days. Its understory is open and without leaves, so as he wakes up, rather than flying to another tree he has been branching within the tree. I’ve seen White-footed Mice below the tree and he seem to be looking for them before he leaves the tree.

Tonight, at fly out he went to the roof of the Recreation Center and then flew off to the northeast. We searched for about a half hour and came up empty, but then found him in plain sight on a backstop. He moved around the backstop and one of the adjacent infields, briefly perching in a London Plane tree. But for most part he didn’t move around very much. It was hot and you see the gular fluttering after even the briefest flight.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

The Eastern Half of the North Meadow

The released Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Flaco, roosted in the same tree as last night, but used a different perch. He was hot and would gular flutter every so often. His roost tree is an American Elm and it has a number of open branches in the center. It is almost like the underside of an umbrella, and before flying out, he explored a number of branches. It seemed as though he was getting vantage points to see the eastern half of the North Meadow, and the pickleball games at the Recreation Center.

After flyout, he made a stop in a tree overlooking the western half of the North Meadow, before going to backstops and spending a great deal of time on the ground. Sometimes it was in the grass but most of time he was in the infield sand. He did a silly sand bath at one point, which reminded us of similar behavior from the 2021 Snowy Owl. As he did last night, Flaco used may of the same perches as the Snowy Owl had used.