Rob's Latest Adventure

As most of you know, I randomly see owls after dark on my way home from work through the winter months.  It is mostly snowy owls.

Some can be hard to spot because of poor lighting (or no lighting).  Then there's the distance of how far off the road they are but I have gotten a lot better at finding them over the years.  

Maybe it is just that I am so used to my drive home from work, that while I don't think I remember everything, I do notice when suddenly something new is in the same old?  

There was that one winter when a great horned owl popped up.

Two winters later, there was that long-eared owl.

This winter, the owl sightings have been less.  There seems to be fewer snowys in the area.  Another factor is there is a banding and relocating program at Pearson Airport.  Last I heard, 8 snowys had been trapped and relocated from the airport this winter.  Why do they do this?  For safety reasons.  Big birds getting sucked into the turbines of an airplane can be very bad for all involved, humans and of course the bird.  I don't think this is the first winter that they have been doing this, but it is the first winter where I am more aware of it because someone I know is a part of the program.

Anyway, I still see one or two owls along the 401 a couple nights a week.  The birds normally like to sit on light posts in the middle lanes.  They have a great view to the fields on either side of the highway.  For me though, all I can do is spot them and keep driving.  There is no safe place to pull over and have a better view and take photos.  There are no side roads nearby where I am seeing these owls.

About a week and a half ago I noticed a very dark bird on a lamp post further along the highway.  In my quick observation of it, it didn't appear to be a snowy.  It was really dark and all I could see was the back of the bird.  I'm keeping with the flow of traffic so my view is only seconds, passing it doing about 120 km/hr.  I saw the bird three times over five nights, always on the same post.  I thought maybe a great horned but the head didn't seem right to me, it was too round.  I thought maybe a barred owl.  Dark body, round head, yes that could be it.  There seems to be a lot more barred owls around.  I couldn't say 100% but I was leaning towards this species.  All I knew was that I would continue to keep an eye out for the owl in the coming nights.

Backside of a barred owl I saw, just for reference.

This past Wednesday morning I decided to try and find this mystery owl.  There is a green space right along the Etobicoke Creek which is almost directly south to the lamp post where this owl has been sitting at night.  Maybe it is spending it's days there in the woods?  I have been to this area before and it always seemed like a great spot for an owl.  I went to these woods, looking for owls, and here's what I saw.

I saw two red-tailed hawks.

There also was the usual woodland bird species scattered about.  Cardinals, chickadees, juncos, white-throated sparrows and white-breasted nuthatches.

I passed a familiar landmark in my search.  I know I blogged about my visit to this area before and discovering this old beast.  Initially I thought it was a Chevy Vega but after a few discussions with others, we all now lean towards a Ford Maverick.

I next checked out the northern stretch of these woods, which is right along the highway.  I had never gone this far up before.  To my surprise I found the remains of two more cars in the valley.  I couldn't even begin to guess what they were.  It's just frames, motors and little else with a vandalized door leaning on a nearby tree.  I just threw together a quick collage here instead of lambasting my blog with rusty hunks of metal.

As I walked around the car remains, mice flushed from various spots nearby.  I saw four in total.  All ran into the "car corpses" to hide from me.  Could I get a photo of just one?  No, they were way too fast.

Exploring more of the woods, I saw three more small rodents scurrying about.  There was coyote tracks too.  After thought, I should have taken pictures of the tracks.

What a great habitat for a variety of birds and animals!  And why not also for an owl?  Unfortunately I could not find one.

Jumping ahead to the end of my day, swiping out from work, getting into the Mazda and heading home.  I trek across the 401 and didn't see any owls.  I decide to take a trip through a stretch of the airport.  I'm heading west along a service road, back towards my work.  Nothing.  I give up as I am nearing Dixie Road.  I do a u-turn and decide to call it a night.  It was worth a shot to look since I am not really going out of my way.

I am passing the last of the lamp posts before nearing the main road.  Then there was the owl, on a post out in the airfield.  Dark bird with a round head.  Being on a side road, there is no traffic.  I can safely pull over, get out of the car and have a view from the fence.  Even better is that I have my camera with me.

I'm having difficulty getting night photos with this "newer" camera.  I mastered my old Canon T1i but the 7D I really need to work on.

The owl is quite a ways out in the field, and with no light, that makes getting a record shot even more of a challenge.

Being able to stand outside and view it for many minutes, I can see that this is probably a snowy and not the possibility of being a barred.  I watch for a few more minutes, hoping the owl will do something, even move it's head and look at me.  Finally it does for a moment.  I tweak my manual settings and get this shot.

The contrast of the white face to that dark body.  It is really something out there in the dark.

Mystery solved!

Do you applaud my determination or do you think I need a new hobby?

After posting about this mystery owl on social media, a "bird bud" of mine who I lightly mentioned above that is involved in the banding and relocating project at Pearson told me about a young female snowy with heavy barring that has been hanging around the airport.  We believe this is the same owl.

My friend Charlotte has had her own adventures with the bird that I will share here...

She or whoever bands with her banded the snowy on January 3rd.  

The owl was then relocated 70 km north to another banding site.  On January 16th they re-trapped the owl again at Pearson.  

It was now relocated 140 km west of Pearson, being released at another one of their other banding locations.  Guess what...  she's now back at the airport.  What a stubborn bird!  

We all wish her to stay safe and away from the airplanes.  One was killed about a month ago on the runway.

I hope to spot her one morning, in some day light, and get another picture of her.  She's a bit of a character now in my books and has my focus.  I will be sure to let you all know if I do see her again.

Wishing you all a great (and safe) family day long weekend!