A Quest for owls....and such.

Sunday 2/12 brought slightly warmer temps and slightly gentler winds. After my small group meeting and church service I headed out to Independence Grove to look for some owls. On my way out I had great looks at a light morph male Rough-legged Hawk over Peterson Rd. Possibly the same bird that I had there a couple of weeks ago. Love those birds!
  I've always thought that the pine groves at Independence Grove would be a good spot for some owls, so today was the day to check it out. I meandered my way through the conifers. No owl yet, but I got nice looks at #90 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER.

I continued through the pines. As I was walking in the middle of a stand, I saw the shadow of an owl flying behind me. But I was buried in the pines, so I couldn't see anything. I walked out to get a look, but saw no owls. Instead, I had great looks at a beautiful WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK dark morph.

  Having failed on finding the owl, I decided to head to McDonald Woods to find white-throated sparrows near the feeders on the wood chip path. The shrubs near the feeders were alive with sparrows. I first heard, then saw 3 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS #91, including an adult male:

Another great day to be out in the field marveling at God's awesome creation.