Into the Woods and Elsewhere: Snowy Owl

Michigan, along with many states sharing a border with Canada, has enjoyed this winter's breakout of Snowy Owls. There have been up to five snowys in Harrison Township, Macomb County where at least one or two have been amongst the most reliable to see.

However, the absence of reports of snowy owl sightings near the DNR office this past week nearly deterred Rodolfo Palma and I from our pre-planned trip. Neither of us had an opportunity to see the owls when they were been reported daily. Nevertheless, it was such a nice day that we decided to try our chances knowing that we would at least see something.

I hadn't seen Rodolfo since September when he gave a presentation on birding in Chile - his native country - to the Washtenaw Audubon Society. We got off to a bungled start when, talking too much, we drove past the Metrobeach Metropark exit. We drove about seven miles beyond before we turned around and headed back west.

We had directions to South River Road, but neither of us is well-acquainted with Lake St. Clair birding locales. We found the DNR office on a finger of land jutting into the lake and carried our gear out to the tip of the little peninsula. There were a few ducks on the water here and there - Common Goldeneye, but overall there was a general absence of waterfowl on the lake.

At the tip, however, Rodolfo saw the first of several massive flocks of dark ducks flying overhead. We stood for approximately ten minutes watching a steady stream of both large and small flocks very high up and flying very fast. The best identification I could come up with was that they were scaup species. How many? Thousands.

While watching the ducks we met up with a local gentleman who walks daily in this location. He commented that he had seen the snowy owl on the jetty yesterday. Roldolfo and I were surprised and encouraged. He continued walking in his direction and we continued on to the jetty side. We scanned the jetty with our scopes. Nothing.

We met up with the gentleman again as we were coming to the end of our search and he asked if we has seen the owl. He pointed out landmarks on the jetty where the owl had been seen on other days. Nothing. We were seconds from parting company when he commented that he saw something move to the right of the angled 4x4 jutting from the jetty. Being polite, but skeptical, I focused my scope on the area. Sure enough - there was a speckled head with yellow eyes peeking at us from the other side of the jetty. How the gentleman had seen this with his naked eye is beyond me. In the years I've been birding I have come to understand how beneficial being long-sighted truly is. The fact that I am near-sighted makes this all the more acute. The three of us enjoyed this turn of events. Minutes later we were joined by four others and we were able to show them the owl.

In the middle of the cropped image above, you can just see the top of the owl's speckled head, the small lump just slightly whiter and protruding above the rock. Others walked back toward the tip of the peninsula and found a spot where the owl was more exposed.

As always, we took photos and chatted for awhile. Clouds began to roll in, the wind increased and the sun faded in and out. We left for lunch with plans to return to see if the bird moved to the peninsula side of the jetty.

After lunch the bird had moved, but only nearer to the angled 4x4, but still on the opposite side of the jetty. More photos. By this time, the clouds were in for good and we finally left. We made a brief stop at Metrobeach Metropark and scanned for a few ducks - goldeneye, common mergs, ruddy ducks and scaup species.

Having such good luck with the snowy owl we decided to try our luck with the short-eared owls on Gotfredson Road. We made the westbound trek from Macomb County to Washtenaw County arriving at the site with a good amount of daylight still remaining. Our good luck continued here. With about ten others we watched one short-eared owl actively hunt, often flying directly towards us and quite near. As it was well before true dusk I was encouraged to be hyper-optimistic with my little point and shoot.