I couldn’t stay long, but had a nice time at the Compost Heap, on February 25th. The Snowy Owl is arriving a bit later now, around 6:15 this evening. There were a number of onlookers, and she stayed until about 7:10. She looked for prey, but didn’t go after anything. It was unclear if it was the crowd or just a lack of rats.
Reports are she then flew directly to the Tennis Courts to hunt.
On Wednesday, February 25th, the temperature was finally having above freezing days, and the snow is melting. This means the North Meadow has thawed in sections and has some large puddles.
I missed the Snowy Owls fly in tonight. I was at the Fort Clinton lookout looking for where the owl came from, but missed her. When I went up to the Compost Heap, she had already arrived and left. I found her on Backstop #4, and she intently looked at the north west corner of the North Meadow, where there are a group of trees. She flew off and was found with a Brown Rat, where she had been looking. Unlike most nights where she took her time to eat, she eat this one quickly.
Like most nights, she did a little post-eating set of hops and waddles, and then had fun with a small flag in the field that marked a construction area. After this she few around the North Meadow, perching on backstops and occasionally going to the ground.
There was a Killdeer calling loudly. The Snowy Owl flew towards it twice.
The highlight of the evening was the Snowy Owl taking a bath in a puddle and then drying off afterwards. It’s been too cold to see this behavior, so it was a special treat.
On Tuesday, February 23rd, as publicity about her new locations has grown about the Snowy Owl, more and more people are coming to see her. Today, there was a large crowd as she arrived at the Compost Heap and she stayed only a few minutes. Then when she was on the eastern portion of the North Meadow, a high school student decided to walk up to her and broke the fencing. She was then flushed and flew briefly to the Tennis Courts, before returning to the North Meadow.
She then flew to the Compost Heap before going out of sight. She was seen near the Tennis Courts, hunted to the south west and reappeared with a rat on one of the courts. She changed spots once and then due to a dog barking, flew to the North Meadow with her partially eaten rat. She finished it, cleaned her beak and did her playful dance she does after eating. This was about two hours later than normal.
At this point it was Midnight and I left the park with her still on the meadow.
On Monday, February 22nd, I arrived after eating dinner. Reports where that the owl spent time in the trees around the Compost Heap and hunted at least once. It was unclear if it caught anything.
When I arrived it was on a backstop #10. It flew to backstop #12, and then over to the western fields and softball backstop #2, and backstop #4.
It then flew all the way up to the Compost Heap, before being found again on backstop #12. It left briefly and returned to the exact same spot on backstop #12 before flying out of sight.
I arrived a bit late on Sunday, February 21st, but found the Snowy Owl in trees around the compost area were it flew between two trees for a bit. It then flew to the eastern portion of the North Meadow. We lost track of it, but it was then spotted in the field eating a Brown Rat. The meal took about an hour to complete. Then it was on a backstop, and I called it a night.
We’ve been trying to figure out where the Snowy Owl comes from each evening, and on Saturday, February 20th, I was able to confirm that it makes a stop at the Compost Heap before going to the North Meadow.
The Compost Heap has a pair of tree that are used by the local Red-tailed Hawks that has a great view of the northern section of the park.
Before dusk a Peregrine Falcon perched on the Annenberg Building of Mt. Sinai, flew down rapidly towards the trees. When I looked at Cooper’s Hawk was in the tree.
I kept an eye on the tree and after sunset, it had the Snowy Owl. The owl preened and stretched just like a Barred Owl or Great Horned Owl does. A wing down and then both wings back.
The owl then ended up on the eastern side of North Meadow, moved around a few times, left for a few minutes, returned with a rodent, ate, cleaned its beak in the snow, and seemed to enjoy having the meadow to herself.
Late for dinner, I left the park.
