My wife and I were treated to a marvelous site on the way home from work today. Just west of the junction of Highway 65 west and Hwy 572 to Earlton, we watched a Short-eared Owl hunting the open fields along Hwy. 65. It was approaching 5:30 PM, so we were already well into dusk, and couldn't see any colour on the bird. It was travelling parallel to the highway, so we were able to watch it for a couple of minutes before it dipped below the treeline on the horizon and we lost the silhouette against the black background of distant trees. It was hunting in the fashion of a Harrier, but its movements were much more erratic, kind of like watching the movements of a terribly oversized Little Brown Bat. What a thrill !
This stretch of highway is part of my daily commute to work, so I will definitely be keeping a sharp eye peeled for more sightings of this bird. It would be fantastic if it could stick around for the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). We've never had one on a CBC in Timiskaming before! It will also have to move west a little, since it would be outside of the Mountain Chutes count circle if it stays in the same area. That's almost a month away, though, so I don't know how good the chances are.