Gale force winds made it a difficult early afternoon for a Northern Saw-Whet Owl.  The winds kept bouncing the little owl all around!

A Long-eared Owl was discovered in Central Park today.  It was a great find, and with the ongoing Barred Owls and Northern Saw-whet Owl, made it a three owl species day for the park.

Owls are day sleepers and while folks were very good about watching their behavior with the Long-eared Owl tonight, folks could have been more respectful of the Northern Saw-whet Owl this afternoon.  I thought a huge, talkative crowd just under the owl, crossed the line a few times.  It’s great to catch up with friends while watching an owl.  But do we need to chit-chat endlessly right under a sleeping bird, and keep talking after we’ve finished watching the owl?  Plus, there were much better spots to watch the bird from a more respectful distance.

When we had what seemed to be a few birds migrating through the park I wasn’t too worried about our conduct, but it looks like we have a few birds that are sticking around the park.  Is it time to start thinking about our impact?  Especially as the number of birders watching Central Park owls is increasing significantly due to expanded use of eBirds and Twitter, along with the posting of exact owl locations.

I’m not sure Central Park, which no longer has resident owls, needs to be as secretive as areas with resident/breading owls.  But I do think we need to think about our conduct and impact.

In addition to the Northern Saw-whet Owl on Sunday, the park had two Barred Owls.  Here is a video and photographs of one of them.

On Sunday, a Northern Saw-whet Owl was in a Holly Tree just inside Central Park, best viewed from 82nd Street and Central Park West.  It was sleeping when I saw it.  This is at least the fourth sighting of the fall for the park.  Given that many years, none are found it’s been great these last few weeks!

I retrieved the Northern Saw-whet Owl pellet on Sunday and examined the contents.  It contained a mouse skull, bones and fur.  I felt like I was back in my middle school earth science class!

Central Park had two Barred Owls today.  I got to see both.  We’re having a great fall for Northern Saw-whet and Barred Owls this year.  There is speculation that strong westerly and northwesterly winds may have pushed many owls to the east coast.  Whatever the cause, I’m happy for the abundance. 

The one that I think is a new arrival, flew out to an open branch and vocalized briefly this evening.