[Maine-birds] Short-eared Owls (3) - Brunswick, 1/8

Hey everyone:

Last evening I joined Josh Fecteau, Bob Crowley, Joseph Scott, and Mike Fahay at the "Bowdoin Sand Plain" (http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L4090818) to observe the owls that have been reported there recently. This location is most easily accessed by parking at the end of Pine Street in Brunswick, then walk to the Brunswick Landing perimeter road (this map will help: http://mrra.us/wp-content/uploads/PineStAccessWalkBike2015a.pdf). As you walk east on the perimeter road you'll come to a fence which we walked south along until reaching an old small building in the middle of the sand plains. From this location we had a good vantage in all directions to see the owls.

Last night we observed three Short-eared Owls at this location. Josh had already spotted two by the time I arrived and then one of the birds flushed a third. These two proceeded to dogfight and be very vocal for the remainder of our visit. One thing I would really like the stress is to be very careful when identifying these birds because of the amount of variation we saw in the plumage of these three individuals. One very pale bird was remarkably different from the other two, and even those two were noticeably different. 

Patrick Smith got an excellent shot showing one of the dark Short-eared and light Short-eared in flight: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_d2151SQQkNdU8yeVhnNTI3LUE/view

Louis Bevier shared this great British Birds article that I think everyone would find helpful: http://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V69/V69_N08/V69_N08_P281_287_A060.pdf

Louis also sent a great summary of some key points to look for with these species: "Both Long-eared and Short-eared have pale patches in the upper wing; so that isn't the difference to key on. Long-eared also has broader and blunter tips to the wings that Short-eared. In fading light, it is often easiest to see the bright white trailing edge to the secondaries on Short-eared (not shown by LE). At the base of the underwing where the secondaries meet the body, Short-eared shows little dark notches. It is hard to see the wing tip pattern on the under side, but SE also has black tips to the primaries whereas LE has barring to the tip (both are barred, it's the tip that counts). Lastly, Long-eared doesn't show a contrasting paler belly, but on a dark bird in fading light, that might be hard to differentiate."

And here are more notes and documentation photos from last night are available here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26790384

Good birding,

Doug Hitchcox

Portland, ME