Dan Elster and I were back at Medford Airport’s periphery this morning. We were ably assisted by ace owl-tracker, Bill Hering. Of course, the all-hearing, sharp-eyed owls were tracking us as well.
This time we had a plan, at least as well thought-out as some of the recent invasions by the Pentagon. We entered the field in two waves. First Dan, with camera gear, headed straight south then hooked a turn to the west and positioned himself motionless on a stool with what we hoped was a clear view of the likely owl perches.
Then Bill and I swept due west pushing all the small creatures before us. That included Pheasant, Bluebirds, singing Meadowlarks, a couple sparrows and untold and unseen little rodents. We did see the lagomorphs (not rodents at all), those would be Lepus californicus, except here they’re more Lepus oregonicus. Black-tailed Jackrabbit to us laypersons. They’re big, for mere lagomorphs, and they’re fast. Evidently, not fast enough. We saw one place where some predator had dined on jackrabbit tartare. Raw Pheasant seems to be a frequent menu specialty in the airport field, along with Mourning Dove, served extensively in much of the open range across America.
When Bill and I reached the fence alongside the Airport we maneuvered southward as tension increased. Still no owls had arisen. Were they gone?
Not to worry, as we neared an area where the teasal has been levelled by mid-summer mowing, first one, then two more, than all six lifted silently into their mothy flight and circling, never going in a a straight line, at least four moved off to the south toward where we hoped Dan was in optical ambush position. Two cleverly avoided the whole showdown by drifitng off to the east, never to be seen in the air again this day.
Well, maybe the ambush was ill-positioned. Or maybe the area of maneuver was too broad and two complex. Perhaps we needed more troops to occupy the field. I made a mental note to fire Rumsfeld as soon as we got back to a cell phone.
The owls are perhaps better equipped for the open area competition. Could they hear Dan’s breathing? Did they know where he’d stopped walking and thus fly around his position? Three of them spent considerbale time on perches, but far to the west of where Dan and his lens were waiting. Bill and I walked back and forth across the field two more times. Again owls rose, at one point circling out over the short grass along the airport runway. Not once did they venture near Dan’s repositioned “hiding place.” There was one distant shot of a Short-eared Owl in flight. But this day, when it was all over: Owls 6, Humans -3. Next time we’re taking an entire battalion of photographers and we’ll simply shoot everything that moves. Sound like a sound plan?
Today that would have meant good shots of Harrier, Golden Eagle, Western Bluebird, American Pipit, saffron-faced Savannah Sparrows and some early arriving Tree Swallows. Local records show they return in small numbers every February but these were the first reported for 2008 on the local Rogue Valley Audubon site. Earlier this week there was a report of the first returning Turkey Vultures as well.
Location: Medford Airport, northeast corner, south of Vilas Road
Observation date: 2/15/08
Notes: Tree Swallows on the early edge of returning migrants. One of the Harriers appeared to be young male getting his first gray plumage.
Number of species: 25
Ring-necked Pheasant 5
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Golden Eagle 1
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 25
Wilson’s Snipe 8
Mourning Dove 15
Short-eared Owl 6
Northern Flicker 1
Say’s Phoebe 1
Common Raven 6
Tree Swallow 3
Western Bluebird 8
American Robin 30
European Starling 20
American Pipit 2
Spotted Towhee 2
California Towhee 1
Song Sparrow 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow 8
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Lesser Goldfinch 2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/Klamath-Siskiyou)
