Pelham Bay Park owls - 15th Feb.

After a couple of very cold days with temperatures reaching -22C today was clear and a bit warmer. A few reports of some nice owls had been made recently so I headed to Pelham Bay Park. I bumped into several other local birders with the same idea so we formed a posse and went owling. First up was a very jumpy Barred Owl in a stand of pines. Too flighty to photograph unfortunately, but it was a great bird, my 300th for New York State.

We then moved on to Hunter's Island to have a look at the nesting Great Horned Owl. The bay had a few ducks including Greater Scaup, 2 Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser etc. The woods were fairly quiet, with a few Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a single Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A flock of passerines at the exit to the park included a Field Sparrow and a Rusty Blackbird.

Female Great Horned Owl on a nest. The male was in a tangle nearby.

This nest site has been used for several years, and it's possible that one or both of this pair have been here for 30 years!